Sustainable Development in Organizations

Introduction

Organizations have faced different development paths throughout the centuries, driven by changes in the competitive environment and the ability to respond to these changes. Such changes and choices can be analyzed from the perspective of innovation waves, which are responsible for transforming the current competitive structure and presenting a new competitive format for organizations. By examining the five existing waves of innovation, we can see a significant leap in the development of companies that understood the context of the new wave well, while other companies—even market leaders—were “swept away” from the competitive landscape. There are indications that a sixth wave of innovation is approaching and that it is driven by sustainability, as resource depletion may lead many companies and countries to achieve superior competitive performance by seeking innovative solutions to the problem, while those that fail to do so may experience a loss of competitiveness. Given the aforementioned context, this essay aims to discuss sustainability as the sixth wave of innovation and how it may affect organizations. The article is expected to raise reflection on this phenomenon and serve as a starting point for future discussions.