Andrew Hargadon, professor of technology management and Charles J. Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship at UC Davis Graduate School of Management, recently published a book entitled Sustainable Innovation: Build Your Company’s Capacity to Change the World.
The book explores the possibilities for companies to develop valuable products that are not only profitable, but that also support healthy environments and communities. “The challenge for any leader,” Hargadon writes in a statement introducing excerpts from the book, “…is to build an organization able to thrive when change hits your market, and that means ensuring you have the capacity for innovation where and when it’s needed.”
Companies who wish to remain sustainable require development strategies that address climate change, toxic materials, famine, obesity and social inequities, Hargadon asserts.
“This book is written for the many executives who recognize their company’s need for sustainable innovation—the ability to see the changing conditions of their market, define the emerging opportunities and threats, and develop bold new strategies in response.” Hargadon writes in the book’s introduction.
Hargadon attended Stanford University’s School of Engineering, where he received his doctoral degree from the Management Science and Engineering Department. There, he was named Boeing Fellow and Sloan Foundation Future Professor of Manufacturing. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University’s Product Design Program in the Mechanical Engineering Department.
Hargadon is the author of How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate as well as this most recent book on sustainable business practices.