Sustainable Innovation Management in the Food Industry

Dear Colleagues,

In today’s competitive markets, organizational survival and growth are dependent on innovation in any sector and context. This is particularly the case for the food industry because of the ever-changing environmental, political, and global dynamics along with fluctuating markets and consumers’ demands. Organizations operating within this industry are not only encouraged to be innovative in order to gain competitive advantage, but also under pressure to sustain their innovation efforts and focus on strategic innovation beyond conventional incremental and one-off radical innovations. Such efforts should focus on organizations’ strategic intent and be incorporated throughout their structure. 

In addition to the need to sustain innovation management, the food sector also needs to focus on sustainability, given the impact that food production and waste have on the environment, local economies, and consumers’ health and wellbeing. As such, the food sector can further innovate so that their production and packaging practices and processes as well as their supply chain become sustainable. Organizations not only need to adopt innovations to generate sustainable footprint, but they should also focus on their corporate social responsibility and ensure that their practices meet international standards.

This Special Issue invites academic articles that contribute to our knowledge and understanding of sustainable innovation management within the food industry, including but not limited to the topics below:

• Technological food innovations and their role on sustainability;
• Sustainable strategic innovation and/or business model innovation;
• Green innovation;
• Sustainable incremental and radical innovations;
• Sustainable innovative management practices and processes;
• Sustainable innovation and organizational performance;
• Design-driven innovation and sustainable development;
• Improvement of corporate social performance through innovation;
• Reduction of environmental and ethical impact/risk through innovation.

Dr. Anahita Baregheh
Dr. Beatrice D’Ippolito
Dr. Alireza Khorakian
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainable strategic innovation
• food innovation
• innovation management practices
• food industry
• green innovation
• sustainable development