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Study Overview

This paper describes the case of how the Danish beer manufacturer, Carlsberg, developed the Green Fiber Bottle as part of its sustainability program through an open innovation approach in collaboration with complementary partners. It thereby illustrates how a grand challenge associated with sustainability can be effectively addressed through open innovation and reveals the opportunities and challenges that emerge in that context.

Study Results

The case suggests a number of key issues that are relevant when attempting to address grand challenges, in general, and sustainability in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, in particular, namely: leveraging open innovation in the face of sustainability as a grand challenge; sustainability beyond a solid business case; opportunities and challenges in the face of new business models; the importance of early wins for addressing societal challenges for signals and scaling; and the importance of the Nordic context and long-term vision.

Journal Publication: Bogers, M., Chesbrough, H. and Strand, R. (2020), "Sustainable open innovation to address a grand challenge : Lessons from Carlsberg and the Green Fiber Bottle", British Food Journal, Vol. 122 No. 5, pp. 1505-1517. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-07-2019-0534

IBSI Funding Acknowledgement: Center for Responsible Business (CRB)