Inovação sustentável - um estudo de multicasos em empresas da construção civil

Abstract

The intensification of industrialization has generated a great degradation of the environment and still generates. Such as the construction industry, which accounts for 40% of the world's energy consumption and generates around 1.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CBCS, 2014). Thus, in a context of sustainable development, companies are expected to develop changes in products, processes and organizational methods, so that they could be less aggressive to the environment. And changes like that depend to a large extent on the development of innovations steered toward sustainability. In this sense, the objective of this research was to analyze the sustainable innovations developed / adopted by construction companies. Precisely, to identify the sustainable innovations developed / adopted by construction companies; to categorize the sustainable innovations developed by construction companies; and to identify the determinants of the sustainable innovations developed. For this research, we chose to study multiple cases, since this method has been shown to be more adequate to understand innovation processes. The analysis of the data was performed in a descriptive way, using the technique of content analysis. The cases were analyzed individually and cross-checked. The results presented a variety of sustainable innovations in product, process and organizational terms, which in general show benefits for the environment. Some innovations stood out to show radical characteristics, however, most of the innovations considered sustainable were implemented incrementally. Some variations of sustainable technological innovation were not found in the companies surveyed and social innovation was observed just in one company. It was also possible to verify the existence of determinants that stimulated the development of sustainable innovations, highlighting factors such as: regulation and market factors. It is concluded that sustainable innovations in the civil construction sector are still incipient since they do not have major impacts on society as a whole, although it offers small environmental benefits. And social innovation has not been the subject of discussion within the companies in this sector.