37:50 minutes
|
May 16, 2026
#33 Innovation
How Sustainability Fuels New Business Models with Ivanka Visnjic
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About The Speaker
Dr. Ivanka Visnjic is Full Professor of Innovation at Esade Business School. She has served as Head
of Esade’s Department of Operations, Innovation, and Data Sciences and Director of the Institute
for Innovation and Knowledge Management. Beyond academia, she is a Non-Executive Director at
Wiser Technology, an IT services firm, and previously worked at McKinsey & Company. She has also
held visiting appointments at UC Berkeley, London Business School, and the University of
Cambridge, where she helped launch the Cambridge Service Alliance.
Her research centers on helping established companies navigate innovation and business model
transformation—especially as they shift to services, sustainability, digital technologies and AI. She
has published extensively in leading journals and outlets including Harvard Business Review, MIT
Sloan Management Review, Organization Science, and the Journal of Operations Management.
Dr. Visnjic actively collaborates with multinational corporations—including Atlas Copco, the LEGO
Group, Enel, IBM, Holcim, Suzano, and FC Barcelona—through research, advisory work, and
executive education. Beyond research, she is a sought-after keynote speaker at international
conferences, a regular contributor to executive education programs worldwide, and an advisor to
corporations on strategic innovation initiatives.
Her contributions have been recognized with distinctions including the IBM Faculty Award, Thomas
P. Hustad Best Paper Award, and Poets & Quants’ “Top 40 Under 40 MBA Professors.” In 2024, she
was shortlisted for the Panmure House Prize for research impact.
She currently leads several grant-funded projects at the intersection of innovation, emerging
technologies and sustainability, while supervising doctoral research in this area.
Episode Description
In this episode of the Business and Society podcast, host Senthil speaks with Dr Ivanka Visnjic, Professor of Innovation at ESADE Business School, about how companies can unlock opportunities at the intersection of sustainability and innovation. Drawing from her research and fieldwork across global industries, Ivanka explains why sustainability should be treated as a transformation challenge, not a compliance exercise—one that requires the same capabilities that fuel innovation: long-term vision, experimentation, and ecosystem collaboration.
Through examples from Enel, Holcim, Suzano, Gore-Tex, and others, she illustrates how pioneering firms are turning sustainability goals into new business models, services, and markets. Ivanka also discusses the organizational shifts required to align sustainability with performance, the role of cross-sector partnerships in tackling “hard-to-abate” sectors, and why ambidexterity—the ability to balance short- and long-term priorities—is a defining skill for leaders today.
In the final segment, Ivanka reflects on how she manages differences of opinion, the essential leadership skills for the new era of business transformation, and her favorite book on climate and innovation. She also offers a preview of her upcoming book on how companies can rewire themselves to meet sustainability ambitions through innovation and collaboration.
A conversation rich with insight and practical examples, this episode explores how strategy meets society—and why the path to sustainability might just be the next great frontier for corporate renewal.
