Business implementation of sustainable-led innovation. Cases studies from Kazakh Industrial and Service Companies

In September 2015, within the framework of the 70th UN General Assembly, at the UN Summit on the adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, ex-President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. A. Nazarbayev signed a new document for further global development, emphasizing that the goals and targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) fully coincide with the priorities and tasks of Kazakhstan. The SDGs are a comprehensive universal set of goals and indicators until 2030, aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens, socio-economic development and environmental sustainability of states. The SDGs are designed to promote the achievement of sustainable development through integration of three components: economic, social and environmental. This work will analyze Kazakhstan's practice of implementation of sustainable-led innovations in companies. The work is structured in two parts. The first one critically reviews research of selected authors having tackled concepts and practices of sustainable-led innovations. In particular we will focus on works on sustainable-led innovations, Adam’s maturity model, foreign practices of implementing sustainable-led innovations, and state programs and initiatives to support the development of sustainable-led innovations in Kazakhstan. The second one analyzes empirically realization of innovation-led programs by Kazakh companies using questionnaires and interviews and developing a regression model based on the data obtained by questionnaires. The analysis of the selected companies will be also carried out exploiting R. Adam’s maturity model. In conclusion we will highlight the main strengths, weaknesses and limitations in the successful implementation of sustainable-led innovations in the selected Kazakh companies.