Bridging the gap between top-down and bottom-up approaches can enable organizations to create a dynamic and engaged workforce committed to driving sustainability and innovation.
Co-written by S. Sinan Erzurumlu (Babson College), Wojciech T. Osowiecki (Lam Research) and Victor P. Seidel (Babson College).
Firms are increasingly promoting innovations that advance environmental sustainability across all aspects of their business, but this can be challenging in global, complex, technology-focused organizations. Much research has focused on top-down strategic initiatives; however, efforts at Lam Research, a global supplier of innovative semiconductor manufacturing products, demonstrate how bottom-up, employee-led initiatives can foster sustainability-oriented innovations and a culture of sustainability. We describe the development of the Lam Employee Sustainability Community (LESC) and how five practices of entrepreneurial leadership supported employee-driven innovations that fostered environmental sustainability initiatives across different levels within the firm. This approach has implications for other global product development firms aiming to integrate top-down and bottom-up strategies for environmental sustainability.
Read more here. Published June 2025.
S. Sinan Erzurumlu, Wojciech T. Osowiecki & Victor P. Seidel
(2025) How an Environmental Sustainability Community Fostered Employee-Driven
Innovation at Lam Research, Research-Technology Management, 68:4, 21-29, DOI:
10.1080/08956308.2025.2497220
Notes on contributors:
-S. Sinan Erzurumlu is a professor of innovation and operations management at Babson College.
-Wojciech T. Osowiecki is a staff product marketing engineer at Lam Research.
-Victor P. Seidel is a professor and Metropoulos Term Chair in innovation management at Babson College.
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