Sustainability Innovation Cube – A framework to evaluate sustainability of product innovations Erik G. Hansen* TUM Business School, Institute for Information, Organisation and Management, Leopoldstraße 139, 80804 Munich, Germany. E-mail: hansen@wi.tum.de Friedrich Grosse-Dunker TUM Business School, Institute for Information, Organisation and Management, Leopoldstraße 139, 80804 Munich, Germany. E-mail: grosse-dunker@wi.tum.de Ralf Reichwald TUM Business School, Institute for Information, Organisation and Management, Leopoldstraße 139, 80804 Munich, Germany. E-mail: reichwald@wi.tum.de * Corresponding author Abstract: Corporations increasingly subscribe to the principles of corporate sustainability, which is generally described as the integration of economic, environmental and social dimensions. Of particular interest are sustainability- oriented product innovations: products are perceived to be a major source of sustainability issues and crucial for tapping into new customer segments and new markets. Yet sustainability-oriented innovations are very risky: Not only is the product’s market success uncertain, but also the direction of innovations’ sustainability effects, i.e. whether they contribute positively or negatively to sustainability. This paper presents a generic model termed ‘Sustainability Innovation Cube’ for structuring innovations’ sustainability effects and, thus, enabling business to minimize the ‘directional risk’ of sustainability-oriented innovations. A qualitative expert study reveals the opportunities and challenges related to the developed model. Limitations are discussed and a brief outlook is given. Keywords: sustainability innovation, product innovation, sustainable development, decision framework, life cycle assessment Paper presented at XX ISPIM Conference 2009 – “The Future of Innovation”, June 21-24, 2009, Vienna, Austria Awarded with the “Best Student Paper Award”