Final answer:
The strategic envelope refers to a firm's comprehensive range of innovation initiatives while considering real-world constraints. CEOs like Gregory Lee of Samsung emphasize the importance of constant innovation to maintain a competitive advantage. The concept underscores the balance between extending the frontier of possibilities and acknowledging planetary boundaries.
Step-by-step explanation:
Strategic Envelope in Innovation
The term strategic envelope is connected to the comprehensive range of a firm's innovation endeavors. When we think about innovation, it encompasses the process of updating, overhauling, or incrementally enhancing products, systems, or processes to amplify their value or efficiency. A firm's strategic envelope encapsulates all the initiatives aimed at pushing the boundaries of what's currently feasible - socially, economically, and technologically - while acknowledging the real-world constraints of energy, the environment, and economics.
Firms like Samsung epitomize the relentless pursuit of new innovations, as highlighted by its CEO, Gregory Lee. The desire to innovate grants a company a temporary edge over competitors, affording them the opportunity to secure above-normal profits. As the firm innovates, it does so within its strategic envelope, consistently redefining its imposed boundaries to remain relevant within a finite planet's thermodynamic and physical limits.