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While some authors consider that environmental and social awareness can stimulate innovation in an organization, others see it as an additional constraint that builds new barriers against innovation. To contribute to this debate, this paper analyzes possible interactions between responsibility and innovation. First, we differentiate between incremental and radical innovation, the former sustaining the exploitation of current business, the latter being dedicated to the exploration of future opportunities. Second, we underline the importance of aligning the firm's responsible actions with its strategy. To understand the viewpoint of firms, we analyze some responsibility reports from IT and pharmaceutical firms. This confirms the view that firms increasingly value responsibility as a strategic asset. However, this leads more to improvements in current processes than to radical innovations. Based on the conclusions of this analysis, we propose four possible corporate behaviors linking innovation and responsibility, considering two dimensions: the integration level of responsibility in the firm’s strategy, and the level of innovation between exploitation and exploration.