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2018 | Buch

Innovation Management and Corporate Social Responsibility

Social Responsibility as Competitive Advantage

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This book provides readers with in-depth insights into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability strategies, as well as their impacts on product and process innovation, business models and social innovation around the globe. It explains how resource issues, climate change, the impacts of pollution and economic activities, and emerging social challenges inevitably lead to changes in the business environment, cost structure and competitive advantage. Further, it highlights how these changes influence the process of innovation, and how companies can gain an edge by integrating stakeholder groups in their innovation process, and by considering sustainability and the needs of society at large. The book reflects the immense strides made in recent years in the discussion about the relationship between business and society, and demonstrates the increasing impact on innovation management.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Corporate Social Responsibility as a Driver of Innovation Processes
Abstract
Social and environmental challenges such as climate change, resource constraints, urbanization, loss of trust in companies and institutions, loss of biodiversity, access to clean drinking water, quality of working conditions and demographic shifts are often seen as risks by companies, but by a growing number of companies also regarded as an opportunity for innovation. In science, civil society (especially in globally active NGOs), and business (multinationals as well as medium-sized companies) but also in politics, there has been a comprehensive and varied discussion about responsibility of companies during the last years. This discussion has intensified considerably after numerous scandals such as Enron, Worldcom, Siemens (corruption), Nike (child labor), Volkswagen or TEPCO (Fukushima) and the economic and financial crisis 2008/9.
Reinhard Altenburger
Managing Sustainable Innovation
Abstract
Please provide department/institute/university/city/country details for the affiliation of the author Annabeth Aagaard.
Annabeth Aagaard
CSR and Innovation: A Holistic Approach From a Business Perspective
Abstract
Innovation as well as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have gained more and more importance over the past decades—both clearly affecting, if not determining competitive strength and sustainable positioning in the world of business and beyond. Serving “people, planet, and profit” has become a general requirement to companies and other organizations. Thus, the comprehensive consideration and analysis of interdependencies and possible side-effects is a key to sustainable success. This article reflects and discusses the status of CSR approaches from a business perspective, introducing easily applicable methodologies for business model innovation considering CSR aspects and for balancing related benefits and costs to find holistically optimized solutions. The business perspective is complemented by a discussion of CSR-related management system standards such as ISO 26000, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001/ISO 45001, ISO 27001, and by an overview of a real-life implementation in a high-tech company.
Hans-Jürgen August
Integrating CSR in Innovation Value Networks
Abstract
Innovating in today’s complex, globalized, interconnected markets requires collaborating in stakeholder value networks. It is increasingly unlikely that a single organization possesses all the required resources, power and competences to effectively conduct the full innovation process on its own (Sarkis et al. 2010). Organizations have to find new forms of collaboration to create more sustainable outcomes of the innovation process and to establish long-term relations with their partners and other stakeholders. This development is enhanced by pressure from all kinds of stakeholders to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into organizations’ innovation efforts. The growing interest in CSR among business firms is evident from the high number of organizations that now participate in evaluative firm rankings that benchmark their CSR performance (Chabowski et al. 2011). A BCG study among executives of globally operating firms found that 70% of the participating firms have placed CSR permanently on their management agenda (BCG 2012). For example, environmentally legitimate firms have been found to incur less unsystematic stock market risks (Bansal and Clelland 2004), investors have also realized the added value of organizational CSR efforts. Likewise, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of their own choices (Peloza et al. 2013) and stricter legislation on environmental impact and labor rights are other external triggers for increasing CSR efforts.
Karen L. Janssen, Vera Blazevic, Kristina Lauche
The Art of Responsible Change
Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Tacit Knowing and Improvisation
Abstract
Implicit and tacit knowing, based on intuition and experience-based learning both of the individual and collective wisdom are crucial in business, science—and in the field of art. Once developed systematically, intuition and experiential learning open up potentials rarely used in business and science. This paper proposes to take into account the ‘tacit dimension’ and it’s built-in patterns for sustainable entrepreneurship. Patterns of tacit knowing are frequently used to make things work in entrepreneurial communities and organizations. ‘Implicit wisdom’ (Dewey, Polanyi) based on ‘intuition’ or experience-based ‘deep smarts’ (Leonard), are known to be crucial for successful change especially in unpredictable and ambiguous settings. Based on this, the paper calls for a truly transdisciplinary format which is integrating natural science, social science and the arts (music, dance, theatre, visual arts) in order to affect the entrepreneurial mindsets and ways of thinking for our current and future leaders, decision makers and entrepreneurs. An experience-based and creative knowing will be able to reveal and teach the tacit knowing patterns we need to develop to go for the next steps toward sustainability.
Wolfgang Stark
X-IDEA: How to Use a Systematic Innovation Method for Social Innovation Projects
Abstract
In this chapter, we introduce X-IDEA, a comparatively new innovation process method and related thinking toolbox, and discuss how such a structured innovation method can be used in the context of social innovation and corporate social responsibility activities.
Detlef Reis, Brian Hunt
Innovation, Business Models, and Catastrophe: Reframing the Mental Model for Innovation Management
Abstract
Innovation is often considered to be the golden bullet of corporate success. However, seen on a global level, most of our present-day innovations and innovation strategies are fuelling a process which might well lead to global collapse. The reason for this is that innovation and innovation management are guided by a mental model of economy which seems beholden to the three mantras of “Outwit, Outperform, Outsmart”, “Be Better or Vanish”, and “Be Different or Die”. According to these mantras and the mental model behind them, corporate success can best be facilitated by the invention of product qualities, value propositions, and business models so exclusive that they secure absolute dominance over the market, the value chain, or the revenue stream. Guided by these principles, games of innovation that might in themselves be rational and, as such, often highly successful will fuel developments that are highly destructive on the global level, as they keep a constant downward spiral of acceleration, concentration, disruption, and resource depletion spinning.
To counter the inherent destructiveness of present-day wealth creation, the mental model and mantras guiding our innovation games need to change. This can be done by aligning innovation and innovation management with the evolutionary and ecological principles of natural value creation and the values of the Global Ethos concept. Together, they form the basis for a new understanding of lastingly viable value creation and innovation management: the concept of ethicological business models and value propositions. Instead of fuelling a process that underlies the continuous and globally destructive mechanisms of concentration, disruption, and resource depletion, they have the potential to stop this downward spiral by establishing innovative forms of resource growth and added value creation cycles.
Friedrich Glauner
CSR Behavior: Between Altruism and Profit Maximization
Abstract
While Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a very broad concept, it mostly refers to firms’ activities that account for the interests of all stakeholders such as customers, employees, shareholders, society (community) and environment and go beyond legal obligations. In other words, firms should actively consider and improve the impact they have on society and drive change towards a sustainable development of their business. The concept of CSR has therefore two important dimensions: (1) the (measurable) integration of social and environmental needs in the firms’ business operations and (2) the voluntary nature of CSR activities. According to the PWC Global CEO survey (2016) 64% of the CEOs see CSR as a core part of their business, 59% of them believe social values are important to attract top employees and 37% agree that CSR attracts investments. Furthermore, the importance of CSR is expected to rise within the next 5 years. However, according to CECP (2016) 53% of the surveyed companies did not increase total CSR spending between 2013 and 2015 (47% decreased total giving, 8% did not change the total sum) leading to an increase in overall spending of only 1%, while 87% of the companies measure societal outcomes and became aware of the strategic dimension of societal outcome measurement. Managers are often caught between the expectations of ethical consumers and the profit-maximizing expectations of the investors, and therefore often use CSR in order to promote their image or their brand. Corporate philanthropy is therefore also used as an instrument to uphold the image of companies (Porter and Kramer 2002). This raises the question whether CSR behavior of firms is more driven by profit maximization strategies that might concentrate on communicating instead on enhancing CSR activities than by altruism and philanthropy and whether altruism is necessary in order to increase CSR behavior.
Klaus Kotek, Alina M. Schoenberg, Christopher Schwand
Sustainability in Fashion: An Oxymoron?
Abstract
The last few years have witnessed an increased interest in sustainable fashion and ethical practices within the fashion industry (Henninger et al. 2016). Sustainability is emerging as a so-called “megatrend” (Mittelstaedt et al. 2014) and in order to stay competitive more and more companies start to use catchwords like “sustainable”, “eco-friendly”, “social” or “ethical” in their marketing communications. But this overdosing of sustainability claims has the effect that consumers very often mistrust such claims, especially when they can’t verify the credibility.
Doris Berger-Grabner
The Bosch Group’s Approach to Innovation and Sustainability Communication
Abstract
The Bosch Group does business in an increasingly sustainable manner with the aim of securing its long-term success and protecting natural resources. In other words, in all of its activities, Bosch takes its responsibility for society, the environment and the climate, its associates and young talents, and its products and customers into account.
Sustainability is a subject that affects the entire company, across functions and hierarchical levels. This is reflected in the Bosch vision and corporate strategy. The Bosch Group’s “Invented for life” strategic leitmotiv plays a defining role in its product portfolio. This paper provides examples that show how protecting the environment and contributing to a sustainable economy are central to the Bosch approach to doing business. Environmental protection drives innovation at the company, and is at the root of many innovations, products, and services. In fact, more than 50% of the Bosch research and development budget—over three billion euros—goes toward developing products that conserve resources and save energy.
Bosch aims to improve the quality of life with innovative, useful, and beneficial products and services that meet the highest standard of quality.
Bernhard Schwager
CSR and Innovation: Anchoring Sustainability in Henkel’s Innovation Process
Abstract
The term CSR—and expectations for how companies address their social responsibility—is often understood in a superficial and overly-simplified way. In many instances, it is used as a synonym for voluntary “citizenship” projects outside of core business activities. Other interpretations suggest that CSR simply involves adherence to minimum requirements for moral and ethical behavior, such as the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact. Similarly, the discussion of CSR is dominated by standards, certifications and reporting requirements, although these only provide a framework for business activities. The full breadth of topics and considerations that the term CSR covers is much more comprehensive, as illustrated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: These 17 goals and 169 targets provide a common understanding and a shared focus on the challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed in order to drive progress toward sustainable development. CSR offers diverse opportunities for first-movers to open up new markets and gain a competitive advantage by leading progress toward sustainable development. For companies aiming to seize this advantage, innovative products, processes and business models play a decisive role.
Uwe Bergmann
GoGreen Technologies: Environmental Innovation at Deutsche Post DHL Group
Abstract
Although the importance of environmental aspects in management has grown continuously over the past years, the meaning and value assigned to the topic by people and organizations still vary widely. For some organizations, environmental responsibility is about being prepared for regulatory changes, for others it’s about anticipating changing customer needs. It also can be about a number of other things, such as cost efficiency, energy security, employer attractiveness or shareholder value. And sometimes it’s simply driven by a sense of environmental consciousness.
Katharina Tomoff, Achim Jüchter
CSR as a Driver of Innovation at Swiss Post
Abstract
In Zurich’s Seebach district, a yellow Swiss Post electric scooter cruises quietly around a corner; a little while later, letters and magazines fall into a private letter box with a gentle push. Farmer Hügli in the Bernese Jura produces biogas on his small farm—as part of Swiss Post’s first CO2 offsetting project on Swiss soil. And he’s about to hand over two parcels to the mail carrier, to save himself the trip to the post office: this service is called pick@home.
Anne Wolf, Michael Heim, Lorenz Wyss
The Responsible Business Model: Perspectives from the Tata Group
Abstract
The Tata group of companies, which completes 150 years in 2018, traces its beginnings to 1868 when Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the founder, setup India’s first large scale textile mill. It has since emerged to be a global conglomerate with aggregate revenues of more than $100 billion and over 660,000 employees today. The longevity of the group provides an effective counter perspective to the declining lifespan of businesses worldwide—for context, nearly 9 of every 10 Fortune 500 companies from 1955 were either gone, merged, or contracted in 2016 while Tata Steel, Tata Power and the iconic Taj hotel in Mumbai have been around for over a 100 years. This journey has also seen the group navigate multiple evolutions in the operating context for its businesses: setting up industries which contributed to a push for economic self-reliance in independent India, adapting to the post liberalization Indian economy in the nineties, successfully riding out the information technology maelstrom at the turn of this century, aligning to new market paradigms after financial crises of 1997 and 2008 and so on.
Shankar Venkateswaran, Sourav Roy
Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Innovation Activities: The Case of Xerox
Abstract
In this chapter we show how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has influenced the research of a large manufacturing company, namely Xerox, during its transition to increase its services portfolio. We explain how a deep and long lasting CSR culture has influenced and effectively nurtured two (successful) research projects in the area of sustainability and the instruments that made this possible. We present each of these projects in detail and show how they facilitate more sustainable behaviour. The first case is to reduce paper waste in the workplace and the second to lower single car occupancy in commuting. Finally, we discuss how these projects enabled us to develop a more general approach to behaviour change in the workplace.
Jutta Willamowski, Yves Hoppenot, Stefania Castellani, M. Antonietta Grasso
GeSI
Abstract
The Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) is a strategic partnership of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector committed to creating and promoting digital technologies and practices that foster economic, environmental and social sustainability. Formed in 2001, GeSI’s vision is a sustainable world through responsible, ICT-enabled transformation. GeSI fosters global and open cooperation, informs the public of its members’ voluntary actions to improve their sustainability performance, and promotes technologies that foster sustainable development. GeSI enjoys a diverse and global membership, representing around 30 of the world’s leading ICT companies and partners with over 30 global business and international organizations such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the World Resources Forum Association (WRFA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), the Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), The Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), the Global Climate Forum (GCF), the World Green Building Council (WGBC), the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), and the International Energy Agency (IEA)—as well as a range of international stakeholders committed to ICT sustainability objectives to share and develop ideas, launch joint initiatives, and collaborate on a broad range of sustainability projects. These partnerships help shape GeSI’s global vision regarding the evolution of the ICT sector, and how it can best meet the challenges of sustainable development.
For more information, see www.​gesi.​org.
Luis Neves
Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Family Firms as Sustainability Pioneers
Abstract
Future-oriented companies have long recognized the call for sustainability to be an important strategic success factor rather than a short-term trend (Lacy et al. 2010; Nidumolu et al. 2009; Schaltegger et al. 2011). Younger customers in particular are increasingly demanding intelligent and sustainable product and service offerings, and employees prefer working for companies with a proven sustainability track record (Jenkin 2015). First signs of this re-evaluation of values have already become apparent—fair trade fashion has never been so chic, organic food has never so in demand, and sustainable employers have never been more popular than they are today (Zukunftsinstitut 2016).
Sylvie Scherrer, Claudia Binz Astrachan
Socially Driven Stakeholder Networks of German Family-Owned Companies as Enablers of Economic Success: A Theoretical and Empirical Study
Abstract
In Germany in many industries like machine building, chemical or automotive family-owned companies stand for above average R&D activities, high quality products, close ties with their customers and outstanding agility. Many of those companies are also well-known for long-lasting and valuable activities in corporate citizenship, mainly focused on their direct neighborhoods and particular stakeholders. The financial success of those companies is often grounded on their networks, as it is typical for the German automotive industry with their close ties to OEMs (see Schäfer and Baumann 2013, pp. 1–2). Since the economic role of such networks for the success of companies in general is well understood, the study of the relevance of stakeholder networks embedded in firm-specific understanding and practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the role of in such a way created social capital and especially the links to family-owned companies are just at the beginning and only few empirical studies on that issue exist.
Henry Schaefer, Friedrich Voelker
Supplier Engagement in the Sustainable Innovation Process: A Qualitative Analysis of Austrian SMEs
Abstract
In order to capitalize on the opportunities offered by changing dynamics and structures, companies need to innovate constantly and sustainably. Despite the fact that opening up the innovation process to include stakeholders can increase companies’ innovation performance and reputation, the concepts of stakeholder engagement and innovation have so far remained rather isolated from each other (Gould, J Technol Manage Innov 7:1–11, 2012). As little is known about how stakeholder engagement is used in the innovation process of SMEs, this study is focused on the importance of supplier engagement for creating sustainable innovations. The analysis shows that suppliers play a stimulating role for SMEs and are increasingly becoming a valuable partner in their innovation process. Collaborating with suppliers is a means to exchange experiences and information on best practices and offers benefits such as operational cost savings, further partnership opportunities along with a better approach to emerging consumer concerns. Technological, social and environmental innovation is necessary to bring about sustainability, and a supplier partnership approach is critical for achieving results.
Christine Bachner
Corporate Social Responsibility: Australian Case Study Innovation Capabilities: Not for Profit: Transforming Families and Children
Abstract
There is growing global awareness of the challenging societal needs of families and children that are having a long-term social impact on the wider community. The increased social complexities of families demand social innovation for services. Many of these services are delivered by Not for Profit (NfP) organisations that operate in risk adverse, political environments.
Wanslea is an NfP with a 75 year history of working with families and children experiencing vulnerability, and developing services in response to local needs in Western Australia. As a case study, Wanslea demonstrates social innovation, making far-reaching differences to the lives of families and children with resulting benefits to society.
This case study demonstrates how Wanslea strategically, through progressive adaptation and evolution, exploitation and exploration, successfully engages family and children by designing proactive and sustainable services and programs. These services improve the innovation performance and create long term, positive social impact. Terms such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Social Innovation are not terms usually applied by Wanslea staff, rather, the focus is on social impact measures being introduced to meet political expectations for social change and funding governance.
By applying four targeted emerging practices, Wanslea has been able to establish the current scaffold that enabled strategic social innovation and resulted in creating social value that positively influenced business and society. The targeted practices included (1) Board strategy and board selection (2) Foundational strategies for aligning research, leadership education and professional practices (3) Brand awareness and reputation and (4) Partnership collaborations.
Tricia Murray, Dianna Vitasovic
Metadaten
Titel
Innovation Management and Corporate Social Responsibility
herausgegeben von
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Altenburger
Copyright-Jahr
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-93629-1
Print ISBN
978-3-319-93628-4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93629-1

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