Nigel John Roome and Ronald Bergin
This paper seeks to present a longitudinal case study of Ontario Hydro – an industrial organization that used sustainable development as the basis for a strategy of social and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to present a longitudinal case study of Ontario Hydro – an industrial organization that used sustainable development as the basis for a strategy of social and organizational transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes the complex factors that influenced the formulation and implementation of this strategy.
Findings
The findings indicate the advanced ambition and authenticity of Ontario Hydro's strategy, even though it was formulated some ten years ago. The study suggests that the strategy was abandoned for reasons that include the gap between the processes identified in the strategy and the processes followed in practice, the absence of platforms to discuss and agree the meaning and practice of sustainable development within the company and its wider system, and the scarcity of skills to facilitate sustainable development as a process of multi‐actor innovation. Consequently, the concept of sustainable development was not translated into practices that had shared meaning for the many actors involved in the energy system of Ontario. While based on a case study of one organization, the findings appear to speak to more general issues of sustainable development as the management of organizational and contextual change.
Practical implications
The paper indicates much about the process of organizational change to effect more sustainable practices within a company and its social context.
Originality/value
No other organization has pursued a strategy for sustainable development with the same claim to authenticity as that of Ontario Hydro, where the strategy was cross‐referenced to Agenda 21 and developed with input from some of the main architects of Agenda 21. Moreover, few studies of sustainable development in the literature span a period as long as this case.
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Alessia D'Amato and Nigel Roome
The literature on corporate responsibility (CR) increasingly recognizes the importance of leadership in support of organizational change. This is particularly the case when CR…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature on corporate responsibility (CR) increasingly recognizes the importance of leadership in support of organizational change. This is particularly the case when CR provides the basis for the business contribution to sustainable development, which is understood to involve organizational and social innovation leading to change. The paper draws on theoretical and empirical studies to examine leadership for CR as a particular example of management innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops a model of leadership for CR as the business contribution to sustainable development by confronting and integrating the literatures on management innovation and leadership for CR. The proposed model is consistent with the direction, alignment, commitment (DAC) framework that fosters a culture of organizational leadership relevant to the specific case of business and sustainable development.
Findings
The process model described in the paper connects leadership in organizational change with literature on management innovation. The paper draws on theoretical and empirically grounded literature on management, corporate responsibility and organizational psychology. It puts forward a sequence of mechanisms that contribute to successful change and discusses how they are linked. This sequence provides a process model of leadership practices for CR as the business contribution to sustainable development viewed as a particular form of management innovation, which involves the advancement of leadership practices for CR as organizational and social change.
Research limitations/implications
The model is useful as a reference to practice and as a basis for leadership development. In terms of theory the model needs to be more thoroughly tested in empirical settings to understand better the interdependencies between leadership practices for CR and management innovation.
Originality/value
This process model is the first attempt to develop a comprehensive understanding of CR in a management innovation framework. In doing this it moves beyond the recent focus on leadership skills and competences of individuals.
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Sabaf, a world‐leading manufacturer of components for domestic gas cooking appliances, went through a transformation process between 1993 and 2005 to develop a strategic approach…
Abstract
Purpose
Sabaf, a world‐leading manufacturer of components for domestic gas cooking appliances, went through a transformation process between 1993 and 2005 to develop a strategic approach to corporate responsibility that embedded social, environmental and governance issues into its organisation, its approach to business and its overall performance. This case describes the learning and change process within the company that set the ground for today's success.
Design/methodology/approach
This teaching case builds on data gathered through sites visits, interviews and company materials. The case research protocol explored the notion that the company was learning how to interact, and respond to its changing context, while its responses were creating the ground for internal organisational change that in turn would impact the relationship between the company and its context.
Findings
While on the surface the change process which Sabaf experienced can be regarded as a move from an implicit to a more explicit approach to corporate responsibility, it is also possible to take the view that the company was engaged in developing a more “humanistic” approach to management that permeated the whole organization. What became explicit at Sabaf was not corporate responsibility but rather the term “corporate responsibility” used to describe much older concepts of business that valued people and the natural environment alongside economics. The case also shows the process of organizational leadership for learning, management innovation and change that supported the processes through which this approach was developed and integrated into the company.
Originality/value
This case provides unique insights into the approach Sabaf adopted in its pioneering transformation to become a leading corporate responsibility company and a world leader in its sector. This case can be used as a benchmark for other companies that might embark on the process of integrating corporate responsibility and business performance as a strategic process that has effects that cut across the business as a whole.
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Fabien Martinez, Patrick O’Sullivan, Mark Smith and Mark Esposito
The purpose of this paper is to examine the conceptual construct of social innovation in business as distinct from social innovation implemented by civil society and the state…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the conceptual construct of social innovation in business as distinct from social innovation implemented by civil society and the state. The general absence of sustained research and analysis of this phenomenon, and the dominance of grey and policy-oriented literature, mean that a broadly accepted definition of how social innovation theorises the changing role of business in society is missing
Design/methodology/approach
An integrative review of the representative literature on social innovation was conducted. The analysis focused on the key arguments made about the involvement of business actors in processes of social innovation and interweaved in this study to build a logically coherent definition of what social innovation in business means for the bulk of those who write and speak about it today. The scope of the literature review was expanded by integrating insights from the extant “business in society” and social innovation literatures, thereby adding clarity to the authors' conceptualisation.
Findings
The findings indicate that social innovation is best understood as a process driven by human relations, morality and creative capacity breaking routines and path dependencies. It fundamentally relies on the socially constructed dynamics between business and social actors who carry ideas, focus their energies, mobilise competences and create new complementarities to tackle social problems. Economic gain, in this approach, is at best an outcome of social innovation, not its engine.
Originality/value
What this literature review unveils that is unique about social innovation, and contributes to an enrichment of the “business in society” debate beyond the business case and win-win scenarios depicted by most scholars in this field, is that it best manifests itself as an informal social process that comes into existence at the margins of conventional ways of thinking and organising business activities. Business actors involved in social innovation are framed as self-directed and self-organised around the moral purpose of fostering social progress.
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Abstract
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Reports on the production, by the British Standards Institution, of two new standards which are closely linked to the ever‐popular BS 5750. Looks at the standards and sets the…
Abstract
Reports on the production, by the British Standards Institution, of two new standards which are closely linked to the ever‐popular BS 5750. Looks at the standards and sets the scene with an overview of BSI′s plans for the future. Emphasizes that the customer and member is king, also the need to become user‐friendly. Concludes by reporting that the best way forward is to produce a single generic standard which has all the necessary elements and which is supported by specific guidance notes relevant to different people. Asserts that BSI will be the first standards body to do so.