Sustainability along the value chain: collaborative approaches and their impact on firm performance

Heeding the call for a deeper understanding of the key differences in corporate approaches to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and their impact on performance, we collect and analyse data on a sample of 91 Italian firms in the consumer product industry engaged in upstream and downstream sustainability initiatives. Results show that companies differ in the extent to which sustainability is shared along the chain. Yet, the more companies collaborate through a strong sustainability orientation, the higher the impact on supply-chain related performance, with companies adopting a proactive attitude to SSCM being able to benefit the most from it

Alliance management capabilities in sustainability‐oriented collaboration: problematization and new research directions

Sustainability-oriented collaboration, a heterogeneous set of formal interorganizational arrangements that vary considerably in size, membership, focus and functioning, but share the same interest in addressing sustainability challenges of public concern, is becoming a mainstay of corporate agenda setting. Yet, the more firms interact on social and environmental issues, the more the burdens and tensions of collaborating for sustainability become apparent. Research and practice increasingly question whether an alliance management capability (AMC) perspective can be adopted to explain variability in collaboration effectiveness. With the aim to investigate whether, and to what extent, existing sustainability-oriented collaboration research integrates or challenges mainstream theory on AMC, we adopt a problematization method to unpack the root assumptions underlying the AMC construct. We find that self-interest in economic value creation and capture, the need for homogeneity to favour knowledge accumulation and learning on alliance management, and predictable patterns of AMC deployment are consistently assumed by scholars to predict success in alliance management. Accordingly, we analyse AMC assumptions’ current integration in the study of sustainability-oriented collaboration, conducting a systematic literature review on collaborative capabilities developed for, during and in response to sustainability challenges. In so doing, we identify what distinguishes sustainability-oriented collaboration from mainstream strategic alliances and the related implications on the collaborative capabilities firms should develop and deploy when dealing with sustainability challenges. We elaborate on these and their implications for AMC constructs to provide a future research agenda, which integrates further theoretical perspectives and broadens the scope of existing ones

Making the most of corporate social responsibility reporting: Disclosure structure and its impact on performance

Purpose – Examining a three-year disclosure experience of a sample of Fortune 100 global companies, the paper aims to propose and test a model that relates the structure of CSR disclosure to corporate social performance. Based on the results obtained, it proposes to draw implications for emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach – Combining content analysis of CSR reports and corporate social performance data, the paper built a longitudinal dataset starting from the population of worldwide companies included in the AccountAbility Rating between 2004 and 2007. Longitudinal regression analysis is performed on a final sample size of 114 firm-year observations involving 38 firms over a three-year period. Findings – The paper finds evidence that the level of disclosure does not improve firmability to manage stakeholders. However, a finer-grained analysis of the structure of disclosure shows that better social performers are those who increased the breadth of their disclosure to stakeholders and uniformly distributed disclosure across stakeholders. Research limitations/implications – Results provide an empirical test for the theories describing true responsible economic actors as those who are able to combine high engagement with the social context of reference and balanced coverage of diversified interests. However, the study suffers the usual limitations of content analysis-based research, as well as exclusively relying on CSR disclosure by large corporations. Practical implications – Findings suggest not only the importance of structuring the report in a comprehensive way, and extending coverage to multiple stakeholders and related issues, but also the need for balance between informative needs, thus avoiding concentrated structures. Accordingly, companies that report on more themes, presenting a balanced and comprehensive product, develop a better ability to manage their stakeholder network, thus gaining higher corporate social performance. Originality/value – The study seeks to revisit the relation between CSR disclosure and corporate social performance, answering the request for more rigorous measures. It goes beyond the level of disclosure as a comprehensive proxy of firm-stakeholder dialogue and demonstrates how a finer-grained analysis of the structure of disclosure can be a better predictor of superior performance

Social Entrepreneurship: Innovation and Social Change across Theory and Practice

SE as a field of research is a relatively recent phenomenon. This book tries to set the research agenda for the field

Leveraging social change through entrepreneurship

The chapter describes the links between the identification of social gaps, the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities, and social innovation through the process of organizational launching

A multi-stakeholder perspective on social business planning: Opportunity discovery and exploitation in the case of Dynamo Camp.

Despite pointing out to effective planning as conducive to success in hybrid, cross-industry contexts characterized by a general lack of consolidated track records and reference frameworks, evidence is still anecdotal on the specificities and challenges of social business planning. Our study aims at filling this gap in the literature and managerial practice by providing a stakeholder-based analysis of the relevance of planning in the shift from opportunity recognition to exploitation of a social entrepreneurial project. Building on empirical evidence emerged from the analysis of planning efforts in the pre-launching stages of the Dynamo Camp - the first holiday camp in Italy specifically designed for children suffering from life-threatening and chronic illnesses, who are in remission or post-hospitalization - we elaborate on the main challenges and key characteristics of planning in the social sector. We contribute to existing research on social entrepreneurship by showing the peculiarities of social entrepreneurial processes having an impact on planning, as well as the impact of social planning on the ability of the entrepreneurial team to manage the relations with the stakeholders involved. A stronger emphasis on intangibles, the risk of over-commitment to the social mission, the heterogeneity of the stakeholders involved, and the fragmentation of the markets for resources emerge as the most critical aspects to be managed through planning. Accordingly, planning emerges as a tool to reconcile conflicting objectives in the pursuit of the social mission, motivating personnel, partners and stakeholders around specific tasks and expected results, while reducing ambiguity by its support to procedure formalization

Corporate Sustainability, Intangible Assets Accumulation and Competitive Advantage *

The article bridges corporate sustainability (CS) and intangibles, deepening the mechanisms linking specific stakeholder-related CS policies and practices to intangible asset accumulation and competitive outcomes. The implementation of CS strategies, practices and processes strengthens company ability to identify, protect and give value to inimitable resources, stimulating the development of intangibles related to human capital, innovation and knowledge, culture and reputation

Il caso LifeGate: Diffondere l’eco-cultura

Il capitolo descrive i tratti distintivi del caso LifeGate Spa fondata nell'aprile del 2000 da Marco e Simona Roveda per rispondere a una sfida: diffondere attraverso l'informazione, la comunicazione, progetti imprenditoriali innovativi e, soprattutto, l'esempio concreto il messaggio della CSR. LifeGate infatti non è solo promotrice attiva di questa nuova visione della gestione aziendale, che tenga conto, in ottica integrata, degli impatti sociali, economici e ambientalli dell'attività imprenditoriale, ma è essa stessa esemplare nell'applicazione della filosofia di gestione che propone

When Corporate Social Responsibility Becomes a Business Model: The Case of LifeGate

This case encourages readers to think about corporate social responsibility as a strategy not only to be perceived as different by the market but also to make the difference on the market, introducing innovations addressed to generate social change in a self-sufficient, sustainable way. CSR and environmental sustainability are not only words in the LifeGate mission, but pervasive managerial guidelines to innovate and create value