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Values-Based Stakeholder Management: Concepts and Methods
Abstract
Stakeholders have acquired an active and even pivotal role in strategic management decisions and collaboration formats due to ongoing substantial changes in the corporate world, impacting established management frameworks, concepts and methods. This chapter discusses some of these fundamental changes and demonstrates the impact of (missing) stakeholder engagement for the success of a strategy process. Based on the difference between interests and values a values-based reframing of the stakeholder concept and corresponding management methods is suggested and illustrated with exemplary cases. To support a values-based approach to stakeholder management, new conceptual distinctions and methodical implications are presented. Three forms of stakeholder management are proposed (defensive, integrative, overarching). Furthermore, this chapter shows how to clarify and develop stakeholder values (e.g. by means of ongoing values conversations) and exemplifies how to reframe and adapt methods of stakeholder analysis and management (e.g. as an element of values-based business modelling). A values-based approach to strategic stakeholder management ensures that the course of strategic decisions is not only determined by short-lived attitudes, interests and the best deal negotiators may get, but that it is driven by long-term objectives of diverse participants.
... It is about rethinking the company's purpose and culture to create shared value [11] through new, more sustainable products, processes and practices. This requires the adoption of more human-centred participatory methods such as design thinking and gamification [12]. In this case, the aim is to treat sustainability as a socio-technical challenge that requires mediation among complex and frequently divergent contextual factors, such as technologies, regulations, consumer behaviours and cultures [4]. ...
... Conducting the workshops in person was considered also beneficial for facilitators, so they can read non-verbal communication, feel emotions, grasp what is working and not working and act accordingly [36]. In designing the workshop, the authors worked on two mutually complementing tracks: choosing which gamification techniques could help more in tackling the SOI barriers [12] and including mechanisms for motivating and engaging participants. Since game elements per se do not automatically create better engagement, we used the Octalysis framework [37], which is acknowledged as the most comprehensive method to introduce gamification in work contexts [38]. ...
This research proposes a gamified approach to creating a culture for sustainable-oriented innovation. Specifically, we use action research to explore the mechanisms through which business decision-makers (such as entrepreneurs, executives and managers) reflect on their practices and obstacles to innovation, and then we use gamification to stimulate the involvement and creativity of managers. The main contribution of this paper is the design of a one-day gamified workshop in which participants collaborate first to identify common values and then to drive the co-creation of sustainable innovations. The workshop has been applied with managers of a real company to evaluate its playability and to validate its effectiveness in creating a culture for sustainable innovation.
... Shared values among stakeholders establish a common ground for collaboration or cooperation. Looking through the prism of stakeholder theory, which has played a pivotal role in discourses on corporate sustainability in the past two decades (Freeman & McVea, 2001;Parmar et al., 2010), the values-based cooperation is seen as a prerequisite for effective sustainability management (Hörisch et al., 2014, 341;Breuer & Lüdeke-Freund 2019). ...
... Prior research has shown that values can provide a solid foundation for initiating and strengthening collaboration, cooperation and co-creation among diverse stakeholders. Values that are shared among stakeholders or that can be related in the context of overarching values within the stakeholders' "ordered systems of priorities", as which values have been defined in social psychology (Schwartz, 2012), help to establish a common ground for aligning efforts and pursuing shared goals (Breuer & Lüdeke-Freund, 2019). Moreover, since values underlie both personal and organizational identities (Hitlin & Piliavin, 2004, Ravasi & Schultz 2006, their potentials can be harnessed to trigger and enhance collaborative value creation and capture for sustainability (Oksam et al., 2020). ...
Human values of different stakeholders have been recognized to drive and positively affect innovation efforts. However, too little is known how values-based innovation can be facilitated, which barriers emerge and which challenges persist to turn stakeholder values into action. We need to understand how to establish resilient innovation cultures that reliably create economic, social and environmental benefits. The paper introduces the terminology, theoretical foundations and research design of the European IMPACT project to address these research gaps, and discusses implications for teaching and coaching. It introduces a values-based innovation maturity model and present results from an integrative literature analysis. Results include a comprehensive overview of the values, barriers, and good practices and methods to create values-based innovation cultures. Initial insights show how to facilitate the creation of values-based innovation cultures with a positive impact on societal challenges.
... (IJIM, 2019) We see how more systematic approaches (frames, lenses, constructs, and research agendas) are relevant for exploring both the single firm and network characteristics and mechanism of Values-driven innovation/processes that are much needed. If values are already "difficult to grasp" (Lorr et al., 1973;Pedersen et al., 2018;Schwartz, 2012) and we know "that the best point of sustainable innovation departure is within networks built on shared goals" (Breuer and Lüdeke-Freund, 2019), then our research agenda to substantiate VBIM research with advanced methods for network innovation analysis is justified. If SDGs must/may be leveraged for Sustainable innovation, then advanced methods to investigate the potential of values as "sources, levers, and orientation marks for sustainable innovation" is a profitable enterprise (Breuer and Lüdeke-Freund, 2017d). ...
... SDGs can guide firms' innovation processes towards providing sustainable solutions to tackling complex and interlinked societal challenges on multiple levels; local, regional, and global (Farrell, 2020). Values and more recently, SDGs are available levers and sources to innovatively create a shared future is gaining attention in recent research agenda (B lab, 2020;Walker et al., 2019;Breuer and Lüdeke-Freund, 2019) Achieving sustainable development of the natural environment, human society, and economy is a seemingly complex and unsolvable problem but necessary. So our paper argues that a better understanding of "innovation in Networks "is crucial for discovering these new potentials of SDGs as Values-Based innovation and collaboration levers in and across companies. ...
Deep VBIM is a network centered institutional and digital analysis of the characteristics and mechanisms at play in Values Based-Networks. Values-based innovation management helps organizations leverage values and normative orientations as sources and levers for innovation. However, because we lack advanced methods, we still know little about the characteristics and mechanisms of institutionalization of VBIM in networks engaging in Normative Management. Our research-in-progress moves the Normative Innovation research agenda forward by using institutional theory and open innovation typology of networks. In future work, we employ social network and semantic analysis being "advanced methods", to understand Values-Driven Normative Innovation(VBNI) in a Quadruple Helix Actor-Network. Strategies obtained from the case study interviews are valuable to practitioners looking to leverage normative orientations( Values or Sustainable Development Goals) for complex innovation ecologies.
... Breuer emphasized that value creation among all stakeholders (such as buyers and suppliers), not just shareholders, is important. This perspective allows enterprises to focus on ecological and sustainable development, highlighting stakeholder value management as essential for business success [35,36]. ...
The paper aims to identify the connection between the enterprise’s interest in the stakeholders and their mutual relationship. It examines whether stakeholders’ opinions, priorities, needs, and goals influence the enterprise’s decisions in managing sustainable relationships with buyers and suppliers. Additionally, it explores whether the knowledge regarding the stakeholders (such as their needs, opinions, etc.) affects the relationship between the enterprise and the stakeholders.
Establishing a good, mutual, long-lasting, and sustainable relationship with stakeholders is an integral part of the value creation process and value management. The study first determines whether enterprises implement value management and then assesses the impact of buyers’ and suppliers’ opinions, priorities, and goals on the decision-making process in building these relationships. It also evaluates the strength of these relationships, where a stronger relationship indicates greater sustainability. The focus is on relationships with suppliers and buyers, with responses collected from 385 Slovak manufacturing enterprises. The analysis of how knowledge of stakeholders’ needs, priorities, and goals impacts relationships with suppliers and buyers was conducted separately using the Shapiro–Wilk test, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and ANOVA.
... However, managing collaboration Cultural Tensions and Values-action Gaps in Sustainability-Oriented Innovation across a multitude of organisational boundaries becomes challenging when stakeholders lack a shared understanding of the group's overarching values and goals and instead foreground their short-term interests. VBI management (Breuer and Lüdeke-Freund, 2019) and stakeholder theories (Freeman and Auster, 2015) emphasise that while interests are often used as a means of political negotiation, values largely define the identities of the actors involved and therefore resist simple negotiation tactics. Therefore, establishing a common ground based on shared sustainability values can help stakeholders to identify points of conversion of their situated interests in order to engage in effective collaboration for SOI. ...
European companies have widely adopted sustainability goals as part of their strategy and normative guidelines but struggle to facilitate organisation-wide cultural transformation towards more sustainable development. Despite the rapid development of theoretical concepts and methods for values-based and sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI), we still do not understand the discrepancies between sustainability-oriented values and strategies on the one hand and their insufficient translation into innovation-related practices on the other. In order to advance our understanding of the cultural tensions and values-action gaps that constrain SOI at the organisational level and to derive corresponding measures for building values-based innovation cultures, we conducted ethnographic research at a leading technical inspection company in Germany. The resulting insights reveal tensions and gaps between espoused values of corporate sustainability and everyday practices with regard to innovation culture, vertical and horizontal integration, external interfaces, practices and methods and personal alignment. Their discussion enriches our theoretical understanding of values-based and sustainable innovation practices and identifies areas and entry points for managerial intervention to promote a sustainable innovation culture.
... Thus, Ecosia's case indicates that negotiating and managing partner relations requires awareness and not just a minimum fit but sufficient alignment between the values of different partners [cf. with values-based approaches for stakeholder management in Breuer and Lüdeke-Freund (2019) and Freeman and Auster (2015)]. ...
This paper explores how values-based innovation (VBI) management can facilitate the development of business models and their constitutive components. It analyses the case of the green search engine, Ecosia, to demonstrate and further differentiate the theoretical framework of VBI management. According to the VBI management framework, the development of sustainable business models cannot be appropriately managed and researched without considering values and normative orientations. Ecosia’s case highlights that the continuous reconsideration and negotiation of values is integral to the management of business model innovation (BMI) and contributes to the development and specification of business model components. Thus, the case confirms and contributes to a more in-depth understanding of the role values play in managing innovation and demonstrates some of the challenges encountered in the daily practice of VBI management.
A shared understanding of the basic requirements for modelling sustainability-oriented business is currently missing. This is hindering collaboration, exchange, and learning about sustainability-oriented business models as well as the development of suitable and widely-accepted modelling tools. We contribute toward such a shared understanding based on a theoretical discussion of boundary-spanning and interactive business model development for sustainable value creation. The theoretical discussion feeds into a comparative analysis of the six currently available practitioner tools supporting the exploration and elaboration of sustain-ability-oriented business models. By synthesizing findings from theory and available tools, we define four guiding principles (sustainability-orientation, extended value creation, systemic thinking, and stakeholder integration) and four process-related criteria (reframing business model components, context-sensitive modelling, collaborative modelling, managing impacts and outcomes) for the development of sustainability-oriented business models.
This article reflects on the current state of the dynamically growing research and practice related to sustainable business models (SBMs), motivated by the question of whether dealing with SBMs is just a passing fancy or an emerging field, maybe even a field in its own right. We follow Ehrenfeld (2004), who asked a similar question for the field of industrial ecology in this journal, and reflect on the major beliefs and concepts underpinning SBM research and practice, tools and resources, authorities and the related community of actors. These elements are considered characteristics of a field and must be institutionalised in academia, industry and government for a field to emerge and progress. We therefore also identify some institutionalisation tendencies. As a result, we conclude that SBM research and practice show traits of an emerging field. It is however too early to foresee if it will develop as a sub-field within already established domains (“sub-field hypothesis”) or as a stand-alone field (“stand-alone hypothesis”). We argue that the sub-field and the stand-alone positioning may hamper the unfolding of the field's full potential. Instead, we propose that the SBM field needs to assume the role of an integrative field to break existing academic niches and silos and maximise practical impact (“integration hypothesis”). Our observations indicate that the SBM field is indeed developing into an integrative field and force. But we need to better understand and strengthen this development, for example by crafting a dedicated SBM research programme. A series of critical reviews could be a starting point for such an endeavour.
The role of values and changing values in innovation is not yet well understood. The case of the Tata Nano allows elaborating upon the potentials and risks of values-based innovation through a longitudinal analysis of three stages process: 1) Development guided by the top management vision of safe and affordable mobility for Indian “scooter families”, 2) market entry suffering from a mismatch between customer values, value proposition and marketing measures, and 3) market penetration based on repositioning the product as a smart, modern city car for young achievers. Reconstructing the case helps us to further differentiate the values-based innovation framework, and to understand the impact of diverse stakeholder values on product innovation success. Lessons learned emphasize the need to actively manage stakeholder values, and to make every business model component fit not only to one another, but also to stakeholder values and to the purpose of the whole endeavour.
Every human and every company holds values, but these values remain widely untapped as sources of and drivers for innovation. This book takes a valuesbased view on innovation and its management. It demonstrates the potential of values to integrate diverse stakeholders into innovation processes, to direct collaborative efforts, and to generate innovations that matter – innovations that cater to what we really care about. Historical and current case studies demonstrate how innovation in processes, products, services, business models, and even in whole organisations and networks may be driven and guided by notions of the desirable. Sustainability-orientation and social responsibility, but also values of privacy, safety, equity, or tolerance, qualify as relevant drivers and guidance for innovation within and across organisations. By reframing future scenarios, ethnographic research, and business modelling techniques, powerful methods are described to realise ideals by the means of business.
Innovation management falls short in solving urgent societal problems, if it neglects the power of networks and the values of their constituent actors. Even though network and business model innovation have been acknowledged as innovation categories in their own right, their problem-solving potential remains unexplored. In this article, we argue that purposeful innovation requires considering the shared values of those engaging in innovation processes, where values are understood as subjective notions of the desirable. Values-based innovation can motivate the development of new networks and business models that address complex societal problems, such as the unsustainability of current forms of energy supply. We present a theoretical framework and facilitation methods for values-based network and business model innovation. Both have been applied in an exemplary workshop on regional energy networks in Germany. Reflecting upon the lessons learned from theory and practice, we conclude that crucial starting points for systemic sustainability innovations can be found in values-based networks and business models.
This article presents an overview of the Schwartz theory of basic human values. It discusses the nature of values and spells out the features that are common to all values and what distinguishes one value from another. The theory identifies ten basic personal values that are recognized across cultures and explains where they come from. At the heart of the theory is the idea that values form a circular structure that reflects the motivations each value expresses. This circular structure, that captures the conflicts and compatibility among the ten values is apparently culturally universal. The article elucidates the psychological principles that give rise to it. Next, it presents the two major methods developed to measure the basic values, the Schwartz Value Survey and the Portrait Values Questionnaire. Findings from 82 countries, based on these and other methods, provide evidence for the validity of the theory across cultures. The findings reveal substantial differences in the value priorities of individuals. Surprisingly, however, the average value priorities of most societal groups exhibit a similar hierarchical order whose existence the article explains. The last section of the article clarifies how values differ from other concepts used to explain behavior—attitudes, beliefs, norms, and traits.
Purpose – Although business models that deliver sustainability are increasingly popular in the literature, few tools that assist in sustainable business modelling have been identified. This paper investigates how businesses might create balanced social, environmental and economic value through integrating sustainability more fully into the core of their business. A value mapping tool is developed to help firms create value propositions better suited for sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – In addition to a literature review, six sustainable companies were interviewed to understand their approaches to business modelling, using a case study approach. Building on the literature and practice, a tool was developed which was pilot tested through use in a workshop. The resulting improved tool and process was subsequently refined through use in 13 workshops.
This essay examines links, similarities, and dissimilarities between stakeholder theory and sustainability management. Based on the analysis a conceptual framework is developed to increase the applicability and the application of stakeholder theory in sustainability management. Concluding from the analysis, we identify three challenges of managing stakeholder relationships for sustainability: strengthening the particular sustainability interests of stakeholders, creating mutual sustainability interests based on these particular interest, and empowering stakeholders to act as intermediaries for nature and sustainable development. To address these challenges three interrelated mechanisms are suggested: education, regulation, and sustainability-based value creation for stakeholders.
In the midst of greed, corruption, the economic crash and the general disillusionment of business, current conceptions of leadership, organizational values, and authenticity are being questioned. In this article, we fill a prior research gap by directly exploring the intersection of these three concepts. We begin by delving into the relationship between individual values and organizational values. This analysis reveals that the “value fit” approach to creating authenticity is limited, and also indicates that a deeper exploration of the nature of values and the role of leadership is necessary. More specifically, we propose that organizational values should be viewed as an opportunity for ongoing conversations about who we are and how we connect. Through this type of dialogue which we define as “value through conversation”, we can create what we call poetic organizations. A typology of four interconnected values each of which forms a foundation for the critical questioning and inquiry that might be found in poetic organizations is developed. We suggest that this conceptualization offers a new and dynamic approach for thinking about the relationships between leadership, values, and authenticity and has important implications for both research and practice.
The aim of this paper is to advance research on sustainable innovation by adopting a business model perspective. Through a confrontation of the literature on both topics we find that research on sustainable innovation has tended to neglect the way in which firms need to combine a value proposition, the organization of the upstream and downstream value chain, and a financial model, in order to bring sustainability innovations to the market. Therefore, we review the current literature on business models in the contexts of technological, organizational, and social sustainability innovations. As the current literature does not offer a general conceptual definition of sustainable business models, we propose examples of normative 'boundary conditions' that business models should meet in order to support sustainable innovations. Finally, we sketch the outline of a research agenda by formulating a number of guiding questions.
A considerable body of literature deals with the creation of economic value while increasing corporate environmental and social performance. Some publications even focus on the business case for sustainability which aims at increasing corporate economic value through environmental or social measures. The existence of a business case for sustainability is, however, mostly seen as an ad hoc measure, a supplement to the core business, or simply a coincidence. As a contrast, this paper argues that business model innovations may be required to support a systematic, ongoing creation of business cases for sustainability. A framework for business model innovation is proposed as a means to strategically create business cases on a regular basis as an inherent, deeply integrated element of business activities.
Researchers in all management specialties have discussed and investigated the important role values play in personal and organizational phenomena. However, because research on values has been performed in a wide range of social science disciplines and at different levels of analysis, much of thiswork has been uninformed by other work and is neither well integrated nor systematized, resulting in a great deal of confusion concerning the topic. This article attempts to add order and clarity to this area of research by proposing a framework of values research based on level of analysis and by cataloguing and reviewing the vast theoretical and empirical research in light of this framework. It concludes with a critique of the extant literature and recommendations for further research.
The purpose of this article is to show how the concept of stakeholders in an organization can be used to understand the tasks of the board of directors. The authors argue that a volunteeristic approach to questions of corporate governance which focuses on effective director behavior is preferable to structural change via legislation.
Sustainability innovations are characterized by a systemic nature and require that multiple organizations act in an orchestrated fashion. To jointly identify opportunities and plan sustainability innovations, new methods and approaches are needed. In this article we describe a case study where 8 firms have collaborated to envision and create new business models in the energy industry. After describing this collaborative business modelling (CBM) approach, we discuss its strengths and limitations and compare it to two alternative methods of strategy and innovation planning: scenario technique and roadmapping. We find that CBM creates a powerful platform for (1) jointly identifying economic and societal value, (2) defining value creation/value capture systems, and (3) planning of complex and uncertain future markets.
Over the past decades, the concept of values has gone in and out of fashion within sociology. Relatively recent advances in both the conceptualization and measurement of values offer the potential for a reincorporation of values into sociological work. Sociologists often employ cursory understandings of values, imbuing values with too much determinism or viewing them as too individually subjective. The concept is employed sporadically in sociological subdisciplines. This review maps out the contours of the various approaches to linking values with culture, social structure, and individual behavior. We discuss theoretical and empirical approaches to values, organizing the broad literature to address three questions: (a) What are values? (b) Where do values come from? and (c) What do values do? We identify important research findings and suggest areas for future inquiry.
The concept of effectuation is as subtle as it is profound. On the one hand, it challenges long held beliefs about the nature of cause and effect in social science. On the other hand, it generates a host of new insights about social phenomena. This concept is particularly well suited to analyzing entrepreneurial behavior - behaviors undertaken in settings where the relationship between cause and effect is understood, at best, very poorly.
The purpose of this chapter is to outline the development of the idea of "stakeholder management" as it has come to be applied in strategic management. We begin by developing a brief history of the concept. We then suggest that traditionally the stakeholder approach to strategic management has several related characteristics that serve as distinguishing features. We review recent work on stakeholder theory and suggest how stakeholder management has affected the practice of management. We end by suggesting further research questions.
The literature on strategy formation is in large part theoretical but not empirical, and the usual definition of "strategy" encourages the notion that strategies, as we recognize them ex post facto, are deliberate plans conceived in advance of the making of specific decisions. By defining a strategy as "a pattern in a stream of decisions," we are able to research strategy formation in a broad descriptive context. Specifically, we can study both strategies that were intended and those that were, realized .despite intentions. A research program suggested by this definition is outlined, and two of the completed studies are then reviewed--the strategies of Volkswagenwerk from 1934 to 1974 and of the United States government in Vietnam from 1950 to 1973. Some general conclusions suggested by these studies are then presented in terms of three central themes: that strategy formation can fruitfully be viewed as the interplay between a dynamic environment and bureaucratic momentum, with leadership mediating between the two forces; that strategy formation over time appears to follow some important patterns in organizations, notably life cycles and distinct change-continuity cycles within these; and that the study of the interplay between intended and realized strategies may lead us to the heart of this, complex organizational process.
Conventional marketing thinking is increasingly unable to cope with the ecological, social and commercial realities that confront
mankind. This conceptual article presents a vision of an integrated approach to ‘sustainability marketing’ and highlights a number
of innovative ways in which this differs from the conventional marketing management mainstream.
The concept of a value chain has assumed a dominant position in the strategic analysis of industries. However, the value chain is underpinned by a particular value creating logic and its application results in particular strategic postures. Adopting a network perspective provides an alternative perspective that is more suited to New Economy organisations, particularly for those where both the product and supply and demand chain is digitized. This paper introduces the value network concept and illuminates on its value creating logic. It introduces Network Value Analysis (NVA) as a way to analyse competitive ecosystems. To illustrate its application, the provision of mobile services and content is explored to identify potential strategic implications for mobile operators.
A shared understanding of the basic requirements for modelling sustainability-oriented business is currently missing. This is hindering collaboration, exchange and learning about sustainability-oriented business models as well as the development of suitable and widely-accepted modelling tools. We contribute toward such a shared understanding based on a theoretical discussion of boundary-spanning and interactive business model development for sustainable value creation. The theoretical discussion feeds into a comparative analysis of the six currently available practitioner tools supporting the exploration and elaboration of sustainability-oriented business models. By synthesising findings from theory and available tools, we define four guiding principles (sustainability-orientation, extended value creation, systemic thinking and stakeholder integration) and four process-related criteria (reframing business model components, context-sensitive modelling, collaborative modelling, managing impacts and outcomes) for the development of sustainability-oriented business models.
The purpose of this chapter is to outline the development of the idea of "stakeholder management" as it has come to be applied in strategic management. We begin by developing a brief history of the concept. We then suggest that traditionally the stakeholder approach to strategic management has several related characteristics that serve as distinguishing features. We review recent work on stakeholder theory and suggest how stakeholder management has affected the practice of management. We end by suggesting further research questions.
The “business case for sustainability” is a notion often referenced in the corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility literature. Whereas some see sustainability and the business case as contradictions and thus emphasize the existence of trade-offs, others highlight how (potential) business cases can be created by managing ecological, social, and economic aspects. Both views have in common that the “business case” is implicitly or explicitly seen as creating financial performance, often for one group of stakeholders, only. The fact that a business case is not a given phenomenon but has to be co-created in the exchange between and with contributions from various stakeholders has so far not been analysed in depth. By taking a stakeholder theory perspective, this article extends the existing research on what business and a business case are about and analyses the understanding of business cases for sustainability and how they can be created with and by stakeholders.
There is ambivalence and uncertainty surrounding the stakeholder value impacts of increasingly influential collaborative consumption (CC) business models. While we observe such models expanding from developed to emerging economies we lack an understanding of the role played by the local context in which they are embedded. It can be assumed that stakeholder value impacts, both positive and negative, are particularly pronounced in emerging economies. We thus ask, what are the stakeholder value impacts of CC business models and how are they influenced by an emerging economy context? Based on case studies in transport and cleaning services in South Africa, we develop a model of the three-way interactions between local context, CC business model, and stakeholder value impacts. Further, we define CC business models as manifestations of two-sided markets, which allows us to better understand their positive and negative impacts on their key stakeholders. Our analysis shows that both new and established CC business models must be carefully adapted to local contexts to make best use of their potential to create stakeholder value and to avoid unintended negative impacts on vulnerable social groups.
Eine Studie der Universität Oxford aus dem Jahre 2003 beziffert die Erfolgsquote bei durchgeführten IT-Projekten in Unternehmen mit ca.16 % und bescheinigt damit einen sehr geringen Anteil. Misslungene Projekte sind nicht nur ärgerlich, sondern mit (zum Teil erheblichen) wirtschaftlichen Konsequenzen behaftet.
Radical innovation may root its basic ideas in user values of unforeseen futures. Still, pursuing great opportunities with high risks creates new management challenges. Involving valuable sources of knowledge from the early phases of innovation projects into engaging interactions is a critical success factor for innovation strategy. The chapter describes and reinterprets the concept of user-centered radical innovation and how it is applied within the open innovation approach of Telekom Innovation Laboratories—the corporate research and innovation centre of Deutsche Telekom. The approach is based on tools tailored to three innovation phases: initiation, value proposition and market driving. An initiation project combining scenario analysis with futures workshops demonstrates methods to explore and ideas to address new solution beyond the beaten tracks in the design space of mobile payment.
Despite growing awareness of behavioral economics, very few corporate strategists consciously take into account in their decision making the cognitive biases-systematic tendencies to deviate from rational calculations-revealed by the discipline. Yet new McKinsey research highlights the significant financial benefits that come from "debiasing" decision making. The size of this prize makes a strong case for practicing behavioral strategy, a style of decision making that incorporates the lessons of psychology. New norms for managing meetings, gathering data, discussing analogies, and stimulating debate are crucial. So is discussing such biases in simple language that's grounded in the reality of corporate life, not the specialized language of academia.
Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach was first published in 1984 as a part of the Pitman series in Business and Public Policy. Its publication proved to be a landmark moment in the development of stakeholder theory. Widely acknowledged as a world leader in business ethics and strategic management, R. Edward Freeman’s foundational work continues to inspire scholars and students concerned with a more practical view of how business and capitalism actually work. Business can be understood as a system of how we create value for stakeholders. This worldview connects business and capitalism with ethics once and for all. On the 25th anniversary of publication, Cambridge University Press are delighted to be able to offer a new print-on-demand edition of his work to a new generation of readers.
While a consensus appears to have evolved among many sustainability researchers and practitioners that sustainable development at the societal level is not very likely without the sustainable development of organizations, the business model as a key initiating component of corporate sustainability has only recently moved into the focus of sustainability management research. Apparently, the usual approaches to sustainable development of philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and technological process and product innovation are insufficient to create the necessary radical transformation of organizations, industries, and societies toward genuine, substantive sustainable development. More in-depth research is needed on whether both modified and completely new business models can help develop integrative and competitive solutions by either radically reducing negative and/or creating positive external effects for the natural environment and society.
Firms increasingly organise their innovation activities in networked environments, including specific models such as supplier-network innovation, coopetition, or open innovation with a large set of stakeholders. These types of business and network models for innovation are often discussed from one of two main approaches - the strategic or the structural. The strategic approach examines the focus and logic of innovation in networks, and the structural approach analyses the network position and the related value creation and capture possibilities of a focal actor related to the position. In this study, these two approaches are combined in the attempt to provide an overview of this increasingly important topic in innovation management.
Building on Thompson's (1967) typology of long-linked, intensive, and mediating technologies, this paper explores the idea that the value chain, the value shop, and the value network are three distinct generic value configuration models required to understand and analyze firm-level value creation logic across a broad range of industries and firms. While the long-linked technology delivers value by transforming inputs into products, the intensive technology delivers value by resolving unique customer problems, and the mediating technology delivers value by enabling direct and indirect exchanges between customers. With the identification of alternative value creation technologies, value chain analysis is both sharpened and generalized into what we propose as a value configuration analysis approach to the diagnosis of competitive advantage. With the long-linked technology and the corresponding value chain configuration model as benchmark, the paper reviews the distinctive logic and develops models of the value shop and the value network in terms of primary activity categories, drivers of cost and value, and strategic positioning options.
This 1988 volume is a collection of thirteen seminal essays on ethics, free will, and the philosophy of mind. The essays deal with such central topics as freedom of the will, moral responsibility, the concept of a person, the structure of the will, the nature of action, the constitution of the self, and the theory of personal ideals. By focusing on the distinctive nature of human freedom, Professor Frankfurt is able to explore fundamental problems of what it is to be a person and of what one should care about in life.
The stakeholder theory has been advanced and justified in the man- agement literature on the basis of its descriptive accuracy, instrumen- tal power, and normative validity. These three aspects of the theory, although interrelated, are quite distinct; they involve different types of evidence and argument and have different implications. In this article, we examine these three aspects of the theory and critique and integrate important contributions to the literature related to each. We conclude that the three aspects of stakeholder theory are mutually supportive and that the normative base of the theory-which includes the modern theory of property rights-is fundamental. If the unity of the corporate body is real, then there is reality and not simply legal fiction in the proposition that the man- agers of the unit are fiduciaries for it and not merely for its individual members, that they are . . . trustees for an institu- tion (with multiple constituents) rather than attorneys for the stockholders.
In today's complex, knowledge and innovation-driven economy, innovating business models and their architecture is in growing demand. Innovating business models to become network-based is a complex venture, but critical for the survival of many companies. Business model innovation is not widely researched, though. This paper examines the development of new business models in three networks and focuses on the challenges related to that. A key finding concerns the network partners' very different business models and success criteria related to the innovation process and outcomes. The network partners' value equation in a new network-based business model is complex to understand but nonetheless important to drive and lead the model from idea – through the innovation process – to the market. Another interesting finding is the big difference in network construction and demand of change to the individual network partners' business models.
The growing complexity of the business environment and the increased speed of change in systems, technologies and markets raise the question of whether human beings will be able to control the forces at work in the 1990s. The question is relevant for our ecological and social environment, and also for our institutions. Systems seem to be approaching the limits of their controllability. Thus a change of paradigm in the management of organizations seems to be underway which seeks new approaches to solving management problems in turbulent times.
In this article the author argues that there are three main challenges for the company which wishes to be known for its strategic prowess. These are the need to search a changing environment with respect to both threats and opportunities. The second challenge is to ensure organizational response, while the third—that which is least understood—is the challenge of coping with an active intrusive environment which is made up of individuals and organizations which seek to influence the strategic decision of the enterprise.The author does not offer a series of ready-made answers to the problems posed, but rather, suggests that planners need to take cognizance of the third challenge when developing strategies.
ABSTRACT Countering the “mystique” of finance as abstract and disembedding, in this article I approach the financial market from the site of investment banking corporate culture to concretize large-scale processes and access its effects in the world. By investigating Wall Street investment banks’ role in two pivotal socioeconomic phenomena—rampant downsizings throughout “corporate America” and the financial bubble and bust of 2001—I explore whether financial crises and corporate downsizing can be better understood via Wall Street's quotidian practices. I draw theoretical inspiration from the figure of the downsized investment banker, who embodies and connects Wall Street's rationales for downsizing as well as “the effects.” Although shareholder value and externalized market justifications are Wall Street's models for understanding downsizing, I move beyond these dominant assumptions, demonstrating that bankers’ own work experiences, market temporalities, and organizational culture serve as an incisive model to explain Wall Street's role in downsizing and financial crisis. [Keywords: Wall Street, corporate downsizing, financial markets, shareholder value, organizational culture]
Understanding when entrants might have an advantage over an industry's incumbent firms in developing and adopting new technologies is a question which several scholars have explained in terms of technological capabilities or organizational dynamics. This paper proposes that the value network—the context within which a firm competes and solves customers' problems—is an important factor affecting whether incumbent or entrant firms will most successfully innovate. In a study of technology development in the disk drive industry, the authors found that incumbents led the industry in developing and adopting new technologies of every sort identified by earlier scholars —at component and architectural levels; competency-enhancing and competency-destroying; incremental and radical—as long as the technology addressed customers' needs within the value network in which the incumbents competed. Entrants led in developing and adopting technologies which addressed user needs in different, emerging value networks. It is in these innovations, which disrupted established trajectories of technological progress in established markets, that attackers proved to have an advantage. The rate of improvement in product performance which technologists provide may exceed the rate of improvement demanded in established markets. This mismatch between trajectories enables firms entering emerging value networks subsequently to attack the industry's established markets as well.