Corporate Social Responsibility as a Driver of Sustainable Innovation: Greening Initiatives of Leading Global Brands
Corporate Social Responsibility as a Driver of Sustainable Innovation: Greening Initiatives of Leading Global Brands
复制标题
企业社会责任作为可持续创新的驱动力：全球领先品牌的绿色倡议
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
2009
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
S. Tello
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Eunsang Yoon;S. Tello
企业对可持续创新的承诺是由一系列驱动力引发的，例如公众和客户对环境问题的日益关注、环境技术的进步、政府法规的执行以及社会活动的压力。新兴的社会责任商业文化也促使企业积极主动地进行可持续创新。对环境负责有助于企业减少社会批评，并吸引寻求绿色产品和服务的客户。本文简要回顾了有关可持续创新驱动力的文献，并通过对声称具有社会责任感的全球领先品牌的案例分析，探讨了最近向可持续创新战略转型的行业实践。保留字：可持续创新、社会责任、全球品牌引言面对当今全球商业市场日益严峻的环境挑战，企业正积极或被动地参与环境保护和资源节约的战略举措。企业对可持续商业计划的承诺受到许多外部和内部力量的推动，包括客户对环保产品的需求，支持可持续创新的技术进步，政府对环境控制的法规，对环境问题的社会行动以及新兴的社会责任商业文化。企业对可持续创新的承诺背后往往是社会责任的概念。例如，3M公司的使命声明宣布全面致力于环境保护、社会责任和经济进步（www.3m.com）。佳能公司提出“为了共同利益而共同生活和工作”作为一种企业哲学，通过创新技术、环境评估系统和采取减少商业活动环境负担的举措，全面致力于环境意识管理（www.canon.com）。美国银行承认，作为一项核心企业责任，需要关心“威胁经济、繁荣和生活方式长期可持续性的商业活动”（www.bankofamerica.com）。本文简要回顾了有关可持续创新驱动力的文献，重点是企业社会责任的实践，通过对全球领先品牌的案例研究，探讨了企业致力于可持续创新的不同方法，并从基准的角度讨论了战略和管理意义。可持续创新的主要驱动因素我们的研究重点关注可持续创新的五个驱动因素的影响：政府干预、社会行动主义、客户需求、技术进步和企业社会责任倡议。虽然有可能将讨论扩大到其他驱动因素，但这些驱动因素可从组织外部观察到，支持外部审查和分析，并与企业对可持续性的反应和战略密切相关。Daly和Portnoy（2004年）认为，如果没有外部干预，环境将无法维持所有人的生活质量。应控制经济增长以保护自然资源，因为不受管制的市场忽视了对公益物的基本需求，使真实的生产成本的很大一部分外部化，并导致对资源分配的垄断控制。Simpson等人（2004年）指出，政府实施管制和激励措施不仅是为了保护环境，而且也是为了提高经济的竞争力。有利于环境研究与开发的公共政策为企业提供了激励，以避免破坏环境，同时保持市场竞争力，尽管从短期来看，企业遵守政府法规需要资金。…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Corporate commitment to sustainable innovation is triggered by a number of driving forces such as the increasing environmental concern of the public and customers, the advancement of environmental technologies, the enforcement of government regulations and the pressure of social activism. The emerging business culture of social responsibility also drives corporations to become proactive toward sustainable innovation. Being environmentally responsible helps corporations reduce their exposure to social criticism and appeal to the customers looking for green products and services. This paper briefly reviews the literature on the drivers of sustainable innovation and explores the recent industry practice of strategic transition to sustainable innovation through a case analysis of leading global brands claiming to be socially responsible business entities. Keywords: Sustainable innovation, Social responsibility, Global brands INTRODUCTION Facing the increasing environmental challenges in today's global business market, corporations are proactively or reactively engaging in strategic initiatives toward environmental protection and resource conservation. Corporate commitment to sustainable business programs are driven by a number of external and internal forces, including customer demand for environmentally sound products, technology advances supporting sustainable innovation, government regulations for environmental control, social activism toward environmental concerns as well as an emerging business culture of social responsibility. The notion of social responsibility often lies behind corporate commitment to sustainable innovation. For example, the 3M Company mission statement declares a comprehensive commitment to environmental protection, social responsibility and economic progress (www.3m.com). Canon, Inc. proposes "living and working together for the common good" as a corporate philosophy leading toward a full commitment to environmentally conscious management through innovative technologies, environmental evaluation systems and the adoption of initiatives that reduce the environmental burden of business activities (www.canon.com). Bank of America accepts, as a core corporate responsibility, the need to care for "business activities threatening the long-term sustainability of the economy, prosperity and the way of life" (www.bankofamerica.com). This paper briefly reviews the literature on the drivers of sustainable innovation, focusing on the practice of corporate social responsibility, examines different approaches towards corporate commitment to sustainable innovation through a case study of leading global brands, and discusses strategic and managerial implications from a benchmarking perspective. KEY DRIVERS OF SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION Our research focuses on the impact of five drivers of sustainable innovation: government intervention, social activism, customer demand, technology advance and CSR initiatives. While it is possible to expand the discussion to other drivers, these drivers are observable from outside an organization, supporting external review and analysis, and are closely related to corporate response and strategy concerning sustainability. Daly and Portnoy (2004) argue that, without external intervention, the environment will not sustain a quality level of living for all. Economic growth should be controlled to conserve natural resources since unregulated markets neglect essential needs for public goods, externalize a significant portion of real production costs and lead to monopoly control over resource allocation. Simpson et al. (2004) observes that governments exercise regulations and incentives not only to protect the environment but also to promote the competitiveness of the economy. Public policies in favor of environmental R&D have provided corporations with incentives to avoid damaging the environment while preserving the competitiveness in the market although, in the short run, corporate compliance with government regulations requires financial resources. …