Interest in the relationship between innovation and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has grown considerably in the last few years. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between a company's technological posture and CSR, as one of the main determinants of technological innovation performance. From knowledge-based and stakeholders' theories a structural equations model of relationships was established and statistically tested through Smart PLS on a sample of Spanish firms from the renewable energy sector. Our findings suggest that in these kinds of industries, leadership postures (proactive strategies) lead firms to engage in high levels of CSR commitment. Moreover, CSR activities are positively related to innovation performance, which suggests that the higher the level of a firm's engagement in CSR activities, the greater the possibility of achieving further innovation derived from the exploitation of its stakeholders' knowledge.
This paper analyzes the relationship between the company’s technological posture and its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment, as a business performance determinant. From knowledge-based and stakeholders’ theories a structural equations model of relationships was established and statistically tested through SmartPLS on a sample of 76 Spanish firms from the renewable energy sector. The results of the empirical study suggest that the most proactive companies are able to develop better relationships with stakeholders and are more committed to CSR than those firms characterized as followers or innovation last-movers. Two main reasons are offered in this paper to justify these results: (1) CSR practices help companies to retain the most highly qualified employees, which contributes to maintaining their leadership position; and (2) technological leaders tend to be more highly committed to CSR as a way of collecting valuable knowledge that can be useful to explore new opportunities by means of innovation, enabling the firm to respond more flexibly to market changes and new stakeholders’ needs as well as changes in their preferences. Moreover, CSR initiatives will contribute to the development of high-value intangible assets such as corporate reputation, which in turn will improve the firm’s financial performance.
In this chapter, the role of knowledge management strategies (KMS) in cooperation agreements is analyzed in a technology-intensive company. Knowledge management in alliances implies to establish an organizational design to both explore and exploit knowledge for achieving competitive goals (for each partner). The importance of alliances for technological companies and the necessity of designing suitable KMS in alliances—in terms of objectives and goals, knowledge management tools, and support systems—are explained first of all. Moreover, the analysis of a case study on KMS in the alliances of a high-tech Spanish company with businesses in innovation intensive settings is developed by the authors. Finally, this chapter will conclude with a discussion on the way that the implementation aspects concerning KMS in cooperation agreements have been managed by the company in order to support technology development and product diversification.
Una de las principales elecciones estratégicas de la empresa es su postura tecnológica, entendida como su propensión innovadora y el momento de introducción de cambios tecnológicos en el mercado. Este trabajo, centrado en el sector de las energías renovables en España, plantea que en entornos en los que el dinamismo percibido por los directivos es alto y la apreciación del cambio mayor, las empresas tienen una mayor tendencia hacia el liderazgo tecnológico (entrada pionera) en detrimento de posturas más conservadoras o de seguimiento tecnológico (entrada tardía). Los resultados del análisis, que se ha llevado a cabo mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales basado en la técnica de mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS), muestran que, efectivamente, el dinamismo percibido está positivamente relacionado con el liderazgo tecnológico, y que esta relación provoca un fuerte efecto sobre los resultados de innovación en términos de generación de nuevas tecnologías tanto en productos como en procesos.A main strategic election for a firm is its technological posture, which can be understood as its propensity to innovate and the moment for the introduction of technological changes into the market. This paper, which focuses on the renewable energy industry in Spain, establishes that in environments in which dynamism is understood by managers as high, and the appreciation of change is greater, firms develop a greater tendency towards technological leadership postures (pioneer or first-mover strategy) rather than conservative or follower postures (last-mover strategy). The results of the analysis, carried out through a structural equation model based on the partial least squares (PLS) technique, show that, as anticipated, perceived dynamism is positively related to technological leadership (first-mover strategy), and that this relationship has a strong effect on innovation performance, in terms of generation of new technologies both in products and processes.
Purpose This paper aims to analyze unexplored connections between economic, environmental and social dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and knowledge management (KM) strategies (exploration, exploitation), also considering environmental dynamism as an influencing variable on these connections. The predicted CSR-KM interplay suggests, from stakeholder and knowledge-based views of the firm, the existence of ideal configurations between CSR and KM strategies that generate differentiated impacts on companies’ innovation capabilities, especially in dynamic environments. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling by means of the partial least squares technique was used to test the study’s hypotheses after collecting survey data from Spanish companies of the renewable energy sector. Findings The study findings show that in highly dynamic environments, companies will tend to commit prominently in CSR, although their orientation (economic, environmental, social) and effects on innovation capabilities will depend mainly on the selected KM strategies. Social and environmental CSR are found to be highly related to KM exploration, whereas economic CSR is highly related to KM exploitation. Nevertheless, while a significant indirect effect of economic CSR by means of the KM exploitation strategy on innovation capabilities is found, the proposed indirect effect of both environmental and social CSR through the KM exploration strategy on innovation capabilities is not significant. Practical implications The results suggest that company managers should be aware of the advantages of following specific paths of investment in KM and CSR initiatives in highly dynamic environments, as there is a potential payoff in terms of innovation capability improvement. The results also suggest that “good” relationships with stakeholders, built from specific CSR investments, make firms able to get valuable knowledge that it is useful to develop KM strategies for innovation capability development. Originality/value Previous studies do not consider the interplay between KM strategies and CSR as a catalyzer for developing a firm’s innovation capabilities. This paper contributes to the KM and innovation literatures by introducing CSR into the conversation about how to improve innovation capabilities in dynamic and sustainable industries by using configurations of KM strategies and specific CSR investments in economic, social and environmental areas.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.