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.
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.