Sustainability reporting is the process by which companies describe how they deal with their own economic, environmental, and social impacts, thus making stakeholders able to recognize the value of sustainable practices. As stressed in the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, which act as a de facto standard for sustainability reporting, sustainable reports should take into account the stakeholders' view. In particular, engaging stakeholders is essential to carry out the materiality analysis, by which organizations can identify their own more relevant sustainability aspects. Yet, on the one hand, the existing guidelines do not provide specific indications on how to get stakeholders actually engaged; on the other hand, research on quantitative techniques to support stakeholder engagement in materiality analysis is scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is the development of a quantitative structured approach based on multi-attribute group decision-making techniques to effectively and reliably support stakeholder engagement during materiality analysis in sustainability reporting. As it more strictly guides the reporting process, the proposed approach at the same time simplifies materiality analysis and makes it more reliable. Though any company can adopt the approach, small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are expected to particularly benefit from it, due to the quite limited implementation effort that is required. With this respect, the approach has been validated on a sample of Italian SMEs belonging to different sectors.
Purpose -The authors aim to investigate the concept of open innovation, identify different open innovation practices which help describe the continuum between closed and open innovation, and propose a framework that suggests an association between innovation contexts and practices.Design/methodology/approach -The authors first identify the variables to describe innovation contexts and practices. Such variables are developed based on the literature and on a previous paper by the same authors in 2011. Then, they establish an association between contexts and practices, and test it through cases drawn from the existing literature. Findings -The paper proposes a detailed assessment of open innovation practices and suggests the association between each of them and diverse innovation contexts. A few case examples drawn from the literature prove coherent with the theoretical framework underlying the proposed association. Practical implications -The authors' results (and specifically the framework) enhance the organizations' awareness of the open innovation concept and the possible practices to implement it, as well as supporting managers to better select open innovation practices in different contexts.Originality/value -This paper discusses the concept of open innovation practices to enhance the comprehension of the open innovation concept. Also, to the authors' knowledge, the proposed association between context and practices is original in that there are no similar theoretical frameworks that help organizations selecting innovation practices.
The growing diffusion of digital technologies, especially in production systems, is leading to a new industrial paradigm, named Industry 4.0 (I4.0), which involves disruptive changes in the way companies organize production and create value. Organizations willing to seize the opportunities of I4.0 must thus innovate their processes and business models. The challenges that companies must face for the transition towards I4.0 paradigm are not trivial. Several digital transformation models and roadmaps have been lately proposed in the literature to support companies in such a transition. The literature on change management stresses that about 70% of change initiatives—independently of the aim—fail to achieve their goals due to the implementation of transformation programs that are affected by well-known mistakes or neglect some relevant aspects, such as lack of management support, lack of clearly defined and achievable objectives and poor communication. This paper investigates whether and to what extent the existing digital transformation models (DTMs) and roadmaps for I4.0 transition consider the lessons learnt in the field of change management. To this aim, a Systematic Literature Review to identify existing models and roadmaps is carried out. The results obtained by the review are discussed under the lens of the change-management literature. Based on that, the shortcomings and weaknesses of existing DTMs are pinpointed. Extant DTMs mainly focus on digital transformation initiatives carried out in manufacturing companies; they do not cover all the phases of the digital transformation process but rather focus on the definition of the I4.0 vision, strategy and roadmap. Little attention is devoted to the implementation and consolidation of digital change. Change management lessons are considered to a limited extent, based on which, some suggestions for better dealing with digital transformation initiatives are discussed. The paper contributes to advancing knowledge on models and approaches to support organizations in managing digital transformation. The identification of change management activities that a digital transformation initiative should involve as well as the suggestions on how to effectively deal with it can be used by managers to successfully lead the I4.0 transition journey in their organizations.
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