Integrating CSR in Innovation Value Networks

Innovating in today’s complex, globalized, interconnected markets requires collaborating in stakeholder value networks. It is increasingly unlikely that a single organization possesses all the required resources, power and competences to effectively conduct the full innovation process on its own (Sarkis et al. 2010). Organizations have to find new forms of collaboration to create more sustainable outcomes of the innovation process and to establish long-term relations with their partners and other stakeholders. This development is enhanced by pressure from all kinds of stakeholders to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into organizations’ innovation efforts. The growing interest in CSR among business firms is evident from the high number of organizations that now participate in evaluative firm rankings that benchmark their CSR performance (Chabowski et al. 2011). A BCG study among executives of globally operating firms found that 70% of the participating firms have placed CSR permanently on their management agenda (BCG 2012). For example, environmentally legitimate firms have been found to incur less unsystematic stock market risks (Bansal and Clelland 2004), investors have also realized the added value of organizational CSR efforts. Likewise, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of their own choices (Peloza et al. 2013) and stricter legislation on environmental impact and labor rights are other external triggers for increasing CSR efforts.