One of the key debates in the literature on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries has to do with the role that local industrial districts, or so-called industrial clusters, play in the promotion of CSR in those countries. While there is now an embryonic literature on this subject, we lack systematic, integrated analytical frameworks that can improve our understanding of the role that governance of clusters play in addressing CSR concerns in SMEs in developing countries. This article develops such a conceptual framework drawing on the literatures on cluster governance, CSR, SMEs, and environmental management (EM) as they relate to the developing countries. The authors argue that environmental improvements in SME clusters can be achieved through three basic types of cluster governance: legal enforcement, supply chain pressure, and voluntary engagement in CSR. The proposed framework is an attempt to show how each type of cluster governance is likely to induce different responses in cluster-based SMEs. These responses are related to stages of CSR in which SMEs engage, the barriers to EM they face, the types of EM practices they use, the climate change strategy types they use, and the kinds of benefits that accrue to SMEs from engagement in CSR. The authors put foward a framework that can be useful for both academics and practitioners as they seek to reflect on the interconnectedness of these themes from a research, policy, and practice perspective.
Articles scientifiques
Normative diversity, conflict and transition: Shale gas in the Netherlands
- 08 Décembre
- Clics: 7685
- Articles scientifiques
Publication date: Available online 29 November 2016
Source:Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Author(s): Eefje Cuppen, Udo Pesch, Sanne Remmerswaal, Mattijs Taanman
Few people disagree on the need for sustainable development, but ideas about what it exactly means and how to pursue it diverge considerably. Although such normative conflicts are key to sustainability transitions, attention to such conflicts is lacking in transition studies. In this paper we understand societal conflict as an informal assessment of sustainable transition pathways with the potential for learning about normative ideas about the direction, speed and means of transitions. We analyse the Dutch societal conflict on the plans for shale gas exploration between 2010 and 2013, based on a media-analysis and interviews, in order to identify the normative conflicts and to find out to which extent these normative conflicts resulted in higher-order learning. The two main normative conflicts in the case firstly concern the role of gas in the energy transition, and secondly the balance between local and national interests in defining the public interest. With that, the societal conflict challenges two key elements of the Dutch welfare state. We conclude that there has been higher-order learning as regards the first conflict, but not as regards the second.
Source:Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Author(s): Eefje Cuppen, Udo Pesch, Sanne Remmerswaal, Mattijs Taanman
Achieving environmental sustainability: The case for multi-layered collaboration across disciplines and players
- 08 Décembre
- Clics: 8008
- Articles scientifiques
Publication date: Available online 30 November 2016
Source:Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Author(s): Paul Shrivastava, Nuno Guimarães-Costa
The sustainable development (SD) paradigm challenges global production and consumption, and the legitimacy of corporations. In this paper we examine corporate responses to legitimacy challenges posed by SD. Corporations initially responded to SD with “eco-efficiency” and corporate social responsibility. More recently, we observe a process of multi-layered collaboration that we here call “hybridization”. In this approach corporations meld their interests with those of key stakeholders – government, political actors, public, consumers, and non-governmental organizations – in the process of achieving environmental sustainability. This exploratory study describes several examples of the hybridization strategy. We explore how corporations are being transformed by hybridization and also transforming the capitalist system in the process.
Source:Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Author(s): Paul Shrivastava, Nuno Guimarães-Costa
How can small firms benefit from open innovation? The case of new drug development in Taiwan
- 08 Décembre
- Clics: 7320
- Articles scientifiques
How can small firms manage and benefit from open innovation? We study three Taiwan's biotechnology firms leveraging open innovation in developing new drugs. At the phase of the new drug discovery, two companies acquired technology from external sources. CSRC Synpac Company acquired technology from Professor Yuan-Tsong Chen at Duke University (USA) in 1991. GlycoNex Company acquired technology from Professor Sen-itiroh Hakomori at University of Washington (USA) in 2001. AbGenomics Company developed its own technology at Professor Rong-Hwa Lin's team at National Taiwan University (Taiwan) in 2000. Through technology transfer, CSRC Synpac Company licensed out the new drug Myozyme to Genzyme Corporation (USA) in 2000. AbGenomics Company licensed out the new drug AbGn-168H to Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical (Germany) in 2005. GlycoNex Company licensed out the new drug GNX-8 to Otsuka Pharmaceutical (Japan) in 2009.
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