Stakeholder relations and innovation: The role of ethics, trust and sustainability

As organisations embark on the 21st century it is apparent that there is an ever-increasing need to learn from the events of the recent and distant past in conjunction with the ability to take stock, in real time, of the evermore rapidly transforming present and impending futures. The ability to rethink, reshape, innovate and reconfigure organisational structures, actions, roles and mindsets in manners which embrace agility and flexibility has become central to managing emergent ambiguous and complex contexts and the creation of sustainable organisations and stakeholders in societies (Porritt, 2007, p.33; Docherty et al., 2009, p.3; Crane and Ruebottom, 2011; Mäkinen and Kourula, 2012; Han et al., 2012). Moreover, it is now widely accepted that, within these emergent turbulent and challenging ambidextrous environments, issues of trust and ethics within relationships are intrinsically intertwined (Lavie et al., 2010; Birkinshaw and Gupta, 2013, Shaw, 2014; Mathews and Stokes, 2013). All of the above actions and processes need to be accomplished while maintaining and developing positive relations with stakeholders across a range of social, cultural and geo-political boundaries. This special issue addresses this contemporary complex and dynamic amalgam of issues that confront organisations by drawing together a collection of papers that analyse them from a range of perspectives.

The special issue opens with a paper that focuses upon the development of sustainable client relationships in the centrally important banking industry. Finken et al. explore client migration in the context of unplanned acquisitions amongst private banks located in German-speaking countries during the financial crisis of 2009. The paper emphasises the need for banks to develop a clear understanding of client perceptions in order to establish long term sustainable relationships and concludes by presenting a new model of private banking consumer perception. The special issue progresses by exploring the challenging issue of social responsibility and sustainability and the relationship of these factors to investment.

Negulescu and Doval investigate the issue in the context of Romanian companies and develop a practitioner focused matrix that is designed to aid managers as they develop investment strategies in these areas. The following paper, by Alenina et al., adopts a case study approach to consider sustainable innovation in high-tech Russian pharmaceutical enterprises. In particular, it explores the challenges and issues associated with the maintenance and development of innovative capacity. The authors formulate a number of recommendations relating to the retention and development of employees, the allocation of resources, the development of infrastructure and the need for government intervention to regulate the industry.

The remaining two papers focus on the special issue theme through the lens of small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The paper by Sánchez-Hernández and Gallardo-Vázquez explores the role of social responsibility in developing the competitiveness of Spanish SMEs. The work emphasises the importance of owners and managers adopting a holistic approach to the promotion, adoption and implementation of social responsibility principles in order to enhance competitiveness. The final paper in the special issue investigates the role of SME learning and knowledge transfer in creating sustainable business in the English professional football industry. Moore et al. consider how football clubs responded to the event management challenges and issues that emerged in the wake of a number of stadium crises and tragedies that occurred in the 20th century. The authors conclude that clubs have learned from past events and that they have begun to collaborate to share knowledge and experience in order to create a sustainable.

In summary, the special issue produces a timely and interesting compilation of studies on business and organisational contexts (spanning multinational to SME), sector foci (including banking, sport, pharmaceutical and investment) and European geographical market perspectives (Germany, Russia, Spain, Romania and the UK). Grounded on in-depth analyses, the papers develop solutions and ways forward to the fundamental changes occurring in the contemporary global business environment and make an important contribution to the ongoing debate and exploration of modern business and organisational development.

References Birkinshaw, J. and Gupta, K. (2013) ‘Clarifying the distinctive contribution of ambidexterity to the field of organization studies’, Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp.287–298. Crane, A. and Ruebottom, T. (2011) ‘Stakeholder theory and social identity: rethinking stakeholder identification’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 102, pp.77–87. Docherty, P., Kira, M. and Shani, A.B. (2009) ‘What the world needs now is sustainable work systems’, Creating Sustainable Work Systems. Developing Social Sustainability, pp.1–21. Han, T-W., Kim, G-S. and Lim, D. (2012) ‘Green growth index and policy feedback’, in Vazquez-Brust, D.A. and Sarkis, J. (Eds.): Gree-Growth: Managaing the Transition to Sustainable Capitalism: Learning by Doing in south-East Asia and Europe, Springer, London. Lavie, D., Stettner, U. and Tushman, M.L. (2010) ‘Exploration and exploitation within and across organizations’, Academy of Management Annals, Vol. 4, pp.109–155. Mäkinen, J. and Kourula, A. (2012) ‘Pluralism in political corporate social responsibility’, Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.649–678. Mathews, M. and Stokes, P. (2013) ‘The creation of trust – the interplay of rationality, institutions and exchange’, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Vol. 25, Nos. 9–10, pp.845–866. Porritt, J. (2007) Capitalism: As If the World Matters, Earthscan, London. Shaw, P. (2014) The Age of Agility, Praesta Partners, London.