Intrinsic CSR and Competition: Doing well amongst European SMEs

398 Pages·2020·5.504 MB·English

by  Walter Wehrmeyer, Stéphanie Looser, Mara Del Baldo

Edited by
Walter Wehrmeyer · Stéphanie Looser ·
Mara Del Baldo
Intrinsic CSR and
Competition
Doing well amongst
European SMEs
Intrinsic CSR and Competition
Walter Wehrmeyer · Stéphanie Looser ·
Mara Del Baldo
Editors
Intrinsic CSR
and Competition
Doing well amongst European SMEs
Editors
Walter Wehrmeyer Stéphanie Looser
Centre for Environment and Sustainability University of Surrey
University of Surrey Guildford, UK
Guildford, Surrey, UK
Mara Del Baldo
Department of Economics, Society
and Politics
University of Urbino Carlo Bo
Urbino, Italy
ISBN 978-3-030-21036-6 ISBN 978-3-030-21037-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21037-3
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Foreword
This is the kind of research that we need more in the field of Business,
Ethics and Society. It is based on good theoretical ideas, and these ideas
are developed through case analysis and illustration. The study of CSR
has been the province of large corporations for far too long, and this
volume, focusing on Central-European SMEs and family firms, devel-
ops and extends the idea of intrinsic CSR to smaller enterprises. From
the historical analysis of the Honorable Merchants to more contempo-
rary firms we see the relevance and development of key CSR ideas. The
essays cover the territory both broadly and deeply.
There is a new story of business that is emerging all over the world.
“Business as solely concerned with profits” is an idea whose time has come and
gone. As research and practice move forward we will see many more frame-
works, arguments and analyses of business that do not separate “economic”
from “social”. This book is a welcomed addition to this burgeoning literature.
April 2019 Edward R. Freeman
Darden School of Business
The University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA, US
v
Contents
Part I Introduction: CSR Beyond Formal System
1 Overview: Formal Management Systems, Intrinsic CSR,
and the Role of Culture in Management 7
Stéphanie Looser
2 Honourable Merchants as a Role Model for Responsible
Leadership: History and Perspectives 17
Joachim Schwalbach
3 Company Case Study 1: To (Crafts)Man Up—How Swiss
SMEs Cope with CSR in Harsh Times 35
Stéphanie Looser, Philip Evans Clark and Walter Wehrmeyer
4 Company Case Study 2: Novex AG—Frustration
and the Great European Office Furniture Hunt 81
Tyler Brûlé
vii
viii Contents
Part II Virtue Ethics
5 Overview: Virtue Ethics and Managerial Control 87
Mara Del Baldo
6 Virtue Ethics, Corporate Identity and Success 105
Mathias Schüz
7 Virtue Ethics and CSR: The Two Sides of Sustainable
Organizational Performance 119
Mihaela Constantinescu and Muel Kaptein
8 Company Case Study 3: Loccioni Between Innovation,
People and Future 133
Simonetta Recchi
9 Company Case Study 4: Boxmarche—A Heritage
of Values for a Virtuous Company 153
Mara Del Baldo
Part III Family-Run Businesses
10 Overview: Family Run Businesses and Intrinsic CSR 179
Stéphanie Looser
11 Virtue Ethics, Values of the Founders,
and Organizational Growth 185
Josh Wei-Jun Hsueh
12 Company Case Study 5: The Value of Values in Economy
of Communion Enterprises—Start Up and Governance
of Loppiano Prima 201
Maria-Gabriella Baldarelli
Contents ix
13 Company Case Study 6: Bertola Srl (Italy)—A Family
Business Within the Economy of Communion “Family” 215
Mara Del Baldo
Part IV Business Strategy, Innovation Management
and Growth
14 Strategies, Growth and Innovation: Are There Any
Interlinked Management Configurations? 233
Stéphanie Looser
15 Company Case Study 8: Cucinelli—A Humanistic
Enterprise for a Sustainable Growth and a Sustainable
World 241
Mara Del Baldo
16 Company Case Study 9: Virtues Circles
and Innovation in Corporate Governance of EoC
Enterprises—The Case of the First Business
Park in Brazil 261
Maria-Gabriella Baldarelli
17 Company Case Study 10: Spreading the Culture
of Sustainability—The SGR Group’s Experience (Italy) 273
Elisa Tamagnini and Mara Del Baldo
Part V Staff, Human Resources (HR) and CSR Perceptions
18 Overview: Employee Perceptions
in Innovation-Driven SMEs 299
Stéphanie Looser
19 Company Case Study 12: Employee Perceptions
in Innovation-Driven SMEs—D-Orbit 307
Giorgia Nigri and Giuseppe Lentini
x Contents
Part VI How European Is Intrinsic CSR?
20 Overview: Intrinsic CSR Across Europe 323
Stéphanie Looser
21 Company Case Study 13: Mass Production
and Luxury Segment Partners That Meet
the Stipulation of “No-Contracts” 343
Stéphanie Looser and Seraina Mohr
Part VII Synthesis and Conclusion
22 Synthesis: The Future of Innovation, CSR
and (In-)Formal Management 367
Stéphanie Looser, Walter Wehrmeyer and Seraina Mohr
Index 381
Notes on Contributors
Maria-Gabriella Baldarelli, Ph.D., CPA is associate professor of
Accounting, at the University of Bologna, Department of Management.
Full professor availability, CAST board member, SIDREA board mem-
ber until 2018. Visiting Professor: University of Elbassan (2018); State
University of Tirana (2017) Albania; La Trobe University Melbourne
(Campus Badora) (2015) Australia; University of Pula-Hroatia on May
2006; University of Vlore (Albania) from 12 to 15 May 2009; Visiting
professor—Teaching staff mobility at the New Bulgarian University
of Sofia—Bulgaria from 22 to 27 November 2010; University of Sao
Paulo—Brazil at the end of May–1st June 2011; University of Diocese
of Buia (UDEB)—Camerun—from 4 to 8 February 2012. Partner of
Editorial Board international Review “Economic Research” (UDK
338; ISSN 1331-677X). Research interests includes: accountability and
gambling enterprises; corporate social responsibility; ethical, social and
environmental accounting and accountability, sustainability in tourist
enterprises; responsible and accessible tourism for blind people, econ-
omy of communion enterprises; gender accounting; accounting history.
Tyler Brûlé is the editor-in-chief of Monocle magazine. He first visited
Switzerland as a teen. Now he is running his media empire from a new
xi