International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility
Haydn Green Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Innovation & Sustainability Conference - 4th/5th September 2014
Radical Change in Governing Natural Resources - Call for Papers
There are obvious and increasing pressures on shared natural resources posing challenging questions
about how these resources are to be governed. Considering looming crises and the limited action taken
to prevent them, we need new and radically innovative ways to govern natural resources for a
sustainable future.
Business and management studies are in an opportune position to engage with this topic as, although
corporations are not the only culprit, it is to business that we turn to find innovative solutions. Businessas-usual is not an option. With this conference we aim to advance the discussion at the intersection of
innovation and sustainability. We are interested in themes and papers willing to re-imagine a) policies,
practices and technologies, and b) organizing principles, entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurs, in order
to innovatively and sustainably govern our natural resources compliance.
Corporate Entrepreneurship for Sustainable
Resources Professor Simon Mosey
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Corporate entrepreneurship is defined as the
development of new products, services,
organizational processes and new ways of doing
business. We are interested in research and
practice- based examples considering
entrepreneurship as an approach to managing
resources sustainably including, but not restricted
to:
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Development of radical new technology to replace
natural resource usage in manufacturing, energy
production/distribution, logistics and retail.
Open innovation approaches to developing new
methods of doing business that reduce or replace
natural resource usage.
New partnership models between corporations,
universities and/or the public sector to address
challengers of sustainable energy, water, waste,
food security and land use.
Public Sector Innovation for Sustained
Futures Dr Hannah Noke
With growing pressure on public services, whether in
healthcare, education or local government,
innovation has become central to a sustained future.
With decreasing resources and an increasing
demand for services, there is a requirement for new
ways of doing things, rather than simply doing
things better. We are interested in research and
practice that explores innovative approaches to
enable a sustainable future including and expanding
on:
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Integration of public services to provide cohesive
service delivery, dealing with areas such as
ageing population and priority families.
Leading cultural change to enable the public
sector to deliver a sustainable future, such as
creating new partnerships with social enterprise.
The role of the public sector in developing a
joined-up approach, from policy, strategy,
resources and delivery aligned to achieve
sustainable development.
Private-Public Networks in Service
Innovation & Sustainability Dr Paul Windrum
Public sector organizations are diverse and play
many roles in the innovation process. They are
innovators in their own right, whose innovations are
used by private, third and public sector
organizations. They engage in the co-production of
innovations with partners from the private and third
sectors. They are standards-setters who provide
platforms for profit-making firms and third sector
organisations. They are lead users and large
purchasers of innovations which are developed in the
public and other sectors. We welcome papers that
consider network issues such as:
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Incentives for public-private innovation.
Key resources and capabilities for creating and
sustaining innovation networks and trust
relationships.
Barriers/enablers for the diffusion of new service
innovations.
Differences between technological and nontechnological service innovations.
Movement of key personnel across public and
private sector organizations.
The role of regulation and public sector
procurement policies.
The role of citizens in demand and innovation
networks.
International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility
Haydn Green Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Sustainability & Marketing Theory
Dr Rob Caruana & Dr Robert Cluley
It is unsurprising that marketing is often seen as
contributing to, rather than alleviating, pressures on
the natural environment. Marketing is judged as
‘effective’ when society can consume more, and/or
better, commodities. A key market response to
climate change discourse has been to seek product
innovations that enable a more ‘efficient’ use of
natural resources.
These kinds of market responses seem plausible in
the context of traditional marketing theory, but
critics point out that ‘sustainability’ discourse may be
used to assuage consumers’ climatic anxieties,
reinforce the (neoliberal) status quo and even,
paradoxically, promote higher levels of (‘guilt free’)
consumption. We invite papers that explore how
marketing theory influences our understanding of
sustainability including:
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The role of marketing theory in framing
sustainability knowledge.
The role of marketing in embedding
(un)sustainable practices.
Marketplace myths and framing of the natural
environment.
Sustainable innovation and consumer identity
projects.
Sustainability and resistance.
Global Governance, Multinational
Corporations & Sustainability – Professor
Jeremy Moon, Dr Glen Whelan & Dr Sareh
Pouryousefi
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Citizens’ use of technology (e.g. social media) to
promote the sustainable development
performance of MNCs.
Sustainability, Impact & Innovation
Dr Wendy Chapple
The debate around the relationship between
sustainability, responsible business practices and
competitive advantage has shaped the CSR research
agenda for years. More recently, the tide has
turned, driven by the obvious and increasing
pressure on shared natural resources. Sustainable
business practices are now viewed as a necessary
condition to do business and survive in the long
term. With this drive for sustainable business
practice comes the widening of the concept of
performance, to include broader societal,
environmental and economic impact of companies.
Understanding these impacts is essential for
sustainable business practice. As essential as
innovation and change of behaviour/ technology/
processes/business structures to minimize negative
and maximise positive impact on the environment,
society and economy. We welcome papers
addressing:
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Theories and Methodologies for corporate impact
assessment (CIA) and the assessment of impact
pathways.
Barriers/enablers/resources required for the shift
to corporate impact-orientated approach.
Relationships between impact thinking and
innovation.
Mechanisms to align corporate behaviour and
impact to International Sustainability agendas
e.g. UN Millennium Development/Sustainable
Development Goals.
The role of Government/Rating Agencies/Business
in developing impact assessment and reporting.
The role of Government/Agencies in promoting
impact orientated research and development.
The role of current systems of governance in
developing impact thinking within companies.
Finance, Investment and Impact thinking.
Others papers addressing Impact, Innovation and
Sustainability are welcomed.
Sustainability issues evoke global and complex
concerns, and the role that different actors play in
governing such issues is a contentious subject.
Within the business ethics and corporate social
responsibility literature, global governance concerns
are often discussed in terms of corporations and
citizenship, the political perspective of CSR, and the
professional responsibilities of MNC managers. We
welcome papers that consider such issues as:
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Academic researchers & practitioners
interested in submitting a paper for
presentation should submit an abstract of
1000 words (making sure to indicate one of
the streams) by 30th April 2014 to
karen.maltby@nottingham.ac.uk.
Notification of acceptance will be made on
29th May 2014
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The appropriate ‘division of labour’ between
MNCs, states and non-government organizations.
The sustainable development duties of MNC
managers. The promotion or undermining of
sustainable development global governance
initiatives by MNCs.
Co-optation, rent-seeking, and the motivations of
MNCs in governing sustainability.
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