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Sustainable Corporate Entrepreneurship: Performance and Strategies Toward Innovation

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  • Anna Katharina Provasnek
  • Erwin Schmid
  • Bernhard Geissler
  • Gerald Steiner

Abstract

The field of sustainable corporate entrepreneurship is in a nascent stage. By developing a position matrix of companies with respect to their corporate entrepreneurship and sustainability performance, we make conceptual contributions to an integrated perspective on elements supporting a sustainable corporate entrepreneurship process. We propose that such a process without evolving corporate sustainability is misleading. Methodologically, we investigate publicly available index ratings to assess strategies for and qualitative measurement of the sustainable development and innovation performance of eight top‐ranked international companies. Findings show that the strategies of the identified companies correspond well to our typology and allow suggestions of where efforts for corporate sustainability and/or entrepreneurship could be reinforced to gain or maintain a benchmark position. The article will clarify underlying elements of, and help to advance strategies for the implementation of, a sustainable corporate entrepreneurship process. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Katharina Provasnek & Erwin Schmid & Bernhard Geissler & Gerald Steiner, 2017. "Sustainable Corporate Entrepreneurship: Performance and Strategies Toward Innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 521-535, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:26:y:2017:i:4:p:521-535
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.1934
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    22. Clementino, Ester & Perkins, Richard, 2020. "How do companies respond to environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings? Evidence from Italy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103046, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    23. Yu Zhang & Xuechun Zhang & Hao Zhang & Lusi A, 2022. "The Influence of External Knowledge Searches on Enterprises’ Innovation Performance: A Meta-Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-23, July.
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