Enhancing green innovation through collaborations : the impact of corporate governance and green promoters in open innovation
Creators: name: Kühne, Florencia Elina
Publisher: name: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften
Year: 2024
Subjects: 338.927: Umweltökonomie und nachhaltige Entwicklung

description: Organizations and corporations are increasingly adopting green innovation to achieve both environmental protection and economic growth. Green innovation offers to be one of the solutions to the sustainability challenge. However, green innovations face barriers such as the need for new resources and skills and lack of knowledge and technology. In today's dynamic business environment, corporates increasingly recognize the benefits of collaborating with startups to promote innovation, open new markets, and secure competitive advantages. Non-equity-based collaboration with startups is a growing and successful innovation driver for corporates. The primary motivation for corporates to collaborate with startups is to draw on external and existing technology and expertise. This thesis investigates how non-equity-based open innovation can enhance green innovation within corporate settings. 

The primary research question is: How can non-equity-based open innovation methods enhance green innovations within corporate settings? Sub-questions examine the influence of corporate governance and the role of green promoters in strengthening this relationship. The study combines a comprehensive literature review with empirical data from expert interviews (n=12; Open Innovation Mangers in corporates) in the finance, energy, food, and media industries. The qualitative data was analyzed using a content analysis technique to identify common themes and patterns that address the research questions. 

Results indicate that non-equity based open innovation enhances green innovation by providing access to essential resources, such as skills and knowledge, through partnerships and networks that companies cannot develop internally. This method helps companies address the challenges of green innovation. Interviews revealed that green promoters with their responsible behavior strengthen the link between non-equity based open innovation and green innovation. Corporate governance, including corporate social responsibility, sustainability strategies, and regulations, influences green innovation. However, interview results revealed that corporate governance is not as significant a factor as suggested in the literature review and needs further research within the nonequity based open innovation framework.
 
Key conclusions highlight the importance of strategically integrating open innovation to develop green innovation through competencies and relationships from collaborations with startups or other players. Practical recommendations for companies include fostering a culture of collaboration to access missing resources for developing green innovation. An open innovation manager in a corporate can act as a green promoter and strengthen green innovation through responsible behavior. 

The results focus on corporates in Switzerland and Germany and are limited to the mentioned industries. Future research should expand the sample size and explore quantitative data to further validate these findings and offer deeper insights into the mechanisms driving green innovation through non-equity-based open innovation in corporate settings.