Business exists to serve society: the regenerative role of purpose-driven companies in contemporary capitalism

The first chapter of the thesis aims to answer the following research question: Which are the managerial dynamics driven by corporate purpose that enable architectural innovation? Recent literature on corporate purpose suggests that companies adopting a pro-social purpose are more prone to implement architectural innovation, which facilitates to solve today’s grand challenges that require system thinking and collaboration between different actors. However, the dynamics through which corporate purpose enables the implementation of architectural innovation are still unexplored. In our qualitative study, we aim to shed light on these organizational dynamics by analyzing interviews with executives of 4 Italian purpose-driven companies. The second chapter of the thesis aims to answer the following research question: “Which is the role of rhetoric in explaining the constructive relationship between CSR talk and CSR walk?”. In particular, we aim to overcome the CSR literature on greenwashing, symbolic CSR and corporate hypocrisy to shed light on the longitudinal and formative dynamics that characterize the relationship between CSR communication and action, discussing how they reciprocally influence themselves. To do so, we analyzed the extra financial reports of American companies that signed the new Business Roundtable Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation in August 2019, using the lenses of the rhetorical theory of diffusion. The third chapter of the thesis aims to answer the following research question: “How can SMEs account for their social impact through an SDG-driven framework of social impact measurement”. We collaborated with Joule, the School of Enterpreneurship owned by Eni, which focuses in accelerating the green transition of the energy sector. Building on an action-research approach, we designed, tested and validated Prosper, i.e., a method to measure the social impact generated by SMEs. In particular, we interviewed founders of five startups to empirically test and validate the framework. Moreover, we also based Prosper design on the measurement of corporate contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), after reviewing existing standards and methods. The fourth chapter of the thesis aims to answer the following research question: “What are the micro-foundations of CSV enabled by OI practices that contribute to the grand challenge of climate change?". We collaborated with Enel, one of the world’s largest companies in the renewable energy sector, to investigate how shared value creation is enabled by OI practices that contribute to the grand challenge of climate change. Specifically, we relied on the creating shared value theory to empirically understand how Enel contributes to the climate change challenge by implementing open innovation practices in the construction, operating and repurposing phases of three industrial sites worldwide.