Intersectoral Alliance and Social Innovation: When Corporations Meet Civil Society

Abstract

This article analyses an alliance between a public utility company and a consortium of Associations upholding consumer rights. The project consists of developing means in order to help customers with very low income in a collection situation by suggesting payment arrangements that would take account of their financial situation. Inter-organizational collaboration is a way to increase the capacities of organizations and to apply leverage to existing resources so as to solve social problems more effectively by pooling together resources, skills and knowledge. We examine the making of this social innovation through the arrangements taking in three institutional dimensions: cognitive, normative and regulative. The case study shows that the legitimacy of the agreement was based on recombining the values of fairness and solidarity. The innovation process was rooted in the exchange of knowledge and access to resources based on the expertise of actors. The agreement moved beyond the experimental framework when it was diffused as a newly learned procedure which became an organizational routine.Alianza intersectorial e innovación social: ¿ Cuándo la empresa comercial se cruza con la sociedad civil ?El artículo examina la alianza entre una empresa de servicios públicos y un consorcio formado por asociaciones de defensa de los derechos de los consumidores. El proyecto consiste en desarrollar medios para ayudar a los clientes con menores rentas y dificultades de pago. Se trata de proponer modalidades de pago que tengan en cuenta su situación financiera. La colaboración interorganizativa es una forma de incrementar las capacidades de las organizaciones para una puesta en común de las competencias, * The authors thank the editor of the journal and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments throughout the review process. We also appreciate the comments on an earlier draft from our colleagues and students of Centre de recherche sur les innovations sociales (CRISES).

Lessons for Responsible Innovation in the Business Context: A Systematic Literature Review of Responsible, Social and Sustainable Innovation Practices

“…Managing the network is best achieved when it is comprised of actors who together have the organisational, relational and technical capabilities to bring the innovation to a good end [78]. There were few articles that reported organisations who engaged with the general public (e.g., [50,78]). Instead, articles were reporting activities indicating that innovators are primarily engaging with customers and end-users in order to be responsive to their needs [48,51,85].…”

“…The goals of innovation networks are more likely to be achieved when a diversity of stakeholders share similar values [56] or when stakeholders are willing to look for compatible values for the overall goal to be achieved [78]. Managing the network is best achieved when it is comprised of actors who together have the organisational, relational and technical capabilities to bring the innovation to a good end [78]. There were few articles that reported organisations who engaged with the general public (e.g., [50,78]).…”

“…However, there are still opportunities for innovation when values are conflicting. In those cases, it can be worthwhile to look for compatibility among the values held by different stakeholders instead of aiming for shared values [78,79].…”

“…• Innovation system with NGOs [78]; creating more impact with NGOs [79] or social alliance innovation [92] • Experts…”

Réceptivité et contraintes de l’innovation dans l’administration publique

“…Sous la forme de pratiques de normalisation, les modes de coopération et de coordination consentent aux acteurs l'atteinte d'un objectif sans dispersion de leurs efforts (Favereau, 1994;Gazley et Brudney, 2007). Les études sur les réseaux d'innovation traitent de la question soit en privilégiant des approches macro propres aux contraintes institutionnelles (Freeman, 1991;Lawrence et Suddaby, 2006;Lundvall, 1992), soit en favorisant des approches micro qui portent sur les connaissances des membres des réseaux d'innovation et sur leur habileté à convaincre et à persuader les autres, voire à trouver des compromis, afin de faire triompher leurs idées (Battilana, Laca et Boxenbaum, 2009;Callon, 1992;Harrisson, Chaari et Comeau-Vallée, 2012;Mumford et autres, 2002;Van de Ven et Angle, 2001). …”