Social Innovation – a Powerful Statement from Companies for a Sustainable Environment

Abstract

Today’s environmental challenges are catching the attention of many companies to seek innovative solutions to solve the roots of these problems through strong partnerships with governmental entities and other organizations. Social innovation is a topic that can leverage new ideas and practices to overcome current societal and environmental issues fostering sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of social innovation by presenting a pragmatic and comparative study case analysis of two companies that successfully implemented social innovation in their business model. Social innovation combined with open innovation are great catalysts in solving societal and environmental problems and creating shared value and having an impact on business strategy. These two organizations strive to create change and develop a learning environment to surpass all risks and challenges to solve environmental problems. The paper will provide evidence on the importance of closing partnerships in the social innovation process and how collaboration helps in generating shared value.