Organizational Resources for Sustainable Innovations: The Case of the German Frame House Industry
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Transcript of Organizational Resources for Sustainable Innovations: The Case of the German Frame House Industry
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Organizational Resources for Sustainable Innovations:
The Case of the German Frame House IndustryEsther Hoffmann
Institute for Ecological Economy Research, Berlin/Germany
GIN 2007: Sustainable Social and Ecosystem Stewardship
Waterloo, Canada, June 16, 2007
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Outline
1. Research questions
2. Conceptual background
3. Research design
4. Characteristics of the German frame house sector
5. Results
6. Conclusions
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Research Questions
- Which internal capabilities are needed for sustainable innovations in the frame house sector?
- Regarding these factors, what strengths and weaknesses do the companies show?
- How can the innovation capacity of the frame house industry be improved?
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Conceptual Framework
Company’s history
History of innovationsNetwork resources
(relation specific resources, integration of complementary resources)
Material resources(financial resources, IT, databases)
Immaterial resources(cultural resources, human resource, structural
resources, asset resources)
Learning processes (joint problem solving, common codes of commu-
nication and coordinated search procedures
Processes of integration (coordination of activities, replication of existing
resources)
Processes of reconfiguration (creation of new resources by recombining exis-tent resources, e.g. knowledge; benchmarking)
External influencing factors (market, customers, structure of sector, stakeholders, general environment)
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Research Design
Survey
Desk top research
Expert interviews
Summer 2006
July2007
October2007
Winter 2006/2007
Scenario Workshop
Case Studies
Dissemina-tion
Conclusions
www.zufo.deFrame House Sector
www.zufo.deFrame House Industry
Dominated by SMEsPotential for sustainability:
natural resourceslong-term orientation in forest sectorregional embeddednesstimber houses as carbon sink
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Results
• Not very innovative sector• Sustainable innovation: energy-efficient houses• Drivers for innovation
– Social and technical competence of employees– Communication– Customer demands for quality and sustainability
• Low cooperation activities– Time and cost constraints– Lack of trust and competition
Conclusions: How to improve innovation capacity?
• Qualification and training • Broadening of innovation process• Increased cooperation to overcome difficulties of
SMEs• Diversification of information sources on external
environment• Meet current trends of wellness and climate
protection
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Thank you!
Contact:
Esther Hoffmann
Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW)
Institute for Ecological Economy Research
Potsdamer Str. 105
10785 Berlin, Germany
Tel. +49 (30) 884594-22
www.ioew.de
Institut für Forstökonomie
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Prof. Muster Mustermayer
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Institut für Forstökonomie
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
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Project Partners