Boehringer Ingelheim named best practice example for innovative Corporate Citizenship in Germany by CC-survey
- The new “Open for Innovation” report based on the representative CC-Survey data offers concrete evidence that companies engaged with society are more creative.
- The study conducted by Civil Society in Numbers (ZiviZ) within Stifterverband and the Bertelsmann Foundation.
- Corporate citizenship can offer tangible innovation opportunities for engaged companies.
- Corporate citizenship activities, particularly those involving own employees and executives, have special potential.
CC-survey is a nationwide study on the social commitment of companies in Germany - from small businesses to large corporations - with reliable data on a range of relevant aspects. The survey focuses on companies' commitment to civil society in the sense of Corporate Citizenship (CC). Civil society involvement of companies in Germany is operationalized and made measurable in its quantity and quality. Corporate social responsibility refers to all activities oriented towards the common good that go beyond business activities and legal requirements. For example, in the form of donations in cash and kind to social and environmental projects that companies start or promote themselves.
Active corporate citizens are more likely to have good ideas. Based on inter¬national literature and representative German CC-Survey data, this report discusses how soft knowledge flows from businesses’ CC-activi¬ties, for example, social projects or corporate volunteering, enriching the hard business of innovation. Beyond conventional Open Innovation partnerships with start-ups, suppliers or universities, business-civil society partnerships with local clubs, associations or international NGOs are promising pathways to novelty. Opening up Open Innovation to broader civil society is most common among large firms in innovation-driven industries, and as we find, even within global pharmaceutical industry.
Successful innovation impulses (new business, product or service ideas) through CC activity are most frequently reported by the largest as well as among “younger” firms (founded after 2010) in Germany. Better harnessing the potential where Open Innovation meets CC comes with challenges but also a bundle of benefits. Aside from innovation rewards and societal benefits, active corporate citizens can reap improved employee motivation and future skillsets. Much can be learned and discovered from being open for innovation in this way, for purpose and for profit.