Innovation is not the engine of growth for all companies. But only for those with other growth rates. It is this type of company that should focus on eco-innovation, ie the ability to develop products and processes that contribute to the development of the company while generating added value for the community. A process in which good governance is a keystone. This is the opinion of Jackie Krafft, a researcher at the Center National de la Recherche, the largest public research institute in France, who today gave a lectio magistralis in the Edison Shareholders' Room entitled "Anything new on governance and growth of firms in a context of innovation and eco-innovation? Issues and results”. The meeting is part of the cycle of seven conferences which Edison Open 4EXPO, in collaboration with the Edison Foundation, is dedicated to the great economists and personalities of the scientific world.
krafft she is one of the 25 best authors in Europe, works at CNRS-Gredeg, Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion, a multidisciplinary research institute, and chairs the scientific commission of Complex World (GCW). Her main research concerns the economy and companies, the economy of knowledge and innovation.
During his speech Krafft clarified that innovation is to be conceived as one “creative destruction”; that is, as the ability of companies to invent new products to be placed on the market that will inevitably replace the previous ones, as well as the ability to imagine new management methods.
At the same time, however, it should not be considered the engine of business growth, or at least not of all: it is only so for those it defines as "gazelles", i.e. companies with a high growth rate, those that create jobs on a large scale, but which are an exception. And which should focus oneco-innovation to keep growing and outrun your competitors.
Here, governance can make the difference. Which is not only a relevant issue for large companies. Satisfy i principles of good governance and corporate social responsibility on the contrary, it is important for all companies that want to have access to external financing. Good governance must be able to balance the short-term needs dictated by shareholders and investors with long-term development. For Krafft, inadequate governance has a negative influence on innovation and, in particular, on eco-innovation.
“In this context – noted Krafft – it is necessary to develop and encourage a patient capital that deals with long-term, green objectives, if we want to stimulate the creation of gazelles that are leaders in eco-innovation”. By zooming in on a company, it is thus possible to analyze it in a different way i strengths and weaknesses of the European economy and explore new potential ways out of the crisis.
