Abstract

How can we create new offerings, business models, and new markets based on what we care about? And which kinds of values already impact corporate cultures and organisational development today?

This concise guide shows how to renew business by focusing on its essential values. The book combines theoretical insights with a strong practical element, featuring a wealth of case studies and tools to help innovators solve societal problems and realise their ideals.

Values-Based Innovation Management is a unique and forward-thinking new textbook. It shows how innovation in processes, products, services, business models and networks may be managed by what we care about. Readers will be encouraged to explore not only sustainability-orientation and values of privacy or safety, but also their own unique values as relevant drivers for change within and across organisations.

Key features include:

Theories and proven methods to be applied to new innovation challenges and opportunities

International case studies of success, as well as failure, in values-based innovation

Key concepts in innovation management and values-based innovation.

This textbook is the ideal companion for advanced undergraduate or postgraduate students studying innovation management or entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs, innovation managers and consultants will learn to expand into new markets.

Henning Breuer is founder of UXBerlin – Innovation Consulting (www.uxberlin.com), and professor for business and media psychology at the University of Applied Sciences for Media, Communication and Business in Berlin, Germany. His academic research and consulting work for corporate clients from automotive, internet, and telecommunication focuses on innovation management, business anthropology, and customer research. For Deutsche Telekom Innovation Laboratories, he developed capabilities in corporate foresight and venturing and built a team for user-driven innovation. As visiting professor and researcher he worked at Waseda University (Tokyo), the University of Chile (Santiago), and the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam on interaction design and learner-centred environments. Henning studied psychology, philosophy, and law at the universities of Magdeburg, Berlin, and Tübingen.

Florian Lüdeke-Freund is a senior research associate at the University of Hamburg, Germany. He is a research fellow at the Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), Leuphana University, and the Governing Responsible Business Research Environment at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. His research deals with sustainable entrepreneurship, sustainable business models, and innovation. As well as publishing numerous journal articles and book chapters on these topics, he has co-edited an Organization & Environment special issue on ‘Business Models for Sustainability’. Florian founded www.SustainableBusinessModel.org as an international research hub addressing sustainability, business model, and innovation topics. Florian is an active member of the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Group at OCAD University, Toronto, Canada. He has been a visiting researcher at the Universities of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Stellenbosch (South Africa).

Values are the well spring of innovation and value creation.  At last a book that understands how real business works.  Should be read by everyone concerned with making their organizations better at innovation and value creation.

R. Edward Freeman, Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, USA

Innovation matters – of course.  But it isn’t always a good thing; we need to take our values into account, managing it based on what we really care about.  This book does an excellent job of proposing and populating such a framework and should be of considerable help to students, researchers and practitioners.

John Bessant, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Exeter Business School, UK

Henning Breuer and Florian Lüdeke-Freund provide an in-depth insight into the values that drive innovation and decisions in companies. A superficial view on the drive towards sustainability goals can be, and has been, labeled as a marketing gimmick. This book describes the actual depth, strength, relevance and importance of the convictions that drive a transformational company like Interface. An important book that provides a broader perspective on companies that strive for sustainable business models.

Rob Heeres, Director European Planning & Distribution, Interface Scherpenzeel, the Netherlands

Fresh thinking! This book brings the idea of shared and co-created value on a new level: the innovation perspective.

Frank Piller, Professor of Management and Scholar of Mass Customization and Open Innovation, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

The values-based view on innovation offers a new, intriguing perspective on innovation management which links well to recent sustainable entrepreneurship and corporate sustainability developments. This book takes up important key messages of stakeholder theory and the fact that modern societies and economies pursue multiple goals beyond conventional mono-focused profit maximization. Considering the influence of values such as humanity, self-enhancement and planetary survival shows that entrepreneurs and business organisations can have – and do pursue – manifold goals in their environmental and social innovations and business models.

Stefan Schaltegger, Professor for Sustainability Management at the Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany

The values-based view on innovation advocated in this book offers a new perspective on how to understand, assess and manage business innovation. It makes an important contribution to a normative turn towards innovating by what is really worth caring about. It’s a must-read for students, lecturers and professionals interested in business management and ethics.

Abraham Olivier, Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa

So much literature in innovation concerns the creation of financial value.  In this book, Breuer and Ludeke-Freund offer a fresh view that broadens the notion of values and their role in innovation.  This thought-provoking book challenges conventional wisdom about the nature and ultimate purpose of innovation in the modern business context.  Well-chosen case spotlights illustrate concepts and show how leading companies integrate pro-social and pro-environmental values into their strategies.  In a world where customers and stakeholders are expecting more of companies, this is a timely and much-needed volume.

Michael Russo, Lundquist Professor of Sustainable Management; Center for Sustainable Business Practices, Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, Oregon, USA

This book is important. It explores in depth the hugely neglected topic of the ways in which normative values are crucial in shaping business model innovation, and does so with meticulous care and attention to detail. More than just an analysis, this book offers practical insights and methods for managers and entrepreneurs to unpack the potential of values to guide the structure and strategy of business. It is a rallying call to the passionate; truly a chance to celebrate innovating by what we care about.

Peter Wells, Professor of Business and Sustainability, Centre for Automotive Industry Research, Cardiff Business School, UK

"Innovation" is widely touted as a solution to our social, political and economic challenges. But what should this innovation look like and which values should unpin and engage employees, corporations and society in their pursuit of innovation? Breuer & Lüdeke-Freund make an important contribution by asking us to consider what we care about and showing practicing managers how values can be used as the driving force for successful innovation management.

Dr Steffen Conn, Operations Director, ISPIM – The International Society for Professional Innovation Management

This concise guide looks at the role and implementation of new values in providing businesses with a competitive advantage. The book combines theoretical insights with a strong practical element, featuring a wealth of case studies and linked to an innovative online toolkit to help innovators develop their ideas.