An overview of the prevalence of operational and systemic innovation in the cases
| Distance | Company | Examples of challenges | Examples of innovations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cultural distance | Telecom | Attitudes among workers pertaining to a proclivity toward risk-taking in situations related to climbing and driving | Training programs and targeted campaigns on work site-safety, involving mixture of digital tools and workshops (operational) |
| Fast-Fashion | Mindsets among workers that rationalize poor/hazardous working conditions | Enrollment into digital banking; Subsidized services to avoid overspending (operational) | |
| Institutional distance | Telecom | A gap between sustainability standards and practices in EMs, e.g. suppliers challenging (perceived) strict requirements of the company’s Code of Conduct | “Crowdsourcing” a Code of Conduct and setting CS standards across global industries (Systemic) Assessment tools for sustainability criteria (operational) |
| Fast-Fashion | A gap between internal/external sustainability standards and practices in key EMs (e.g. Bangladesh) related to wages and energy management | Establishment of councils, comprising a novel configuration of employees, worker representatives and NGOs to compensate for lack of collective bargaining agreements. (systemic) | |
| Geographic distance | Telecom | Costs related to monitoring work sites in far off locations. and monitoring suppliers and their compliance to work safety | Remote site surveillance for safer tower-climbing (operational) |
| Fast-Fashion | High levels of physical presence; geographic distance is not considered a problem | n.a | |
| Economic distance | Telecom | Poor road infrastructure causing fatalities in driving to and from work sites | Telematic solutions detecting risk-behaviors and promoting safer driving (operational) |
| Fast-Fashion | Lack of short-term payback incentives among suppliers to use fossil-free energy sources | Financing model innovation (i.e. power purchase agreements) related to fossil-free energy (systemic) |
| Distance | Company | Examples of challenges | Examples of innovations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cultural distance | Telecom | Attitudes among workers pertaining to a proclivity toward risk-taking in situations related to climbing and driving | Training programs and targeted campaigns on work site-safety, involving mixture of digital tools and workshops (operational) |
| Fast-Fashion | Mindsets among workers that rationalize poor/hazardous working conditions | Enrollment into digital banking; Subsidized services to avoid overspending (operational) | |
| Institutional distance | Telecom | A gap between sustainability standards and practices in EMs, e.g. suppliers challenging (perceived) strict requirements of the company’s Code of Conduct | “Crowdsourcing” a Code of Conduct and setting CS standards across global industries (Systemic) |
| Fast-Fashion | A gap between internal/external sustainability standards and practices in key EMs (e.g. Bangladesh) related to wages and energy management | Establishment of councils, comprising a novel configuration of employees, worker representatives and NGOs to compensate for lack of collective bargaining agreements. (systemic) | |
| Geographic distance | Telecom | Costs related to monitoring work sites in far off locations. and monitoring suppliers and their compliance to work safety | Remote site surveillance for safer tower-climbing (operational) |
| Fast-Fashion | High levels of physical presence; geographic distance is not considered a problem | n.a | |
| Economic distance | Telecom | Poor road infrastructure causing fatalities in driving to and from work sites | Telematic solutions detecting risk-behaviors and promoting safer driving (operational) |
| Fast-Fashion | Lack of short-term payback incentives among suppliers to use fossil-free energy sources | Financing model innovation (i.e. power purchase agreements) related to fossil-free energy (systemic) |
Source(s): Authors’ own creation
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