Kurzfassung

This research proposal is positioned within the project academy cluster “3) Mit welchen Maßnahmen können nachhaltige Wertschöpfungsketten erreicht und in der Praxis effektiv verankert werden?“. The central idea of the proposal is to study solutions from natural systems to current business problems and identify transferable measures. This approach is based in biomimicry or biomimetics, a method imitating techniques and processes of nature to achieve effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability...This research proposal is positioned within the project academy cluster “3) Mit welchen Maßnahmen können nachhaltige Wertschöpfungsketten erreicht und in der Praxis effektiv verankert werden?“. The central idea of the proposal is to study solutions from natural systems to current business problems and identify transferable measures. This approach is based in biomimicry or biomimetics, a method imitating techniques and processes of nature to achieve effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability (Benyus, 1997). Biomimicry has been seen primarily in new product development research and practice, such as, self-cleaning façade paints based on the water and dust-repellent properties of the lotus leaf (Sivakumar, Balasubramanya, & Sundaresan, 2012), but Biomimicry reaches beyond products and includes management and organizational insights from nature: “Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies—new ways of living—that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul” (Biomimicry Institute, 2017).
The focal unit of analysis are organizational designs and how they can adopt principles from natural systems in terms of increased cellularity and modularity, leveraging management innovations as well as newly developing technologies that allow more decentral information processing (e.g. blockchain technology) in order to arrive at a more holistic approach to managing according to economic, environmental and social criteria simultaneously.» weiterlesen» einklappen