Sustainability Innovations in Global Production Networks – Addressing Socio-Ecological Challenges in the Global Economy

Project Information

SUSTINNO

Grant agreement ID: 799041

DOI

10.3030/799041

Project closed

EC signature date 21 March 2018

Start date 1 November 2018

End date 30 January 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 203 200,20

EU contribution

€ 203 200,20

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SUSTINNO (Sustainability Innovations in Global Production Networks – Addressing Socio-Ecological Challengesin the Global Economy)

Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2021-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Many of the persistent and complex global environmental and societal problems, such as increasing social inequality, climate change, and resource scarcity, have been accelerated by the globalisation of economic activities and unsustainable forms and levels of production and consumption. As a result, there is a growing demand for businesses to drive social and environmental innovation and implement more sustainable business practices in their value chains. However, this is a complex endeavour and there is little knowledge on how this can be achieved. Part of this challenge stems from the need to move beyond technical solutions to promote profound changes to social practices.
This research has investigated how actors can develop and implement sustainability innovations within the value chains they govern in order to address complex societal challenges in the global economy.
Over the duration of the project, three research objectives have been achieved. Firstly, a conceptual framework that focuses on different actor groups and distinguishes into three strategies of addressing societal issues in the global economy – along, within and through global value chains – has been developed.
Secondly, the project investigated opportunities and barriers for sustainability innovations in GVCs and with a focus on actors from the Global South. These insights are based on empirical fieldwork in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mosambique and South Africa. Finally, based on the findings recommendations for policymakers and practitioners on how to address complex socio-ecological challenges have been disseminated.
At conclusion of the action, the outcomes of the project comprise two published journal articles. Additionally, one journal article is in review and a fourth article is in preparation (currently in working paper format).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work performed during the project comprise the development of a conceptual framework for analysing sustainability innovations in global value chains. It is based on comparative literature analysis and grounded on extensive empirical work in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mosambique and South Africa. In addition to the conceptual and empirical work, policy and practitioner recommendations have been derived and the findings have been widely disseminated among various actor groups – including researchers, policy makers, practitioners and the general public.


Outputs

Academic publications:
• Oldekop, J, Horner, R, Hulme, D, Adhikari, R, Agarwal, B, Alford, M, Bakewell, O, Banks, N, Barrientos, S, Bastia, T, Bebbington, A, Das, U, Dimova, R, Duncombe, R, Enns, C, Fielding, D, Foster, C, Foster, T, Frederiksen, T, Gao, P, Gillespie, T, Heeks, R, Hickey, S, Hess, M, Jepson, N, Karamchedu, A, Kothari, U, Krishnan, A, Lavers, T, Mamman, A, Mitlin, D, Monazam Tabrizi, N, Müller, TR, Nadvi, K, Pasquali, G, Pritchard, R, Pruce, K, Rees, C, Renken, J, Savoia, A, Schindler, S, Surmeier, A, Tampubolon, G, Tyce, M, Unnikrishnan, V & Zhang, Y-F (2020,): COVID-19 and the case for global development. World Development (134,) 1-4 (Impact factor: 3,9 /Citations: 40).
• Surmeier, A. (2020): Dynamic Capability Building and Social Upgrading in Tourism - Potentials and Limits of Sustainability Standards. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28 (10), 1498-1518 (Impact factor: 4,0 / Citations: 1).

Outreach activities:

• Community of Practice on “Compassion Venturing”, regular zoom meetings with academics, practitioners and policy makers (Calls: 30.04. 07.05. 21.05. 12.06. 25.06. 07.07. 09.09. 18.09. 21.10.2020).
• Workshop on “The Future of Tourism,” (31.07. – 02.08.20) co-organised with Philippi Solution Space.
• Workshop on “Co-creating sustainable solutions to societal challenges – International MBA students meeting township entrepreneurs” (17.06.19) co-organised with Philippi Solution Space.
• “Promoting Sustainability Innovations in the Global Economy”, GSB Master in Inclusive Innovation, 06.06.2019 (Presentation)
• “Tackling societal challenges via social innovation and entrepreneurship”. Masifunde Changemaker Academy, 05.02.2019. (Presentation).

Further dissemination:

• Project website: Sustainability innovations in global value chains, hosted by Global development Institute, University of Manchester.
• Hamann, R.; Soderbergh, J.; Surmeier, A.; Fyvie, C.; Ramarumo, T.; Rapson, M.; Sitas, N.; Newell, A.: Turning Short-Term Crisis Relief into Longer-Term Social Innovation - How civil society responses to COVID-19 in South Africa are resisting the all-too-common return to pre-crisis “normal.” Stanford Social Innovation Review.
• Surmeier, A. (2020): Implications of COVID-19 for South African tourism. Interview for Quartz Africa, Newspaper.
• Surmeier, A. (2020): How activists and social entrepreneurs alleviate the COVID-19 crisis in South Africa. Alumni Network Sub-Sahara Africa e.V. Insights. Online Newsletter.
• Hamann, R., Surmeier, A. et al. (2020): Civil society groups that mobilised around COVID-19 face important choices. The Conversation Africa. Research-based newspaper.
• Hamann, R.; Surmeier, A.; Delichte, J.; Drimie, S. (2020): Local networks can help people in distress: South Africa’s COVID-19 response needs them. News24. Online newspaper.
• Hamann, R.; Surmeier, A; Delichte, J.; Drimie, S. (2020): Local networks can help people in distress: South Africa’s COVID-19 response needs them. The Conversation Africa. Research-based newspaper.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Most approaches from social and sustainability innovation studies investigate how more sustainable business practices can be developed and implemented to address environmental and socio-economic challenges. However, from a spatial perspective, most of the research on social and sustainability innovation has focused on local and national contexts, even though most economic activities in the global economy are linked across borders and scales and are connected through Global Value Chains (GVC) and associated Global Production Networks (GPN). These two strands of research are rarely put into conversation. By integrating these bodies of literature, this research project introduced new research opportunities to investigate how more sustainable practices can be promoted in the global economy that not only focus on reducing harm but aim to contribute to social impact creation

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