Responsible Innovation in Supply Chains: Insights from a Car Development Perspective

Abstract

Innovation within companies is a collaborative process. Supply chain management (SCM) concepts such as ‘Early Supplier Involvement’ and ‘Open Innovation’ encourage the involvement of stakeholders, such as suppliers, customers, universities and the government. Customer participation for example helps to reduce the uncertainty of acceptance of an innovation in advance. Following market launch, the number of stakeholders increases further. With investors, customers and competitors globally dispersed, the stakeholder network of a new innovation could become complex and unmanageable. This not only makes risk identification arising from innovations very complex but also the accompanying assignment of responsibility. Research on Responsible Innovation (RI) brings along various challenges that arise from the rights, duties and behavior of stakeholders. This paper aims to identify the most important stakeholders for Responsible Innovations and determine their influence on the innovation lifecycle using the car development process as an example.