On January 29, the first virtual Strategy Morning 2021 took place on the topic of “Corporate Responsibility through Cooperation”. For the first time, the results of a current study on the IBES topic of the same name were presented. Dr. Christoph Jagereder (Managing Director, Hammerer GmbH) and Doz. Dr. Thomas R. Kreil (Head of Global Pathogen Safety, Takeda Pharma Ges.m.b.H.) also presented practical examples of cooperation.

Successfully addressing corporate responsibility is increasingly becoming a decisive competitive task for Austrian companies as well. However, due to limited resources and potential competitive disadvantages, individual initiatives by individual companies often do not represent a target-oriented solution. Therefore, cooperations between companies are becoming increasingly attractive in this context.

The Institute for Business Ethics and Sustainable Strategy (IBES) of FHWien of WKW invited selected experts on 29.01.2021 to look at the topic of cooperation on corporate responsibility from different angles.

After introductory words by FH-Prof. Markus Scholz, the first author Dr.in Anne Busch presented the results of a current IBES study for the first time. The study was conducted as part of the activities of the Endowed Chair “Microeconomics of Competitiveness” in cooperation with team members of the Josef Ressel Center for Collective Action and Responsible Partnerships (JR Center CARe). The results show, among other things, that

• the companies surveyed cooperate with other companies in order to generate a direct benefit for their own company, to differentiate themselves from the competition or to create social added value that could not be achieved in this form alone,
• the employees of one’s own company are an important target group of cooperations with social goals, while environmental goals are characterized by higher diversity,
• the legal structure depends strongly on the industry, the partner’s target market, external subsidies and the type of association (e.g. in the form of an association).

Long-term entrepreneurial opportunities through cooperation are still insufficiently exploited by Austrian companies. The study therefore shows recommendations for action for successful implementation. The complete study can be found at https://ibes.fh-wien.ac.at/en/research/working-paper-series/#ibes-practical-studies.

After the presentation of the study results, the top-class speakers Dr. Christoph Jagereder (Managing Director, Hammerer GmbH) and Doz. Dr. Thomas R. Kreil (Head of Global Pathogen Safety, Takeda Pharma Ges.m.b.H.) provided exciting insights into the topic from the perspective of corporate practice. Dr. Christoph Jagereder addressed the initiative “Personalnetzwerk Innviertel” in his lecture. The “Innviertel Personnel Network” was founded in 2000 as a loose network of larger companies in the Innviertel region; 16 companies now belong to the network. The reason for this was the observation that all member companies face similar challenges in personnel management. Doz. Dr. Thomas R. Kreil presented the initiative “CoVIg 19 Plasma Alliance”, which came into being in 2020 as a unique partnership of pharmaceutical companies. The goal of the “CoVIg 19 Plasma Alliance” is to develop a plasma-based treatment option for covid 19 patients.