Manon Filler

Title of Dissertation: Sustainable transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Analysis of structural and process-related influencing factors for the integration of social and ecological aspects.

Supervisor: Prof. Markus Beckmann
University: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Scholarship: Application for the Klaus Murmann Scholarship
Cohort: 9th Cohort, since 2022
Email:

• Short Abstract

  Nowadays, companies are responding to global challenges such as climate change or biodiversity crisis by integrating social and ecological aspects into their business activities and rethinking their role in modern society. In addition to a self-commitment of corporations to this transformation, external drivers for sustainability integration can be identified. The German Sustainability Strategy and the Climate Protection Plan 2050, for example, function as signposts for the German economy on the national political level. Furthermore, studies show that issues such as environmental and climate protection and social justice have gained importance in the society since 2016 and the social awareness of corporate sustainability in Germany raises. According to a study of 2021 by the market research institute Rothmund Insights, 89 percent of Germans want more sustainable companies. It can be concluded that politics and society not only legitimize companies to look beyond the horizon of economic profit alone, but even establish sustainability as a binding norm. This leads to the situation that companies experience pressure to adopt a sustainable management.

  The evolution of a company towards addressing environmental, social and economic challenges is the research topic for this doctoral thesis. The aim is to take a corporate-internal perspective, identify the influencing factors for this kind of transformation and place the findings in a larger social and political context. Therefore, the dissertation focuses on the interplay between politics, business and society. The focus lies on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they account for the majority of the German economy on a pro rata basis and therefore have the potential to advance societal sustainability transformation. Special conditions such as the closeness to the corporate environment, the instinctive way of adopting social responsibility, but also the limited financial or human resources determine the starting position of SMEs for the integration of social and ecological aspects into their business activities. Nevertheless, sustainable orientation is gaining importance in SMEs. In their role as small innovators towards sustainability, they can even build pressure on large companies.

  In the cumulative dissertation multiple influencing variables on the transformation process of SMEs will be addressed and investigated. In the first sub-study, voluntary sustainability reporting will be highlighted as an instrument and driver in the sustainable transformation of SMEs. In the second sub-study, the mental models and the associated sustainability communication of managers in connection with the sustainable transformation are to be empirically examined. The third sub-study will be examining democracy in organizations as a possible means of increasing employee acceptance of sustainable transformation. The fourth and final sub-study aims to take up the larger context of business transformations and to shed light on which societal paradigms affect the development of a sustainability competence of SMEs. 

  The dissertation pursues the overarching goal of further developing supporting structures, processes and instruments from the transformation management of German companies, providing solutions for the progress of change processes, identifying best practices and reviewing their applicability, as well as making knowledge usable for practice and the formation of a sustainability competence for companies tangible. The results are also to be placed in the larger context of societal sustainable development.

• Research Interests

  • Corporate Sustainability Management
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Business Ethics

• Education

  • 2022, Master of Arts, Technische Universität Dresden, Internationales Hochschulinstitut Zittau, Germany
  • 2020, Bachelor of Arts, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany

• Professional and Academic Career

  • 2021-2022, senior student assistant (WHK), Technische Universität Dresden Internationales Hochschulinstitut Zittau, Zittau, Germany
  • 2019-2020, student assistant (SHK), Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF, Magdeburg, Germany
  • 2018, student intern, T-Systems International GmbH, Berlin, Germany

• Publications

  • N/A

• Conference Contributions: Talks

  • N/A

• Conference Contributions: Posters

  • N/A

• Memberships

  • 2021-2022, sneep e.V. (student network for ethics in economics and practice)

• Awards

  • 2020, Best Bachelor's Degree of the Faculty of Human Sciences