Vittorio Cerulli

Title of Dissertation: How Do Companies Tackle Societal Issues Successfully? A review of Corporate Purpose, Equity Ownership and Intrapreneurship

Supervisor: Prof. Markus Beckmann
University: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 9th Cohort, since 2022
Email:

• Short Abstract

  Defining and embedding a Corporate Purpose is a fast-spreading practice across companies that has received little attention so far from Business Ethics scholars.

  Nevertheless, Purpose is an overarching ethical notion that can advance our understanding of how companies successfully tackle societal issues. Defining a purpose provides an organisation's meaningful and enduring reason to exist that aligns with long-term financial performance, unifies and motivates diverse stakeholders (Hurth et al., 2018). The existing evidence suggests that embedding a purpose in a company's core activities is a resource-intensive process and that maintaining a balance between commercial and societal logic is extraordinarily difficult to achieve (Battilana & Dorado, 2010).

  Through the lens of Institutional Theory and using new empirical data, this study is addressing a call (George et al., 2021) to study the rise and adoption of Corporate Purpose, including how the macro driver of Equity Ownership and the micro force of Intrapreneurship contribute separately as well as concurrently.

  The research findings bring a unique and timely contribution that contributes to the conversation about how companies successfully tackle societal issues and moves forward the work of Positive Organizational Scholarship and Management - mainly Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics.

• Research Interests

  • Equity Ownership, Steward Ownership (Verantwortungseigentum), Co-operatives
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Sustainable Business
  • Corporate Purpose
  • Intrapreneurship
  • Leadership

• Education

  • 2017, Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains, The University of Cambridge, Institute for Sustainability Leadership, UK
  • 2010, MSc in Management, HEC Lausanne, CH
  • 2007, BSc in Business Administration, Università degli Studi di RomaTre, IT

• Professional and Academic Career

  • 2018 – Today, Founder and Managing Director, Purpose House, Berlin, DE
  • 2019 – 2020, Challenge Director, Business Fights Poverty, London, UK
  • 2011 – 2018, Global Consumer Insights Partner, Unilever Plc, London UK

• Publications

  • Cerulli, V. and Prof. Chui, C. “Companies have a secret weapon to do more good – their employees.” The Pioneers Post, 2021. https://www.pioneerspost.com/news-views/20210517/companies-have-secret-weapon-do-more-good-their-employees

  • Cerulli, V. “Four Blind Spots Companies Working on Purpose Uncover.” Medium, 2020. //medium.com/@vitto_purposehouse/the-4-blind-spots-companies-working-on-purpose-uncover-9cb1535a920c">https://medium.com/@vitto_purposehouse/the-4-blind-spots-companies-working-on-purpose-uncover-9cb1535a920c

  • Cerulli, V. and Torres-Rahman, Z. “How Can Companies and Investors Collaborate to Embed Purpose Authentically into Business?” Business Fights Poverty, 2020. https://businessfightspoverty.org/articles/how-can-companies-and-investors-collaborate-to-embed-purpose-authentically-into-business/

  • Cerulli, V. and Torres-Rahman, Z. “Five Pillars for Embedding Purpose Authentically into Business.” Business Fights Poverty, 2019. https://businessfightspoverty.org/articles/preview-bfpox2019-purpose-zone-workshop-five-pillars-for-embedding-purpose-authentically-into-business/

  • Cerulli, V. and Beales, A. “How Can We Save Purpose from Purpose Wash?” Business Fights Poverty, 2019. https://businessfightspoverty.org/articles/how-can-we-save-purpose-from-purpose-wash-2/

• Conference Contributions: Talks

  • N/A

• Conference Contributions: Posters

  • N/A

• Memberships

  • Member of Impact Hub Berlin, a network of impact-driven entrepreneurs.
  • Member of the think-tank Sustainable Purpose Practitioners led by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
  • Fellow of the League of Intrapreneurs, a global community of corporate and institutional change agents.