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The Importance of Social Capital in the VUCA Environment

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The Global Impact of Social Innovation

Part of the book series: Management for Professionals ((MANAGPROF))

Abstract

Social Capital represents one of the vital constituents of social innovations because it represents one of the drivers of disruptive innovations.

Especially in the COVID-19 lockdown phase, social capital secured new business and the competitive edge of global organizations facing fierce price battles, declining sales, and narrowing margins. For example, social capital enhances business processes through trust and mutual values and mitigates the risk of failure. Moreover, it reduces their duration and impacts performance.

The definition of social capital as the goodwill established in social networks resulting in sharing information and strengthening relationships is just the beginning. In B2B, identifying and accumulating business-critical contacts digitally can expedite passing through the RFI/RFP (request for information/proposal) phase, get short-listed, and eventually, win new business ahead of competitors. This chapter highlights the importance of social capital among social innovations and provides valuable guidelines for academics and practitioners.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Framingham State University, Boston, MA, USA

    Werner Krings

Authors
  1. Werner Krings
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Correspondence to Werner Krings .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Steinbeis Institute for Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Berlin, Germany

    Alexander Ruthemeier

  2. Founder at The Sonophilia Foundation, Managing Partner at The Mindshift. Global, Salzburg, Austria

    Seda Röder

  3. Co-Founder and CEO, ootiboo GmbH, Berlin, Germany

    Kathleen Schröter

  4. SRH University of Applied Health Sciences, Leverkusen, Germany

    Philipp Plugmann

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Krings, W. (2022). The Importance of Social Capital in the VUCA Environment. In: Ruthemeier, A., Röder, S., Schröter, K., Plugmann, P. (eds) The Global Impact of Social Innovation. Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-03849-5_15

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