Ethical strategic alliances for the sustainable recovering of a territory
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a case study of an ethical strategic alliance operating in a depressed territory belonging to the South of Italy, with the aim to investigate whether an alliance guided by ethic principles could be effective in recovering a territory while pursuing, at the same time, economic aims for the alliance itself and for the whole territory.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a case study approach. The analyses of the case data, including in-depth interviews and documentary evidence, interpreted by the authors and supported by literature review, allow for the main research question to be addressed: “Could ethical networks contribute to recover a territory?”.
Findings
The case analysis delivers new insights into the relationships between business and ethics. The findings also provide evidence that it is possible, even in a depressed area, to conjugate ethics and business with reciprocal advantages for the organizations and the territory, in the light of the creed of the Magna Grecia, kalokagathìa (the good and the beautiful).
Social implications
The findings of the GOEL strategic alliance provide evidence of the role that could be played by networks in supporting social innovations, thus highlighting clear implications for policy makers, as there is still scarce empirical evidence available to inform governments on how they can influence, support and facilitate the formation of networks.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies adopting an ethical perspective in studying alliances and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first study pursuing the aim to investigate how and whether an ethical network can succeed in recovering a depressed territory.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are sincerely grateful to two anonymous reviewers of this Journal for their many insightful comments in the development of this paper. They also appreciate the encouragement and prompt feedback from the editor of the special issue of this Journal, Professor Kanji Tanimoto, throughout the review process. Any remaining errors are a result of the authors’ own work. Although the paper is the result of an equal joint effort by the two authors, their primary individual contributions are reflected in the following of sections of the paper: sections “Introduction”, “Literature review” and “The GOEL Group: an overview” are to be accredited to Antonella Silvestri; sections “Methodology”, “The GOEL Group: activities and outcomes” and “Conclusions” are to be accredited to Stefania Veltri.
Citation
Silvestri, A. and Veltri, S. (2017), "Ethical strategic alliances for the sustainable recovering of a territory", Corporate Governance, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 230-249. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-04-2016-0093
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited