Managing growth in a socially responsible way: a case study of Russian companies

Abstract: The problem of achieving and sustaining growth is vital for companies in any country market, but it is even more crucial for companies in an emerging market, such as Russia. Meanwhile, some companies in the Russian market succeed not only in growing but also in implementing several socially oriented activities and projects in their strategies. Thus, we identify what are the possible obstacles to growth in the industrial and internal firm environment like, and analyze how companies overcome them. Besides that, we aim to study the forms of corporate social responsibility activity, that Russian companies are engaged in, and how consistent this activity is with the companies' strategies and goals. We have conducted a qualitative case study of five Russian companies, which represent different segments of IT industry. The semi-structured interviews with the managers from the company have been the main sources of the empirical data, however some additional secondary data has also been used. Further on, the gathered empirical data served the materiel for the analysis of the dynamic capabilities the companies possess to overcome the growth challenges they encounter, what strategic innovation processes they implement in their strategies and if there are some socially oriented activities, including particular projects, that the companies are engaged in. If a company practices a certain socially oriented activity then the consistency of this activity with the company's strategy and goals has been analyzed. As social activities are seen as a prerequisite for sustainable business we also analyze if the companies bring natural value to the society and the environment. The results show that the companies with rather high growth figures may lack certain dynamic capabilities, which are or will be needed to overcome a particular growth challenge. Four of the five companies prove to act proactively, thus they have the prerequisite for strategic innovations. These companies also implemented different types of strategic innovation, although not the radical one.For those companies, that are engaged in socially oriented activities, these activities are seen as consistent with the companies' strategies.Meanwhile, only one company implements environmental-friendly solutions, thus it comes closest to running sustainable business. The general provided recommendations for the companies are to develop lacking dynamic capabilities to overcome growth challenges, to act proactively in order to be ready to implement strategic innovations and develop and keep their social activities consistent with their strategies.