Marketing Potential of Social Innovation Projects of Small and

Medium-sized Industrial Enterprises

G. Chernobaeva

and Yu. Gnoevykh

2 b

Dostoevsky Omsk State University, Omsk, Russia

K.G. Razumovsky Moscow State University of Technologies and Management (the First Cossak University), Omsk, Russia

Keywords: Innovations, Marketing Potential, Small and Medium-Sized Industrial Enterprises.

Abstract: Successful practices of social innovation have proved the need to activate such efforts not only by non-profit

organizations and social enterprises, but also by representatives of the real sector of the economy. The purpose

of this study is to determine the marketing potential of social innovation projects in industrial enterprises of

small and medium-sized businesses. Three indicators of the marketing potential of social innovation projects

are identified and evaluated: the frequency of declared participation in projects of different types of social

innovations available to small and medium-sized industrial enterprises; the tone and frequency of mentions

in open sources of the project and its participants; the subjective assessment of the marketing potential of the

project by employees.

1 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, social innovations are considered as a

significant basis for the development of any modern

society. Technological, product, economic, and

marketing innovations can indirectly cause social

changes in society. Social innovations, by definition,

directly contribute to the solution of socially

significant tasks that cause social changes in society.

That is why it is necessary to simultaneously solve the

problems of maximizing the social innovations flow

that provides a given set of social changes. The sets

of changes, in our opinion, may differ significantly

for different societies. Differences will be determined

not only by the desired conditions, but also by the

society’s willingness to change, a clear sequence of

the formation of certain institutions in different

societies, leading to the achievement of the required

social changes.Be advised that papers in a technically

unsuitable form will be returned for retyping. After

returned the manuscript must be appropriately

modified.

Such serious social innovations that demonstrate

multi-level macro-effects should be developed within

the framework of unified national and international

strategies for the development of society. However,

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0930-6706

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0823-0754

the variety of social problems that require innovative

solutions is so great it requires the involvement of all

stakeholders and all possible participants in all forms.

One of the most accessible forms of development and

implementation of social innovations is individual

projects.

Contemporary creation and implementation of

social innovations is more often viewed as the field of

activity for non-profit organizations and companies

that carry out activities in the field of social

entrepreneurship. The experience of large industrial

enterprises implementing social innovations within

the framework of the concept of sustainable

development or the program of corporate social

responsibility adopted for implementation is also

wildly analyzed. At the same time, the role of small

and medium-sized industrial enterprises (SMIEs) in

the development and implementation of social

innovations has not been given enough attention, in

our opinion. The potential of these enterprises is

higher in specifically implementing individual social

innovation projects, than complete programs. Such

projects generate positive external and internal

marketing effects for SMIEs, as they have a

marketing potential, and require a marketing

approach to management.

360

Chernobaeva, G. and Gnoevykh, Y.

Marketing Potential of Social Innovation Projects of Small and Medium-sized Industrial Enterprises.

DOI: 10.5220/0010668500003223

In Proceedings of the 1st International Scientiﬁc Forum on Sustainable Development of Socio-economic Systems (WFSDS 2021), pages 360-364

ISBN: 978-989-758-597-5

2 ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH AND

PUBLICATIONS

Innovation is considered one of the most difficult

processes to manage. In his research, J. McNeil

(McNeil, 2012) notes that even J. Schumpeter

(Schumpeter, 2008) in his writings, speaking about

the social value of innovation, investigated the

problems of social innovation, although he did not

directly name them. Despite such a long history of

existence, the definition of "social innovation" is still

not clearly defined today. It is customary to

distinguish three approaches to the definition (

Popov,

2015):

 innovations aimed at achieving social goals

(Mulgan, Tuckers, Ali, Sanders, 2007;

Murray,

Caulier-Grice, Mulgan, 2010);

 innovations introduced in the social space

(McElroy, 2002; Heiscala, 2007);

 innovations in the public sector (Koch P.,

Cunningham P., Schwabsky N., Hauknes J,

2005).

In this study, we will understand social innovation

as new ideas that meet social needs, create social

relationships, and form new collaborations.

According to the European Commission on Social

Innovation, these innovations can be products,

services, or models that can more effectively meet the

unmet needs.

A. Polkovnikov, N. Sutko, H. Burr, G. Glshtein,

and N. Adamova in their studies looked directly into

the management of innovative projects within any

organization. The research of Alexandrov A. A.

(2013), Zhura S. V. (2014), Karpchenko Yu.V.

(2010), Nelyubina T. A. (2010), Rotwell R. (1993)

papers were devoted to the issues of innovative

activity of small enterprises.

The main research in the field of innovation

marketing focuses on the features of creating and

bringing innovative products to the market. The

results obtained by Rogers E., Bass F., Moore J.,

Shigin I., Christensen K., and Schneider D. are most

commonly used (Makarova, 2009).

3 RESEARCH PROCEDURE

The purpose of this study is to determine the

marketing potential of social innovation projects in

industrial enterprises of small and medium-sized

businesses. To ensure the process of achieving this

goal, two stages were implemented within the

framework of this study:

1. The main types of social innovation projects

implemented by industrial enterprises of small and

medium-sized businesses were identified. The

frequency of participation of SMIEs in various types

of projects is estimated. At this stage, data on

implemented social innovation projects of various

types in 2020 was collected from open sources. 86

projects were analyzed. The selection is spontaneous.

The study continues. Upon completion, the selection

will be repaired.

2. The marketing potential of the selected groups

of social innovation projects is evaluated. At this

stage, we monitored the mention of the projects and

their participants in open sources (using the selection

implemented at the first stage) and conducted a series

of interviews with managers and employees of 7

SMIEs in order to identify a subjective assessment of

the internal marketing potential of implemented

social innovation projects.

4 RESULTS OF THE STUDY

Within the framework of this study, we will

understand the marketing potential as the ability of an

enterprise to increase the level of competitiveness

through the effective functioning of the entire

marketing system, including the ability to form a

positive image by participating in socially-oriented

projects approved by society and being a carrier of

social innovations.

Based on the analysis of Russian and foreign

research in the field of social innovation, we have

identified the eight most significant criteria for the

classification of social innovation projects of the

SMIE for assessing the marketing potential. Table 1

presents the results of the analysis of the frequency of

implementation of social innovation projects of

SMIEs according to the selected criteria. At the same

time, the frequency of participation of SMIEs in

social innovation projects of each group is evaluated

as confirmation of the marketing potential of the

project.

The most common for small and medium-sized

industrial enterprises are product social innovations.

When companies create and bring to market products

that solve the problems of health, education,

environmental protection, security, and the social

sphere at a new level. At the same time, enterprises

that implement product social innovations carry out

these activities within the framework of their main

activities or participate in social innovation projects

initiated by partner enterprises.

Marketing Potential of Social Innovation Projects of Small and Medium-sized Industrial Enterprises

361

Table 1: Implementation of social innovation projects at industrial enterprises of small and medium-sized businesses by main

types

№

Type of social innovation of the SMIE

1

Scale

Within the

enterprise

Local Regional National International

14% 53% 31% 2% 0

2

Source of innovation

Staff Leader Specialized division Governmental

authorities

Innovations of other

enterprises

12% 48% 1% 6% 33%

3

Novelt

Level

Genuine

novelt

Significant

improvements

Market novelty Software Novelty Modifications

0 49% 24% 14% 13%

4

Co-financin

amount

Full government

funding

Partial government

funding

Joint financing of

several enterprises

No co-financing

0 21% 23% 56%

5

Innovation s

here

Healthcare Securit

Education Environmental protection Social sphere

12% 5% 19% 35% 29%

6

Project duration

Short-ter

Medium-term Lon

-ter

61% 35% 4%

7

Plannin

level

ontaneous Planne

46% 54%

8

Connection with the main activity of the enterprise

Connected Not connecte

41% 59%

A large share of social innovation projects (53%)

is implemented in the local market, while a slightly

smaller share (31%) is implemented in the regional

market. These results should be clarified. In our

opinion, there are a few possible reasons for that:

 low replication of the result of an innovative

project;

 the project product is at the first stage of the

market launch;

 the result of the project is not innovative;

 this distribution reflects the real specifics of the

social innovations of SMIEs.

At the second stage of the study, we made an

attempt to assess the marketing potential of the main

types of social innovations of SMIE.

Despite the efforts made, the level of public

confidence in business is at a low level in many

countries. Russia is no exception. The social

innovation projects implemented by the SMIE allow

companies to loudly declare their involvement in

positive social changes in society, in solving social

problems.

All modern marketing concepts emphasize the

dependence of the competitiveness of the enterprise

and its products on the depth of involvement in

solving social problems, participation in multi-level

social projects. Participation in social innovation

projects that offer new effective ways to solve social

problems attracts the maximum attention of the target

audience to the companies.

At the first stage of the study, information about

the social innovation projects of the SMIE was

obtained from open sources: sites and pages in the

social networks of the enterprises themselves and

individual projects, media publications about the

innovative project.

As a result, the types of projects that are leading

in terms of positive tone and frequency of mentions

were identified:

1. Long-term social innovation projects in the

field of environmental protection, social services and

education, partially funded by the state.

2. Social innovation projects that significantly

improve the usual ways of obtaining social benefits.

WFSDS 2021 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

362

3. Social innovation projects with an unusual

history of creation and implementation.

The marketing potential of these groups of social

innovation projects is determined by the existing

fashion for the types of social activity of enterprises.

The process and directions of the formation of such a

fashion, unfortunately, is not always caused only by

the level of urgency of the social problem. But

inclusion in current trends definitely increases the

positive tone and frequency of mentions of the

company, the product of the project, its social

innovation and the public face of the company.

The results of the study also confirmed the

dependence of the frequency and tone of references

on the government's involvement in the project.

Today, grant support for social innovation projects

implemented by non-profit organizations and social

enterprises is very high in Russia. By allocating funds

for the implementation of projects, the state and other

non-state funds form sets of requirements that ensure

the success of bringing the results of social innovation

projects to the market, including requirements for

marketing and communication support of the

projects. Industrial enterprises participating in the

implementation of such projects, but not being their

initiators, also increase their competitiveness

indicators, form a positive image in the eyes of

representatives of the target audience.

According to the results of interviews with the

managers and employees of the SMIE, it was revealed

that innovations initiated by employees and have

intra-organizational social effects have a high

marketing potential. Participation in such projects

actively affects employee satisfaction, contributes to

the development of an innovation-oriented

organizational culture of the enterprise, and

strengthens the company's image in the labor market.

The implementation of such projects directly affected

the growth of trust in the head of the organization and

the translation of the social orientation of the head

into the external environment by the company's

employees.

A significant result, in our opinion, was the

declared willingness of employees to join the

implementation of social innovation projects initiated

by non-profit organizations and social enterprises. At

this stage of the research, the level of declarativeness

of these statements has not previously been evaluated.

5 CONCLUSION

The results of the study presented in this paper are

intermediate. However, they already allow us to

assess the marketing potential of thirty-one groups of

social innovation projects selected according to eight

criteria in the formation of a competitive image of an

industrial enterprise of small and medium-sized

businesses in the minds of external and internal target

audiences. The analysis of the frequency of mentions

and the assessment of the tonality allowed us to

identify the three types of the most mentioned in open

sources projects of social innovations of SMIE’s, and

the conducted interviews confirmed the marketing

potential of internal projects. In the next stages of the

study, the key parameters of the success of social

innovation projects of SMIE will be determined and

the technology of marketing selection and support of

social innovation projects by industrial enterprises of

small and medium-sized businesses will be

developed.

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