Environmental, Climate and Social Leadership of Small Enterprises: Fairphone’s Step-by-Step Approach

Achieving sustainable consumption and production requires a break with cur- rent practices in many sectors, including the smartphone sector. Leaders are central actors in catalysing such change by developing, implementing and promoting innovative ideas, products and practices. Not only large but also small enterprises can aspire to assume leadership for sustainability. This con- tribution explores the environmental, climate and social leadership of the social enterprise Fairphone that seeks to start a movement towards a more sustainable smartphone sector. Endowed with barely any structural power, it relies on other leadership types, especially entrepreneurial leadership, which is based on dia- logue, persuasion and coalition-building. Small enterprises can be leaders, but pursuing a goal such as transforming the smartphone sector takes a step-by- step approach targeting different follower groups from suppliers, competitors and consumers to end-of-life processors and policymakers. Those different follower groups are susceptible to different (combinations of) leadership types.

Jaar van publicatie:2019

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BOF-publication weight:6

CSS-citation score:1

Authors from:Higher Education

Toegankelijkheid:Closed