Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Management and Economics
Year: 2023
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/4th.worldcme.2023.10.110
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Innovation and Organizational Change Through the Lence of Corporate Culture
Yanica Dimitrova
ABSTRACT:
According to Carl Wake, change is the only constant in the modern world. Organizations must create and manage a corporate culture that encourages the implementation of positive change that helps increase their competitiveness. The purpose of the present study is to prove that adopting excellent and sustainable practices in the context of innovation is an optimal opportunity for the successful existence of companies in the modern turbulent business environment. A prerequisite for this is the presence of appropriate management and motivation among employees for adopting and operating a corporate culture that promotes organizational learning, which is a significant factor for acquiring information, and improving organizations’ flexible adaptation to changes.
After a literature review of the theory related to corporate culture, organizational change, organizational learning and innovation, based on an empirical study based on a representative sample of 300 companies, primarily small and medium-sized enterprises, implementing their business activities in the Republic of Bulgaria, carried out by the author the present report presents the trends and challenges faced by companies about the generation and implementation of innovations, the presence of an appropriate communication system, both with internal and external stakeholders supporting organizational learning. The method used is a survey with closed questions. The results that have been reached are that Bulgarian companies generally understand the importance of the positive nature of the relationship between corporate culture and competitiveness. Investments in Bulgarian SMEs related to innovation are still mostly in tangible resources – modern equipment and computers and less in intangibles – acquisition of external knowledge and external research. The communication practices of the companies about their stakeholder groups are effective. The conclusions arising from the results are related to a focus on managing corporate culture, promoting the internalization of organizational learning and its transformation into a competitive advantage. It will be by the creation and implementation of innovations, a culture directly supported by the communication practices of organizations, providing opportunities to motivate the perception of the constant nature of change and last but not least – making more substantial investments in intangible resources.
keywords: corporate culture, innovation, organizational learning, change, communication