It’s time companies took shared value seriously

It is time to adopt the shared value approach. FILE PHOTO | NMG

 By PETER MWANGI

Over the years, businesses across the world have struggled with the question of impact on society and the environment. More often than not, businesses have to strike a fine balance between profitability and social good.

More recently though, businesses have had to face up to challenges such as climate change and
diminishing resources raising questions such as: what is the best way to harness existing resources without depleting or exhausting them? How do you drive growth without polluting the environment and more importantly, preserving the health of host communities?

Businesses have tended to gravitate towards programmes such as philanthropy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) which seek to give back to society or minimise the impact of business on society and the environment. Though both efforts have yielded great impact over the decades, they have cast businesses as for-profit organisations only concerned with their bottom line.

It is for this reason that businesses have had to rethink their strategies for both growth and profitability and are now increasingly seeking to create shared value. Shared value focuses company leaders on maximising the competitive value of solving social problems, creating new customers and markets, cost savings and retaining talent.

It seeks to tackle the challenges facing society and the environment within which they operate taking on a philosophy that focuses on putting social needs first. This approach applies the efforts of business towards people, planet and profits.