This blog is principally (selfishly) about me learning about this blossoming space – me better understanding how we, as a society, can re-align values to create a better future. I’ve set out my basic starting hypothesis – namely that this can be achieved through big businesses and social businesses working together – in the posts below. But this needs to be stress-tested, challenged and amended. So, from now on I aim for the blog to focus on highlighting examples of where attempts have been made to re-align values in this way, hearing the thoughts of key people defining the space and asking for ongoing feedback as the theory evolves.
As I mentioned, an early cue for my thinking came from Michael Porter’s ‘Creating Shared Value’ (CSV) paper. This has just had, if not an outright dismissal, then certainly a gentle dampening of expectations from John Elkington. I agree with the views expressed that it’s naive to suggest everything can be win-win for businesses but think it’s equally naive to expect everyone will embrace a sustainability or wellbeing agenda (cf recent article by Jules Peck – I shall follow these with interest) just because. In this light, I think the most valuable thing CSV can initially do is be used as a means to frame social value – to make it more appealing for businesses. Like a psychological trick to help better understand why CSR and sustainability, when done right, can be very profitable. I hope that introducing shared value supply chains allows us an easy way to prove the theory.
There’s a suggestion in the comments that ‘triple bottom line’ is making a comeback. It’s undeniable that triple bottom lines are necessary for big businesses. I guess my concern is whether it is necessary or advisable for smaller, social businesses to have this too. If the ultimate goal is to create an overall triple bottom line society, are we better to focus on building the most resilient individual building blocks or insist that every element of this society is itself triple bottom line?
Shared Value Supply Chains 