What’s new (and exciting) about Sustainable Value Creation?

 

 

Margaret Coady
Director
Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy

August 12, 2011 -- To paraphrase the remarks of Professor Stuart Hart, author of Capitalism at the Crossroads, in his keynote address at CECP’s 2011 Corporate Philanthropy Summit: you know an idea has caught fire when buzzwords for it proliferate. With that in mind, our ears perked up at the observation by Tim McClimon, President of the American Express Foundation, in his CSR Now! blog that a new crop of buzzwords has emerged to describe the win-win opportunity waiting for companies and communities at the intersection of business interests and societal need.

Tim notes, correctly, that CECP has added to the dense thicket of terminology with the introduction of the term “Sustainable Value Creation” (published first in our 2010 report “Shaping the Future: Solving Social Problems through Business Strategy” based on research by McKinsey & Company, which we followed-up on this summer with “Business at its Best: Driving Sustainable Value Creation” co-authored with Accenture).

So, in the context of a landscape buzzing with confusing terms, what do we think is exciting about “Sustainable Value Creation”? And why did we write two reports about it?

 

 

 

Margaret Coady
Director
Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy

August 25, 2010 --– Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal published an Op-Ed piece, "The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility" written by Aneel Karnani, associate professor of strategy at the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business.  Based on our organization’s ongoing contact with over 150 top business CEOs on this issue, it is our view that the article does not fully reflect the current mindset of corporate leaders on whether and when it is appropriate for a profit-maximizing entity to involve itself in solving tough social issues, such as poverty.  With this response, we share our Committee’s direct experience in working with these leaders on this issue, as well as quotations from CEOs such as Mike Duke, Ron Williams, Jim Rogers and others that illuminate their thinking.

New Tool for Deciding Which Social Issue to Address:
The “Issue Ripeness” Map

 

 

Margaret Coady
Director
Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy

August 18, 2010 --– In an environment in which increasingly urgent and complex social issues run concurrently with limited corporate funding and other resources, how should companies decide where to focus philanthropically?

In a new report featuring research and CEO interviews conducted with McKinsey & Company titled Shaping the Future: Solving Social Problems through Business Strategy, CECP presents an “issue ripeness” map (found on page 22) to help companies decide where to engage for maximum business and social gain.