Three Great Examples of Shared Value in Action

Today, the challenge for corporations who practice CSR is to follow Michael Porter and Mark Kramer’s principle of shared value (the two described the concept in a Harvard Business Review piece that described how to create economic value in a way that also creates value for society) and get noticed for doing so. This is much easier said than done. The number of new CSR initiatives feels like an embarrassment of riches and the ubiquity of “responsibility” has made it much more difficult for corporations to be seen as doing something remarkable.

Recently, I reviewed one of many lists of top 50 socially responsible corporations. Three examples really stood out for me.

Adidas Group: Adidas has partnered with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus’s micro-finance organization, Grameen Bank to manufacture a low-cost shoe for the poor in Bangladesh. “The shoes will be cheap and affordable for the poor, besides it will protect people from diseases,” said Yunus. This program is a perfect example of the share value principle both for Adidas and for the Grameen Bank.

test below in green is an insert from this web's ed team

BMW: The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a mobile laboratory that will travel to nine major cities worldwide over six years. Led by international, interdisciplinary teams of emerging talents in the areas of urbanism, architecture, art, design, science, technology, education, and sustainability, the Lab will address issues of contemporary urban life through programs and public discourse. Its goal is to explore new ideas, experiment, and ultimately the create forward-thinking solutions for urban life. This program establishes a social purpose for BMW that could help address the exclusiveness/elitism of the “Ultimate Driving Machine”.
(File note on motor partbers in responsibility Yunus main stories linking round volkswagen). for example yunus first venture with vokswagen was age 15 as a boy scout- the book of his peer cross-cultural expedition driving from wolfsburg germany to chiittagong bangladesh has just been published

H.J. Heinz:  Heinz has launched a “micronutrient campaign” to combat the threat of iron-deficiency anemia and vitamin and mineral malnutrition among infants and children in the developing world. More than five million children in 15 developing countries have received sachets of vitamin and mineral powders that have been approved by UNICEF and the World Health Organization as a cost-effective treatment for iron deficiency. Remarkably, at a cost of a little more than two cents per sachet, a child’s micronutrient needs for a year can be met for an annual total of $1.50. This Heinz program combines shared value with extraordinary social ROI.Filenote - yunus interest in infants nutrition markets began with grameen distributing carrot seeds in early 1980s. The first global social business partnership was in this sector with Danone - it is blossoming from fortified yogurts to fortified grain bars. Yunus micronutrient industrial expert partner is BASF

Back to the Future Quotation of the Week:  “Business managers can more effectively contribute to the solution of the many complex social problems of our time. There is no higher responsibility, there is no higher duty of professional management.” Frank Abrams, Harvard Business Review, 1951.