The concept of shared value was first introduced by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter and Professor Mark Kramer as the bridge between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. In the early days, companies were widely perceived to be capitalising at the expense of their communities.
Then came along the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), where business goals are first met before introducing a twinge of philanthropy or an act of social good as an attempt to narrow the aforementioned gap. This is often seen as a grey area, where the actual benefits and authenticity of CSR are often up for debate.
With the introduction of Creating Shared Value (CSV), companies can now build their business solutions on solving societal problems, creating economic value in a way that also produces value for society.
By creating value in a wider community outside of their own, this ensures that the business goals of a company and the health of their community are mutually dependent.
MotherApp’s Director of Digital Innovation, Alan Hung, was recently invited to speak about the Shared Value Concept at a business innovation conference at City University, as well as at Citibank’s internal executives conference.
As MotherApp moves towards a new strategic direction with innovative digital solutions, creating shared value is something that is close to heart. One of such solutions is our smart operation or crowd management system, which has already seen traction in a couple of Hong Kong’s smart city initiatives.
Time is a luxury few can afford to waste, and if the solution saves time and effort for not one, but multiple parties, then this is a value worth investing in.
Are your business objectives creating shared value?
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