Early Results from Australia’s First CSV study

Preliminary findings from Australia’s first study into Creating Shared Value (CSV) have been released at the CSV Forum in Melbourne.

The study, The Potential for Creating Shared Value in Australia, looks at how Australian companies are integrating CSV, which emphasises generating profit by addressing social or environmental issues through corporate strategy.

Conducted by sustainability firm Net Balance, the research is being undertaken with the support of NAB, LionCo, BT Financial, PwC, PwC Indigenous Consulting, Nestle, Toyota and Stockland and draws on eight case studies from across Australia.

The research suggested that innovative companies could best employ CSV principles of assessing social and environmental issues as commercial opportunities. Such companies were creating business value by creating societal value.

“CSV is about weaving social need in to the fabric of business and creating new ways of doing things. Importantly it is evidence-based. It is not about intention, but measurable impact in solving identified problems,” Net Balance Director Terence Jeyaretnam said.

“Net Balance wanted to contribute to the literature on CSV and how it is being applied in the Australian context.

“In the draft paper we propose that people; their sense of purpose, the opportunity for learning and creativity are the foundations for a culture of innovation that is core to a company’s ability to create shared value.”

“We also found that the pace at which a company can identify social issues and develop innovative solutions provides the opportunity for true competitive advantage.”

Corporates are increasingly noting the specific challenges of implementing CSV in developed markets such as Australia’s while innovations targeted at the developing markets of Africa and Asia remain the major successes for the movement.

The draft presents six key areas to be addressed in enabling Australian companies to innovate for shared value:

• New mental model (mindset)

• The role of leadership and culture

• Customer and stakeholder insights

• Measuring total value creation (social and business)

• Collaboration and partnerships

• Integration and execution of strategy

The term CSV was coined by Professor Michael Porter and Mark Kramer in their paper Creating Shared Value- How to reinvent capitalism, published in 2011.

It was followed up by a recently released paper from their colleague and conference keynote Marc Pfitzer, Innovating for Shared Value.

Major international corporations including Nestle, Dow Chemical and the International Hotel Group have embraced the strategy.

Net Balance is seeking feedback on its research which will help to finalise a Green Paper – The potential for Creating Shared Value in Australia: How Australian companies co-create long-term commercial and social value – which will be released in early 2014.