Shared Value Can Transform Global Education

Companies facing a shortage of skilled workers can create shared value by working with education systems to foster the diverse skills that the labor market demands, according to new research.

The Not for Profit consulting firm, FSG and the Shared Value Initiative in the US have released a new report on the role businesses can play in transforming global education.

The New Role of Business in Global Education explores how shared value in education can help companies become essential partners for schools, Not for Profits and governments while increasing their productivity, strengthening industry clusters, and expanding their markets.

Based on interviews with more than 50 international leaders, the report  shows that companies can find different ways to create shared value in education depending on their unique needs and capabilities.

“Companies facing a shortage of skilled workers can create shared value by working with education systems to foster the diverse skills that the labor market demands,”  the report said.

“Companies in the technology and education sectors can create shared value by developing new materials that raise levels of achievement, helping the companies gain market share and shifting the underlying basis of competition to student success.”

The report, which was sponsored by Pearson, Intel, Western Union, SAP,Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the Rockefeller Foundation, was previewed at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland last month at an event hosted by FSG and Stanford Social Innovation Review.

The event drew CEOs and civil society leaders from around the world for a roundtable conversation moderated by FSG co-founders Professor Michael E. Porter and Mark Kramer.

Download the report here.