Since Harvard Business Review published the Creating Shared Value (CSV) approach in January 2011, it’s become one of the most widely cited ideas in corporate sustainability. Companies need to find a way to create economic value that also addresses society’s needs, Porter and Kramer argued.
This month, the same Harvard Business Review has published a stinging critique by colleagues at the faculty. CSV is described as “naïve” and only suited to large, leading-edge firms.
Instead, the authors advocate a “CSR strategy” that reflects a firm’s values – and isn’t always aligned to a clear business benefit.
Are we going back to the future? I thought the basic premise that companies should seek benefits for the business as well as society had become unstoppable.
The critique is actually a very helpful contribution. Many CSR practitioners find that there is not always a clear business case. As the authors rightly point out, that’s often due to a lack of effective measurement techniques as well as the timeframe chosen.
We should recognise that shades of grey exist. It’s neither easy nor obvious whether to commit time, energy and budgets to each and every responsible business initiative that crosses a manager’s desk.
Slicing through the myth that Creating Shared Value is always easy is a helpful debate to have begun.