Total Societal Impact: A New Lens for Strategy
Contributing to society cannot be a side activity. Companies that use their core business to address environmental, social, and governance issues can create more value in the long term.
To win in the 2020s and beyond, business will have to be about more than just business. Companies will need to create value not only for their shareholders but also for society—by confronting humanity’s toughest challenges.
Organizations are uniquely positioned to tackle societal issues, but leaders must think beyond traditional initiatives for corporate social responsibility. Where to start? Center your company’s purpose on doing good while doing well.
Do you treat societal impact and financial performance as separate strategic efforts in your enterprise? If so, you’re missing out on opportunities to boost your bottom line while benefiting society. Mastering this dual imperative will be essential for succeeding in the coming decade.
Contributing to society cannot be a side activity. Companies that use their core business to address environmental, social, and governance issues can create more value in the long term.
Put your company’s business to work for the greater good as well as your bottom line—and both will profit immensely.
BCG Center for Climate & Sustainability
This is one of humanity’s defining challenges of the 2020s.
Learn more about The BCG Center for Climate & Sustainability
To win the ’20s, don’t relegate your company’s purpose to just a punchy statement on your website. Instead, define a purpose expressing how your enterprise will go beyond driving profitability—by creating vital new value for society. You’ll attract high-quality talent, win loyal customers, and build a reputation as a business ethics and social responsibility leader.
Ashley Grice advises companies: understand who you are, represent that to employees, and take it to market in meaningful ways.
To unleash superior business performance, define a purpose—your company’s reason for existing—that’s authentic and inspiring. Then ensure that it informs actions throughout your organization beyond CSR initiatives.
Tech companies are under pressure to demonstrate stronger leadership in the arena of business ethics and social responsibility. To meet this challenge, industry players must reset their purpose—to clarify what societal needs they’re serving.
Integrating CSR initiatives into corporate strategy and defining a purpose that includes the social good don’t just happen on their own. Business leaders must inspire and empower their organizations to meet these imperatives head on. Excelling at corporate statesmanship—along with capturing lessons from world leaders in business ethics and social responsibility—can help.
Nordic companies have taken the lead in creating value that benefits humanity, not just business. Others can learn a lot by taking a page from these leaders’ playbooks.
CEOs today must demonstrate much more than traditional corporate social responsibility leadership. That requires mastering the art of corporate statecraft—showing how their company is acting for the common good, not just serving its immediate interests.
Winning the ’20s
How should leaders prepare their companies to thrive in the new decade?
To surmount humanity’s toughest challenges, players in diverse industries will have to work together. Through such collaboration, the most progressive among these organizations will transform threats to their industry’s right to operate into opportunities for reinvention and fresh growth.
Demands for more responsible practices can’t be ignored. Yes, Sarah Willersdorf acknowledges, making changes will be costly. Not making changes? Ultimately, even more so.
The industry’s aggressive push toward sustainability creates a multibillion-dollar opportunity for investors.
Telcos can capitalize on broadening societal expectations to build new sources of revenue and business.
The future will not be as dire as many predict—so long as we work together to meet our most pressing challenges and apply the solutions with diligence and consistency.
Why should your company care about business ethics and social responsibility? You’ll achieve impressive financial returns while tackling society’s thorniest problems. Wendy Woods and David Young explain how to excel on both fronts.
