Shared Value - Social Enterprise makes it to Harvard

Porter's Five Forces is probably the best known business school framework of them all. Legions of MBA students have learnt to recite it, quote it at every interview opportunity and arrange it prettily on a PowerPoint slide.

Michael Porter has now, however, come up with something much more interesting, the idea that companies should not only create shareholder value (i.e. profits) but also more wider Shared Value, i.e. value shared with a much wider set of stakeholders (including customers, communities, suppliers and so on).

Whilst this idea is, of course, not news to people who know about social enterprise (and Porter even mentions social entrepreneurs in his Harvard Business Review article), it's refreshing to see it is gaining momentum amongst mainstream pillars of the establishment.

Some quotes that particularly liked included:

• We need a more sophisticated form of capitalism, one imbued with a social purpose.
• Not all profit is equal. Profits involving a social purpose represent a higher form of capitalism.
• Because they are not locked into narrow traditional business thinking, social entrepreneurs are often well ahead of established corporations in discovering these opportunities.
• Shared value focuses companies on the right kind of profits—profits that create societal benefits rather than diminish them.

Different ....

We liked this - it's different!

The case for talent

Sir Ronald Cohen was recently praising, in the Daily Telegraph, the virtues of the innovative social impact bond and predicting the rise of social finance.

Along with it, he emphasises both the importance of attracting the best people to social enterprise and the commitment that many people feel towards this field: 

"Some of the most talented people are being drawn to it [social finance and social enterprise]. We are appealing to peoples' sense of social obligation and of social mission.

"About a fifth of recent Harvard Business School graduates have been drawn to social enterprise type organisations."

The social enterprise field is, of course, already populated with hugely inspirational and talented people. Like all industries though, it will only continue to be as good as the talent it is able to attract, develop and retain. 


Social enterprises need to offer the career prospects, development opportunities and salaries that compete with other top employers, not only during a recession, but also once the big private and public sector guns start hiring again. 


Managing a social enterprise is a difficult undertaking. It requires not only solid commercial skills but also well-honed social sector know-how. Developing leaders who spend significant amounts of time in social enterprise from an early age, who know and can manage the tensions, quirks and intricacies that are unique to these organisations has to be a priority for the sector. 


Neglecting to develop the next generation of talent risks social enterprise delivering on its promise; bringing in the best and brightest minds will mean that innovations like the social impact bond will be but the first steps towards a brighter, fairer and more inclusive economy.