For Thinkers50's first event, here in Odense, the keynote speaker in 2017 was Harvard Professor Michael Porter. And it is he who immediately made the biggest impression on LederIndsigt's own director, Kenny RM Sørensen, when we ask him the next day about his experiences at the event.
- It was Michael Porter's 'creating shared value', Kenny RM Sørensen tells.
And it is precisely this "big idea" for which Porter received the Thinkers50 Leadership Award in 2015. While CSR is largely something companies do for their own sake, the idea of shared value, or the creation of common value, is something else entirely.
It is about companies utilizing their ability to create value to also create value for their business partners.
As an example, you can consider coffee production and the ecosystem that surrounds this, which consists of the coffee farmer, the middleman, Nestlé and the end user (you and me).
- In the past, Nestlé has focused on making a good deal. And of course bought coffee at the cheapest possible price. But they have opened their eyes to the coffee farmers' conditions and how these affect Nestlé. Because the coffee farmers do not earn very much from their product. Some have been under such pressure that they harvest and sell all their coffee and therefore cannot plant new ones. It is of course bad for the coffee farmer who can see that he will not be able to produce and sell coffee in the future. But it is also a problem for Nestlé, who could see that they will lack quality coffee, says Kenny RM Sørensen.
- That is why Nestlé started to work more closely with the farmers, he continues. This means that the coffee producer will get a larger share of the profit on coffee. And when the coffee farmer earns more and the middleman less, the end user gets a better product for the same money.
Porter sees this collaboration as a great potential for creating great economic and social growth.
As Porter tells in his TEDtalk, which you can see here, there has long been a perception, among both companies and in the wider society, that companies make money by creating social problems. Eg. by not caring if they pollute or if the employees work in harmful conditions. Porter calls for a shift in mindset. Because it actually turns out that companies can make money by solving social problems.
All in all, Kenny RM Sørensen sees a larger trend for entire events, where many of the presentations were about creating a better world and to a lesser extent about making money.
If you are more interested in Michael Porter, you can see his TED talk here and read about his classic “Five Forces” model here.
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