Research Breaks Ground on Shared Value in Australia
14 November 2012 at 12:45 pm
Australian researchers are investigating whether companies do better using the business model of 'creating shared value' developed by US experts Kramer and Porter.
Sustainability advisory firm Net Balance has told a Melbourne forum on The Creation of Shared Value in which the co-founder of the concept Mark Kramer is the keynote speaker, that the initial results of the Australian study are encouraging.
Net Balance Director Ross Wyatt revealed that early indications show that the model is connected with better financial performance.
Wyatt said the study is investigating Australian Stock Exchange (ASX200) performance over five years, correlated with 31 Created Shared Value criteria and financial variables.
Wyatt said the initial results have seen higher sales turn-over, higher rates of return on assets and lower levels of debt.
In 2011, the US Harvard Business Review published the article, The Big Idea: Creation of Shared Value by Mark Kramer and Michael Porter. They describe Creating Shared Value (CSV) as 'policies and operating practices that enhance the competitiveness of a company while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions of the communities in which it operates'.
The research is being done in collaboration with the Sydney University Business School and ESG research provider, CAER.
The forum was told that .3 % of GDP is invested by corporate Australia in community organisations.
The results of the research are expected to be released in early 2013.
