The Future of CSV
If CSV involves the activities of the company that further its profits and push forward economic and social development in the community and beneficiaries it is involved in, what’s next? In the shoes of the beneficiaries, the glaring problem would be its dependence in the inclusion in the value chain of the business for its own development. What happens if the business collapses, or if the business deems that it won’t need the community for its growth?
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The easy answer is to cease dependence of the beneficiary in the company by creating its own value chain that can support itself independent of the business by having the beneficiary create its own peripheral businesses and other sources of income. Once the beneficiary is able to form its own value chain and be independent from the benefactor, this becomes CSV 2.0.
Again, does it stop there? Ideally, it should not. Now that the beneficiary has its own business with its own independent value chain, it now has the capacity to be a benefactor and create shared value to its own beneficiaries. CSV should not just stop with the initial companies, the practice must also must trickle down to the other beneficiaries. This is CSV 3.0; this is the endgame of creating shared value: when the former beneficiaries have the capacity to have their own beneficiaries and be benefactors.
Final Notes
Overall, CSV presents a new perspective in looking at profits. The profits generated by a business is one of the best ways to determine if the company has been producing value for society or not. The rationale for this is simple. People buy products or avail of services because it is of value to them. In turn, they give value back to the company through money.
Since a business would always want to generate more profits and to be of value to society, creating shared value is not optional for businesses, it is required to reconceive products, redefine its value chain, and develop its local clusters to improve its competitive advantage.
The concept of CSV brings forth the important idea that businesses can be the forerunners of economic and social development. Business may have the mindset of growing first before helping, but with the concept of CSV, it is possible to do both. With this thinking, it is possible for students to dream of taking part in helping other people without being worried about their financial gains. It is possible to be a man-for-others and do business at the same time.