Ideas
The Ecosystem of Shared Value

Mark Kramer, Marc Pfitzer ... The Ecosystem of Shared Value

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Harvard Business Review | October 2016

Creating shared value—pursuing financial success in a way that also yields societal benefits—has become an imperative for corporations. But companies operate within an ecosystem of societal conditions that can block shared value strategies. Collective impact provides the framework businesses need to foster and participate in multisector coalitions that can advance shared value efforts.

Top Takeaways

• The collective impact approach has resulted in successful collaborations in the social sector; it can also guide corporations to catalyze change in their ecosystems.

• Companies that turn to collective impact will not only advance social progress but also find opportunities for economic success that their competitors miss.

• Governments, NGOs, corporations, and community members all have essential roles to play.

If business could stimulate social progress in every region of the globe, poverty, pollution, and disease would decline and corporate profits would rise.