Revisiting the Role of “Shared Value” in the Business-Society Relationship

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2012 papers

Abstract

This article critically examines Porter and Kramer's shared value concept to identify its boundaries and limits as a framework for understanding the role of phi- lanthropy and CSR relative to the role of business in society. Cases of implementation and alternative perspectives on innovation reveal that, despite its appeal and uptake in corporate and philanthropic circles, shared value merely advances the conventional rhetoric that what is good for business is good for society. The shared value approach narrows what counts as social value and avoids the friction between business and society. The consequence is that the approach is problematic as a framework for ad- dressing sustainability and development, and an insufficient basis for decision-making about philanthropy and CSR.

Related Papers

• → Managing for Stakeholders: Trade-offs or Value Creation(2010)368 cited
• → Shared Value and the Impartial Spectator Test(2012)57 cited
• → Reconceptualizing Entrepreneurial Performance: The Creation and Destruction of Value from a Stakeholder Capabilities Perspective(2019)13 cited
• → Approaches to Shared Value Creation: CSR 2.0 or Something More? Insights and Issues about the New Sustainability Perspective(2014)12 cited
• The potential of shared value creation: a theoretical analysis(2016)