In his thought-provoking blog entitled ‘Don’t abandon CSR for creating shared value just yet’ on The Guardian’s Sustainable Business pages, John Elkington suggests that although CSV had many virtues, it is unlikely to deal with the thornier CSR issues such as human rights or corruption. But it is his cautionary advice that “we should beware of kicking out the bottom rungs of the evolutionary ladder just as emerging market companies are waking up to CSR” that interests me most.
I am struck by this notion of an ‘evolutionary ladder’. It suggests some linearity but as we have seen in the case of many other modern movements, is there not some room for a parallel and, even a ‘leap frog’ progression? . It is not beyond human ingenuity to find a different, a more disruptive and innovative solution to what might be seen as unchangeable or inevitable.
I draw upon an analogous experience to frame this question. When I first entered the telecommunications market in the early 80s, our offer to the emerging markets looking to invest in telecommunications infrastructures tended to be one of ‘invest in fixed networks’. Partly because it was the known and familiar thing to do and partly because of regulatory environment and other factors that either got in the way or helped us along. By the early 90s, our offer had changed to one of ‘invest in mobile networks’ – on the basis they were easier and cheaper to install in a rapidly liberalising market , the cost of components was dropping, no one had to dig up roads and disrupt everything etc etc. Our particular offer was based on a global satellite-based system which required even less disruption on the ground , covered all parts of the planet and was ultimately more cost efficient. We spoke the ‘leap frog’ language. Many emerging markets – nay, even big transitional economies like China faced with building telecommunications infrastructures to cover its land mass – had woken up to the economic and social benefits of investment in mobile telecommunications and were receptive to placing mobile technology on top of their agenda. The rest is history.
So is it not conceivable that some more enlightened markets may choose to explore and do CSR, CSV – and – sustainability – at the same time? The permutations are many. And even a more exciting thought – that in moment of pure genius, we will see a pioneer do a leap frog to commit to and deliver a sustainability model?. The question then is not the ‘what’ (they should do) but the thornier ‘how’….
Tags: Creating Shared Value, CSR, CSV, John Elkington, surinder hundal, Sustainability, sustainable innovation
