A major post-recession growth strategy

Proctor & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer products company, has just announced a new strategy for growth. It starts with company values and sense of purpose. Their strategy is ‘purpose-inspired growth’ of ‘touching and improving more consumers’ lives in more parts of the world.’

P&G is a company that invests heavily in innovation, outspends the competition in R&D, and targets emerging markets with growth potential. Provided leaders understand the rising importance of values, a recent Harvard post outlines 3 key lessons:

1. Inspire employees to add their hearts to their heads. People care more and work harder when values are tapped.
2. Add potential for impact to your performance measurement. Seeing untapped potential raises aspirations.
3. Find a way for market opportunities and commercial considerations to compliment each other by enhancing your values, not diluting them.

How do for-profit social enterprises differ from non-profits?

Discussion is emerging on the idea of a for-profit social enterprise ecosystem. In a recent Yale School of Management interview, two innovative CEOs of social enterprises are questioned on social goals and profit motives.

An increasing factor that matters to employees is being part of a business with a social mission. Businesses with a social mission and the ability to generate revenue to fund it will ultimately reach higher success rates with that goal.

A call is made for policy makers to look at policy that acts as a disincentive to sustainability and socially-positive activity by businesses. Current policy causes behavior that increases difficulty of consumers to make social minded decisions that, if resolved, would benefit certain organizations with sustainability in mind as well.

The question begging to be asked was “Should non-profits be concerned that for-profit social enterprises will compete with them?” Simply, a for-profit’s ability to generate revenue and deliver a superior product will be resilient. Too many non-profits are fragile and at risk, they will continue to hope the big donors come to dinner while burning the midnight oil with marketing dollars and watching for-profit social enterprises flourish.

The paradigm is shifting on social enterprises and sustainability.