Response to Porter: Responsibility for Realising the Promise of Shared Value

Michael Porter has crystallized his approach to sustainability and social issues in management with the “Creating Shared Value” (CSV) framework he recently set forth in the Harvard Business Review with his collaborator, Mark Kramer. Seeking a framework that promises to enhance a firm’s prospects for competitive advantage through imaginative social engagement, Porter and Kramer prescribe CSV as the remedy for the present day crisis of legitimacy in global capitalism. This chapter begins with a demonstration of the promise of CSV, showing how CSV can deliver society the benefit of business engagement with its pressing problems, even while advancing the company’s profitability. Porter and Kramer recognize, however, that “NOT ALL societal problems can be solved through shared value solutions.” We show that, unfortunately, this includes problems that result directly from business activity. Because business is implicated in problems it cannot address through CSV, we contend that managers have to supplement CSV with additional normative frameworks. That is the only way, we argue, that companies can deliver on the promise Porter and Kramer announce to restore the legitimacy of capitalism with shared value solutions. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of normative managerial frameworks—rooted in theories of business ethics, corporate citizenship and legitimacy—that may provide the needed supplement.