Business strategy reimagined: a paradigm shift based on “Creating Shared Value"

Now is the time to reimagine Business Strategy (again)! What is the rationale for such a drastic request? We are driven by the insight that we have reached a tipping point caused by the acquisition of a critical mass of theoretical strategy knowledge coupled with sufficient practical business experience that has led to a point of no return (especially in the aftermath of the deep financial crisis that has changed the world since 2008). Consequently, in 2011, a movement was set in motion when Michael Porter’s and Mark Kramer’s article “Creating Shared Value” (HBR 2011) served as the spark to ignite an intellectual revolution which has the potential to become a universal strategy-mind changer among business leaders. In a relatively short period of time, Creating Shared Value (CSV) developed from an “academic idea” to becoming part of the core business strategy in myriad (small, median, large and giant) companies (among them Unilever, GE, and Nestle) to even developing into a continent-wide philosophical movement that under the name “Africapitalism” has achieved notable prominence.