In my previous blog, I stated my belief that corporates need to think and behave more like social enterprises. Some already do. For example, Deloitte are now running their social innovation pioneers programme that includes support for people selected to join the Big Society Network's Nexters project. While such initiatives should be applauded, there needs to be a wholesale change in perspective within the corporate sector.
Now is the time for big businesses to go beyond offering help to social entrepreneurs and actually start behaving like them. Boardrooms across the City should refocus their business through a new lens. No more "cash is king" and "maximisation of shareholder value". Find new models of business that are sustainable and engaging. Wealth is not just about money. It is also created by the population's ability to work as a cohesive entity, where all citizens feels that they have a role to play and know that they can share in the success of the society in which they live.
This is not just about maintaining the welfare state, nor ensuring the future of our pensions. It is more fundamental – we need to regain civic pride and break down the perceived and real inequalities that exist, to create collective community cohesion. Just as social enterprises share the benefit of the work they do with the wider society, corporates should do the same. Bringing together the best of the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds may create a new business structure that has the potential to slow the disenfranchisement of those who do not have access to wealth. There needs to be a more holistic approach taken, where the wealth and value of business and society becomes more closely interlinked and even interchangeable.
One way to do this would be for businesses to create not only the usual five year plan, but a 25 or even 50 year plan. Such plans must identify all stakeholders (beyond the customer, supplier and shareholder) and include strategies for how those relationships should be managed, to ensure that they remain mutually valuable to all concerned long after the current board has retired.
CEOs should question not what their business contacts can do for them, but what they can do with and for their business contacts, and in turn, how those contacts are benefiting the wider community. Boards need to think about how their company culture could change to make the linkage between their business and society more transparent and more integrated. A good place to start is to reach out to employees who possess a socially entrepreneurial spirit, to listen to them about how this could happen.
Society must be seen as the number one stakeholder. Once this principle is adopted, it is easy to work backwards and create a business plan that delivers on this promise. These plans need to include a commitment to proactive, new and interesting dialogues that help to create shared value for all. This approach would move big business towards a higher purpose – where the spirit of social enterprise and the structure of the corporate merge to support social justice. Of course, new and exciting (and profitable) business opportunities are also bound to emerge as well.
And what role does the social entrepreneur have to play in making this process happen? They need to agitate; to seek equality in those partnerships that are created, not be passive recipients of help; to educate and support those businesses that commit to move into this new space. Social enterprises need to share their passion, their vision and ideas and their imagination. They can act as mentors too and not presume that they are the ones who are in need. Like the relationship between business and society, the understanding between the entrepreneur and the corporate must be balanced.
Combine and integrate the two sectors and a new philosophy will emerge – one that is built on the spirit of social enterprise, with the structure and discipline of the corporate sector and places the principle of social justice at its heart.
Marcus Jamieson-Pond is the founder of the Convergence network for social innovators and director of the CSR Consultancy. He tweets at @pigeontweets
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