Is Corporate Purpose Dead or Alive?

Corporations across the world have enhanced their internal cultures, promoting accountability and transparency, with varying levels of success. Even now, as progressive approaches to management spread through the business world – and companies are judged by their social and environmental credentials as well as their financial performance – big failings like the Volkswagen emissions scandal, John West’s misleading tuna labelling and Rip Curl’s foray into North Korean labour demonstrate there’s a lot more to be done.
How relevant is the ‘triple bottom line’, two decades after it was coined? How far have we moved beyond the accounting framework of social, environmental and financial – otherwise known as ‘people, planet, profit’ – and can companies create measurable business value by identifying and addressing social problems that intersect with their business?
Join Mark Kramer, Mike Hirst, Felicity Ford and Ronni Kahn as they discuss the alternative, ‘shared value’, and the general trends in corporate purpose today. Hosted by BOSS editor Joanne Gray.
Featuring
Featuring

Mark Kramer is the co-founder and Managing Director of FSG, and co-author of the Harvard Business Review article ‘Creating Shared Value’ (2011). Mark has spoken and published extensively on topics in philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, shared value, collective impact, strategi... Read more

Mike Hirst was appointed as Managing Director of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in 2009. He is a director of the Bank’s subsidiary Rural Bank Limited and Deputy Chairman of the Australian Bankers Association. Mike is a career banker and has extensive experience in retail bankin... Read more

Felicity Ford is a business strategist with a passion for innovation, adaptive business models and women in leadership. Her passion lies within the ‘better business space’ where sustainable business models and innovative solutions are viewed as fundamental to realising improved business ... Read more

Ronni Kahn is the CEO of OzHarvest, founded in 2004 when Kahn wanted to make a significant contribution to society. Stunned by the amount of food wasted by the hospitality industry, she decided to do something about it. OzHarvest now delivers approximately 925,000 meals each month with a f... Read more

Joanne Gray is Leadership editor at Australian Financial Review and editor of the AFR’s BOSS magazine. She is also the co-chair of Judges of the AFR Westpac 100 Women of Influence awards. She has worked for the AFR, Bloomberg News and Asiamoney in Australia, the US, Europe, and ... Read more
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