Nadia Gonzaga's Blog

Class 15 focused on the corporate social responsibility to create shared value and to maintain sustainability. Because I could not easily think of a business that could create a shared value off the top of my head, I decided to do some research on shared value examples and interestingly, this is what I found:

• Kirin Co. is a Japanese food and beverage business that sells the country’s most popular beers. However, a social concern is raised as to how this company deals with drunk driving accidents. Because drunk driving is strictly prohibited, the company has developed the world’s first non-alcoholic beer, KIRIN FREE, released in 2009. The beverage tastes like beer except it contains no alcohol, which allows consumption for anyone at any place and time who simply want a taste of beer.

• Novartis is a Swiss pharmaceutical company that saw the opportunity to sell their pharmaceuticals in rural India. They observed that there was a lack of health-seeking behaviour, health-care providers had no health training, and there was a poor supply chain for thousands of local clinics. Taking action, Novartis hired community health educators, provided training camps for the health-care providers, and created a distribution system to 50,000 clinics.

I think that these are excellent examples of companies creating a shared value. Both companies address social concerns affecting their market, yet they expand their competitiveness, enter new markets and increase profits at the same time. For Kirin, the KIRIN FREE beverage can prevent drunk driving and allows entrance into a different market, a non-alcoholic one. For Novartis, the company clearly expanded its market and allowed the opportunity for 42 million people in India to receive greatly improved healthcare.

Since obesity is an increasing social epidemic, fast food chains like Burger King can promote healthier foods. Consumers are not inclined to purchase salads at these chains because a bowl of lettuce is more expensive than the typical burger, fries, and pop combo. Instead of putting fries as a side to any combo, the business should change the side to a salad. They should display the salad as a part of the combo on the actual visual menu. This should push consumers to just go with what is displayed and eat the salad. The point of a shared value is to do good, and companies can surely do good by promoting healthier choices to combat obesity.

References

Ennes, Meghan. “Interview: CEO of Japan’s Kirin Brewery on Creating Shared Value.” Triple Pundit. TriplePundit, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/02/interview-ceo-japans-popular-brewery-creating-shared-value-society/>

Kramer, Mark. “Better Ways of Doing Business: Creating Shared Value.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsustainable-business%2Fblog%2Fcreating-shared-value-social-progress-profit>

Image

DAJF. Kirin Free non-alcoholic beer (350 ml can). Digital image. Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 19 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kirin_Free.JPG>

Isben, David. Burger King. Digital image. Five Thot. Five Thot, 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.getthefive.com/articles/the-boardroom/a-whopper-of-a-new-idea-at-burger-king-salads-wrap/>

PTI. Receptionists at Work at Novartis India. Digital image. Business Standard. Business Standard Ltd., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.business-standard.com/photo-gallery/general/receptionists-at-work-at-novartis-india-709.htm>