Compared to CSR(corporate social responsibility), “shared value” was a relatively new approach of achieving social good through business. Instead of donating money to charity and taking a passive role in fostering social benefit, shared value places an emphasis on creating common values for both the societies and the business.

However, while Porter & Kramer stated in this article that the concept of shared value can “unleash the next wave of global growth” and further fix capitalism, another article published by Forbes is not so optimistic about that. Steven Denning, the contributor, stressed that in order to fix the holistic system of capitalism, bigger actions must be undertook.

Denning’s main argument is that the concept of “shared value” described by Porter and Kramer does not entail “customer capitalism”, which the power of buyers today is more effective than the power of sellers. In today’s business world, company have to position customer at its core of designing and manufacturing products. Nonetheless, Steven mentions that Porter and Kramer does not really touch on the customer aspects in the whole shared value concept. From”reconceiving products and markets”, “redefining productivity in the value chain”, to “enabling local cluster development”, none of them shows a strong emphasis on understanding customers’ problems or finding possible solutions in response to them.

So let’s get back to the question. If the current concept of “shared value” does not fix the problems of capitalism, how can it be revised to make a greater impact? Denning pointed out that “delighting customers” is one of the most important factors needed to be involved in the concept of shared values. For example, Maxine mentioned that the Japanese-based company MUJI left their paper products unbleached so that production cost decreased and customers enjoy a lower price. Maxine’s perspective on how MUJI “makes customers feel that they enjoy additional benefit” has supported the importance of delighting customers when implementing shared values.

Additionally, MUJI’s products are classic examples of disruptive innovation. Miranda mentioned in her post that MUJI creates a value proposition which solves customers pain-being over-served and over-charged. The products are less sophisticated than most of the substitutes in the marketplace, yet well-functioned and aesthetically intriguing in its simple style. I would heartily agree on Miranda’s opinion that simplicity serves both the customers and the society well. While consumers’ needs are satisfied, the minimized packaging and decoration of products have reduced carbon footprint and potential waste.

The story of MUJI and Denning’s argument have proposed that shared values are more to changes within a company’s production line. In conclusion, considering customers’ taste, opinions, pain, and creating potential gain is vital to a company’s success of exercising shared values.

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“Data-Analysis” has been on the latest trend of management and decision-making for companies in recent years. The improvement of technology has made collecting and analyzing data more efficient and precise. However, how do a company makes the best use of its information assets? In this article, the authors together provided some solutions.

To begin with, the article stated that in order to make better decisions, firms should be “truly” data-driven, and this means creating “a culture of evidence” rather than “a culture of advocacy”. Having a handful of data report is not enough. Instead, the right procedure of using data should be established and solidified. The article indicates that the manager should only determine “what to test” and leave the rest of the work to data analyst who understands the business well.

The data-driven decision making method does have risk, such as turning down a senior manager’s project plan or going against with the company’s existed strategies. Nonetheless, it is an essential step for organizations to reach its ultimate goals. The biggest downsides of a gut-feeling decision making method is that it cannot correctly reflect or predict customers’ feelings or behaviors. Without evidence, what the company executives “feel” like the right thing to do may turns out to be an unnecessary approach or ineffective service.

As a person who had dealt with some aspects of data, I can related myself to the points made above. Over the summer, I was doing an internship program in Taiwan for an educational experience sharing platform. Our “products” are video-taped talks given by university students studying all over the world, and our “customer” are students who need more personal experiences and information to make their post-secondary decisions. As a startup social enterprise, I took on various roles and was involved in product team, marketing team, and even partook in decision makings. We used various tools, such as Google Analytics and Google Adwords to analyze the performance of the website and more importantly, how we can do better to improve page views.

I would classified the enterprise as a data-driven company. The CEO and manager simply determined the information necessary to be tested, and the marketing team will regularly come up with strategies according to the regular report. Decisions are solely based on data instead of personal opinions. For example, when we promoted our website to students in Malaysia, the marketing team examined the effectiveness of each post on Facebook to website performance every day. The executives trusted the analysts and did not interrupt any strategies the marketing team has developed because they are all based on data. Eventually, we boosted the sessions from Malaysia three times higher than it used to be.

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Ink Studio applies several strategies to ensure its growth in commercial activities and promoting traditional Chinese culture.

Can art business sustain itself while reinforcing the core mission of promoting delicate culture? In 2012, three Stanford alumni co-founded Ink Studio, an art gallery focused on Chinese ink painting and calligraphy. Unlike the existing ways that Chinese artworks are being processed and sold, the gallery has several different approaches that eventually lead to its commercial and cultural success.

The business began with differentiating themselves from the art gallery market. Instead of selling a variety of artworks at the same time, Ink Studio chooses to place an emphasis on Chinese ink painting and calligraphy because the three co-founders believe that the above two categories have been widely considered as “the highest form of artistic expression in China for more than 2,000 years”(Smith, 2016). Focusing on only ink painting and calligraphy, the gallery has developed its own features. According to Porter’s generic strategy, the studio is expected to obtain a higher degree of customer loyalty than its competitors.

Besides boiling products down to specific types of artworks, they also differentiate themselves by making sure the artworks are authentic. Britta, the art historian among the co-founders, has a solid experience and 30-year working relationship with the Chinese artists. By directly dealing with the artists, the co-founders believe that there is less chance of selling forgeries.

Next, Ink Studio makes the best use of its customer relationship. Its well-established brand image, such as authenticity and good quality, has addressed glamorous buyers, including Hong Kong’s M+ and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. This in turn makes the artworks sold in the gallery more valuable, and thus increases the revenue of the gallery. The rapid growth in income will further make it possible for the co-founders to focus more on promoting traditional Chinese artwork, which is the core value of the business.

Additionally, the gallery has determined its key resources by identifying themselves as a small business. Though the gallery has been successful now and is invited to some of the most prestigious art fairs in the world, they do not have many stockholders or people that they have an obligation to show their financial report. The co-founders are mainly responsible to only artists, collectors, owners, and themselves. It is this simple structure within a company that they can keep themselves from blurring the overall picture of the business and be less profit-driven, more enthusiasm-oriented.

Conclusively, Ink Studio has outlined several strategies that makes it business successful and holds on to its key values. The successful example of an art business may, in the future, lead to the prosper of art industries.

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