Capitalism is always closely associated with economic growth. When we think about capitalism, we usually think about private property, individual rights, and personal freedom. But when come down to business, Michael Porter from HBR urged people to rethink the definition of capitalism.

In recent years, we see that business has often been blamed as a major cause of environmental, social, and economic problems. Companies are often viewed to be only maximizing their profits but not caring about the sustainability of the society. We know that the mass production has caused toxic air pollution in Beijing, the short-term profits have caused a long-term environmental problems in many countries.

Rethinking Capitalism

A leading practitioner of shared value in business would be Walmart. They set goals on sustainability and women-own business. By taking on these social issues, they bring the business and society closely together, and yield a stronger community with their customers and employees.  http://sharedvalue.org/groups/shared-value-execution-walmart

By thinking Capitalism in a different perspective, we can see that a shared value can be achieved and new opportunities and benefits can be created not only for companies, but also for the society.

The concept was defined in the Harvard Business Review article “Creating Shared Value” (January/February 2011), by Professor Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer.