Walmart and Target are moving proactively to get harmful chemicals out of their supply chains even though the nation’s main chemical safety law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, is outdated and hasn’t been reformed in nearly two decades. Walmart is focusing on cutting 10 chemicals of concern from home and personal care products it sells.
The action that Walmart takes can increase consumer safety, sustainability and transparency through entire supply chains of their products.
Most companies in today’s world are still viewing social responsibility as a periphery issue, but not the core. It is not rare that company emits poisonous gas without filtering. It is also a common situation in developing countries where food security cannot be guaranteed. The key issue here is that most companies are not aware of the changed approach to value creation. There is a thinking set that policy is depriving company from earning more profits, which leads to the situation that most companies are finding ways to capitalize on the lack of supervision. They view value creation narrowly and only aim to optimize short-term financial performance while ignoring the influences that determine their long-term performance.
Walmart is one of the far-sighted companies, who changes its way of creating value to a more sustainable and more beneficial one. In 2009, Walmart reduced its packaging and rerouted its trucks. These actions not only reduced the emission of greenhouse gases but also helped Walmart cut its cost on a large scale.
Creating shared value should no longer be a new concept for companies and our society. By reconceiving products and markets, redefining productivity in the value chain and building supportive industry clusters, company will be able to expand the total pool of economic and social value. However, there is still a long way to go. Company needs to rethink their value proposition, change marketing strategies, and adapt their operations to these changes… But creating shared value will no doubt be a key trend for the future.
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