Creating Shared Value – Unleash the Wave!

While reading through “Creating Shared Value” written by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer, the first company that popped into my mind was Google – specifically their Pittsburgh branch.  Google Pittsburgh seems to put social issues in front of some of their normal business processes.  They are a company that worries greatly about their employees, their work-life balance, and also how the world perceives them.  Their workspace and office is one of the most employee friendly spaces I have even witnessed, especially their shared spaces.  It almost looks like an adult play room with most having TVs, pool tables, bright colors, top of the line kitchens, their own cafeteria and resting stations – fitted most of the time with a type of couch that you can nap on.  They also have a babysitting service for employees with small children, for another example.  They are a company that leads the industry in advertising but they also take chances in different areas, most of the time unknown areas, for the publics greater good.  The example that jumps into my mind is their World-Wide WiFi idea – known as “Loon for All” or “Project Loon.”  They are in the process and planning how to successfully launch “loon balloons” above the Earth surface to provide internet access to everyone in the world!  Internet technology is changing at a daily rate and providing the use to all individuals world-wide can only have positive effects.  This will drastically change things like how kids are educated in lower income regions or regions that are considered third world in nature, the amount of individuals that can work on complex algorithms etc. that Google loves and thrives by and expanding the knowledge base of the world as a whole.  This project alone, which is simply one idea, is putting the social ideas far in front of the bottom line on an income statement.

If all companies would focus more on the greater good of society rather than their GDP, the world we live in would be a much different place.  I think it is great that more and more companies are starting to worry about our world within their successful businesses more so than how much money they are going to make this fiscal year.  With the change in motion that our world is seeing today, I predict that many less fortunate individuals and people living in hardship will have a greater quality of life in the end.  There are so many companies out there today trying to help in any way possible, whether it is helping one family or a community, that the world is going to be a much brighter place as the years continue to pass by.  The future world as we should predict will be an awesome place to live with many additional amenities provided to everyone, no matter the cost.

Nathan Kotecki