It strikes me that there is a lot of writing and talk these days about the Post-Corona world. With a starting point: how are we going to change our social systems that we immediately fix all the things we think are wrong in the world. It shows little realism to think that the Post-Corona world looks fundamentally different from the Pre-Corona world.
Of course we will see other behaviors, such as keeping more distance, not shaking hands for a while and changing mobility. But solving the climate problem, the negative effects of globalization, income inequality, the lack of freedom and security, the wars, refugees, the lack of togetherness and solidarity; will not be solved by the measures of the Corona crisis. While everyone sees and understands that our current capitalist but also democratic system is no longer adequate. It is the least bad system we know, to paraphrase Winston Churchill. But the calls for change are loud. Not only among the public, but businesses are also working to do things differently.
Certainly the larger companies are caught in a “chatch-22,” much of the shareholders want profit maximization, the company itself wants result optimization to ensure survival (as far as it can). So anything that can be done will be done, even if it is not always morally and ethically right. Consider, for example, legal tax avoidance. Yet we see an evolution emerging in more and more companies. The evolution toward a higher purpose than profit maximization. A growth toward doing what is right. And yes sometimes really just for the stage, but increasingly because people within companies understand that the world needs to change and companies have a social responsibility in this.
But how does a company get out of the Catch-22? How does a company get the right shareholders who go for the long term? How does a company create not only economic value with their products and services, but also social value? There is only 1 answer to this as far as I am concerned, Impact Valuations: measuring the positive and negative impact of a company on society.
Governments have been working on this for some time: steering for well-being instead of prosperity. As early as 2009, during the financial crisis, the OECD was mapping out what well-being is and how to measure it. The Welfare Monitor is published biannually. There are already governments that use welfare to steer their countries (Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland).
We see the same development in companies. There are companies that measure their Social Impact (DSM, NS, Philips), steer and partly report on it. These companies are also economically successful, but consider the measurement of their integral value as their total result. Result for shareholders and for society. Thinking in terms of social value is the way to stimulate the transition we need to get to a more social system.
Our capitalist system cannot be changed by 1 company or government. And what the system needs to be changed into then is not clear. But we see the will to change in both governments and companies. For a government this starts with measuring welfare and social impact calculations of policies. For companies, it starts with measuring and managing the social impact of products, projects, departments or even entire operations. This should also become an integral part of business outcomes, as a research team from Harvard University is exploring.
Want to learn more about the why and how of managing social valuations? Download the white paper at https://empact.nu/whitepaper-landingspagina