While sustainability is a common trend in business, the practical challenges companies face when striving towards becoming more sustainable are not thoroughly researched. By applying Porter and Kramer's (2011) theory on Creating Shared Value (CSV) to Swedish SMEs in the fashion industry, the challenges of adopting sustainable practices were identified in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight case companies with an ambition to be sustainable. This paper argues that even sustainably-aware companies face complex challenges with activities meant to benefit both society and the company itself. Despite many positive characteristics of SMEs, including more flexibility to adapt to new circumstances and innovative approaches to CSR development (Jenkins, 2009), our research display difficulties with leveraging these characteristics. The study shows that the seven challenges of shared value creation are: investment costs, functionality issues, supplier complexities, supplier control, supplier abilities, managing certifications and cluster control. Moreover, the study has also confirmed Crane et al., (2014) regarding the positioning of CSV as an umbrella construct for loosely related concepts within conscious capitalism.

The interest and demand of sustainable actions have alongside with societal development increased over time. It has become crucial for companies in today’s society to show responsibility for the footprints they leave behind as a consequence of operating. A possible course of action could be the implementation of Creating Shared Value – CSV, which encompasses undertakings that result in value creation for both the company itself, and the local environment in which the company operates. Even though companies are expected to contribute to societal issues, there are still no blueprints declaring how to satisfy societal needs, and the challenges accompanied with it. CSV aims to tackle the distances between societal and business goals, however, despite CSV’s acknowledgement in academia, the concept is often criticized for being insufficient in practice. This has led to businesses trying to apply a CSV approach while still undertaking Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR related activities. The mixture of these concepts has made it difficult to explore what factors that affect the process of capturing Shared Value opportunities. This research investigates what factors that influence the process of capturing Shared Value in the Swedish insurance industry. The findings derived from this single company case study suggests that depending on what managerial decision-making approach used in a company affects the rate of success in terms of Creating Shared Value. An unclear communication plan, combined with the continuous confusion between the concepts, seems to increase the uncertainness of why and how different decisions are taken, hindering the process of CSV as well as the understanding of how Shared Value is created. A variety of factors were identified, where three main factors were considered to play a key role in, not only the capturing of Shared Value opportunities but the entire implementation process of the concept. Based on these factors, a model was established, showing how these main factors obstructs the realization of Shared Value opportunities.

There is a growing trend that businesses are expected to address economic, social, as well as environmental issues and operate in a manner that contributes both to the organisation as well as the society (Elkington, 1998), which commonly is referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility. Porter and Kramer (2006) highlight that the business’s primary concern is to run a profitable business, and therefore developed the framework Creating Shared Value.  This study examines how Swedish companies that changed from working with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to working with Creating Shared Value, experience differences in their sustainability work and what advantages and challenges the change emerged in.  The methods used are semi-structured interviews together with content analyses of four Swedish companies’ sustainability reports.  This thesis argues that companies’ sustainability work changed between 2010-2018 from focusing on philanthropy to a focus on sustainability through profitability. Also, the change to CSV for these companies resulted in an increased focus on the environmental aspects, and a decreased focus on the major social aspects. The companies spent more resources on innovation related to environmental issues, which generated profit, and on beneficial collaborations. An advantage of adopting CSV is that a focus on profitability may drive change regarding environmental issues, which in turn leads to long-term economic sustainability. However, shared value can be problematic in some ways, especially when it comes to gaining profit from social value, and thus social global issues might be overlooked for activities within their own business environment.

O modelo econômico capitalista é constantemente questionado quanto à sua débil capacidade de distribuir riqueza e, por consequência, linhas de pensamento com modelos alternativos são frequentemente propostas. Uma linha de pensamento que tem ganhado notoriedade toma o sistema capitalista atual como ponto de partida, não propõe uma ruptura, mas uma evolução do seu conceito ao inserir premissas de impacto social. Nesse modelo, algumas definições de negócios têm sido cunhadas, como negócios sociais, negócios inclusivos e empreendimentos sociais. Este projeto tomou como ponto de partida a experiência vivida em uma startup de recrutamento de pessoal para posições operacionais, a ADS, e seu plano de transformação do modelo de negócio atual para um negócio inclusivo, onde buscava não apenas inserir a temática responsabilidade social em suas ações mas incluí-la em sua atividade central como forma de solução a um problema operacional do empreendimento. Para atender ao objetivo da empresa, o estudo, uma pesquisa-ação, propôs e testou um modelo de negócio inclusivo no mercado de recrutamento e seleção. Para tanto, percorreu as etapas de: (1) investigação (análise do caso de negócio inclusivo da Danone Kiteiras e execução de teste); (2) proposição (planejamento do negócio); (3) ação (execução do plano de negócio ao longo de onze meses). O estudo revelou, ainda na primeira etapa da pesquisa, a necessidade de romper com o modelo de negócio da ADS, uma consultoria de recrutamento e seleção, e criar uma plataforma que conectasse empregadores e mães, que fariam o trabalho de recrutar e selecionar profissionais em suas comunidades. Nesse novo modelo, a empresa nascente (Kunla) assumiu a responsabilidade de capacitar as mães para entregarem o serviço de recrutamento e seleção (estruturar a oferta) e, ainda, vender o serviço dessas mulheres a empresas (gerar demanda). Ao final dos onze ciclos de execução do plano de negócio, a pesquisa conseguiu viabilizar um modelo operacional inclusivo para a atividade de recrutamento e seleção, dando condições à empresa de seguir adiante para a etapa de comercialização massiva do serviço. / The capitalist economic model is constantly questioned about its weak ability to distribute wealth and, as consequence, lines of thought with alternative models are often proposed. A line of thought that has gained notoriety takes the current capitalist system as a starting point, does not propose a rupture, but an evolution of its concept by inserting assumptions of social impact in it. In this model, some business definitions have been minted, such as social business, socially inclusive business, and social enterprises. This project took as its starting point the experience of a staff recruitment startup focused on operational positions, ADS, and its plan to transform the current business model into a socially inclusive business, where it sought not only to insert the social responsibility theme in its actions, but include it in its central activity as a way of solving an operational problem of the enterprise. To meet the company\'s goal, the study, an action-researched, proposed and tested a socially inclusive business model in the recruitment and selection market. To do so, it went through the steps of (1) investigation (analysis of Danone´s Kiteiras\'s socially inclusive business case and testing); (2) proposition (business planning); (3) action (execution of the business plan over eleven months). The study also revealed the need to break up with the ADS business model, a recruitment and selection consultancy, and create a platform that would connect employers and mothers, who would do the job of recruiting and selecting professionals in their communities. In this new model, the startup company (Kunla) assumed the responsibility of capacitating the mothers in order to deliver the recruitment and selection service (structuring the offer) and also selling of these women´s services to companies (generate demand). By the end of the eleven cycles executing the business plan, the research succeeded in building an inclusive operational model for the recruitment and selection activity, enabling the company to move forward to mass marketing the service.

O presente trabalho analisou a propensão dos executivos do setor de papel para embalagem no Brasil à aplicação dos conceitos de Criação de Valor Compartilhado (CVC) como forma de aprimorar a vantagem competitiva das empresas do setor. O conceito de Valor compartilhado foi lançado por Porter e Kramer em 2011, através do artigo publicado na Harvard Business Review chamado de: A Grande Idea – Como consertar o capitalismo. De acordo com Porter e Kramer, o conceito de valor compartilhado redefine as fronteiras do capitalismo ao conectar melhor o sucesso da empresa com o progresso da sociedade, este conceito abre muitas maneiras de atender a novas necessidades, ganhar eficiência, criar diferenciação e expandir mercados, tornando-se mais competitiva. De acordo com os autores, se as empresas utilizarem as mesmas ferramentas que norteiam suas escolhas no core business para analisarem as oportunidades socioambientais, deixa de ser um custo ou filantropia para se tornar uma fonte de oportunidade e de vantagem competitiva (PORTER; KRAMER, 2011). Para a realização do trabalho, procedeu-se à revisão de literatura disponível sobre o tema CVC, sobre estratégia e competitividade, o que permitiu conhecer melhor os conceitos para que uma empresa possa coloca-los de fato em prática. Após a revisão da literatura, realizou-se a pesquisa de fontes secundárias, que utilizou dados coletados através de materiais internos e externos sobre o tema disponíveis no Brasil e no mundo, tais como: publicações de revistas, vídeos, apresentações em fóruns, artigos, dissertações e teses acadêmicas, publicações em sites e notícias vinculadas. Os dados secundários ajudaram a tangibilizar o conceito de CVC realizado na revisão literária, através de exemplos de empresas de classe mundial, que já estão aplicando e desenvolvendo projetos e iniciativas de CVC. A partir dos dados recolhidos através de entrevistas de profundidade com executivos e especialistas em sustentabilidade, verificou-se que o tema é pouco disseminado e, ainda, confundido com os conceitos de sustentabilidade, porém, indicam a propensão às práticas de CVC pelas empresas do setor. / The present work analyzed the application of the concepts of Creating Shared Value (CSV) by executives of the area of paper packaging in Brazil as a way to improve the competitive advantage of companies in the sector. The concept of Shared Value was devised by Porter and Kramer in 2011 through the Harvard Business Review article called "The Great Idea How to Fix Capitalism." According to Porter and Kramer, the concept of shared value redefines the boundaries of capitalism by better connecting the company's success with the progress of society, this concept opens up many ways to meet the new needs of this society, such as gaining efficiency, creating differentiation and expand markets, making it more competitive. According to the authors, if companies use the same tools that guide their choices in the core business to analyze socio-environmental opportunities, it is no longer a cost or philanthropy to become a source of opportunity and competitive advantage (PORTER, KRAMMER, 2011). In order to carry out the work, a review of available literature on the CSV topic on strategy and competitiveness was carried out, which allowed a better understanding of the concepts for a company to actually put into practice. After reviewing the literature, secondary sources were searched, using data collected through internal and external materials available in Brazil and in the world, such as: magazine publications, videos, presentations in forums, articles, dissertations and academic theses, publications on websites and related news. The secondary data helped to underpin the CSV concept addressed in the literary review, through examples of world-class companies that are already implementing and developing CSV projects and initiatives. Based on data collected through in-depth interviews with executives and sustainability experts, it was verified that the theme is poorly disseminated and also confused with the concepts of sustainability, but indicate the propensity to CSV practices by companies in the sector.

Questa tesi, strutturata in tre articoli interconnessi, mira a fornire una migliore interpretazione del fenomeno delle Fondazioni d’Impresa nella prospettiva del Valore Condiviso, delineando quanto queste organizzazioni possano rivelarsi idonee a creare valore sia per la società sia per le imprese, rispondendo contemporaneamente alle esigenze di molteplici stakeholders. Il primo articolo, attraverso l’analisi della letteratura riguardante le Fondazioni d’Impresa e la teoria del Valore Condiviso, analizza in profondità le caratteristiche più innovative di queste organizzazioni, prendendo poi in considerazione alcuni aspetti potenzialmente interessanti da analizzare. Il secondo articolo presenta uno studio esplorativo finalizzato a verificare come gli interessi dell’impresa fondatrice influenzino il modello organizzativo, le attività e le tematiche affrontate dalle Fondazioni d’Impresa. L’articolo propone una rinnovata classificazione delle Fondazione d’Impresa, che introduce un modello innovativo, il cosiddetto Edifier, e sottolinea quali campo di attività sono più appropriati a seconda degli interessi delle imprese fondatrici. Il terzo articolo, infine, è volto a indagare in profondità i legami che intercorrono tra Imprese Fondatrici e Fondazioni d’Impresa, con una particolare attenzione ai meccanismi attraverso i quali l’impresa può influenzare l’efficacia delle attività della Fondazione. L’articolo mette in evidenza come l'adozione di un modello di trasferimento delle conoscenze possa avere una notevole influenza in termini di efficacia, con conseguenze rilevanti in termini di proattività, competenze ed efficacia della Fondazione. / This thesis, structured in three logically interconnected papers, aims at achieving a better understanding of the phenomenon of Corporate Foundations (CFs) under a Shared Value Perspective, by determining that these organizations are suitable for creating value for both society and firms, and for addressing multiple stakeholders’ needs. The first paper, through a review of the literature researching on CFs and on Shared Value, analyses in depth the most innovative characteristics of these organizations, and attempts to consider some potentially interesting issues to be stressed, coherently with the perspective adopted. The second paper presents an exploratory study aimed at verifying how the interests of the founder firm influence the model, activities and issues addressed by CFs. The paper proposes a classification of CFs introducing an innovative model, the so-called edifier, and underlines which field of activities are more appropriate according to the objective of the firms. The third paper is aimed at investigating in depth the ties connecting Founder Firms and CFs, with a special attention to the mechanisms through which a firm can impact CF’s effectiveness. The paper puts in evidence that the adoption of a model has a substantial influence on effectiveness, with many consequences on the proactivity, competences and social influence of CFs.

Abstract The purpose of our thesis was to comprehend how organizations approach the Corporate Social Contract that exists between them and society. The empirical data was gathered to reflect a comprehension of the Corporate Social Contract as a whole and as the product of its components, i.e.: Corporate Social Responsibility and Reciprocity. Other concepts interconnected with our main topic were also used in order to better comprehend the concept of Corporate Social Contract as well as our interpretations of the collected empirical data. These interconnected concepts were Corporate Sustainability, Corporate Citizenship, Shared Value, and Willingness to Pay.   The research work was approached from the qualitative standpoint. Considering that the perspective of our thesis was an organizational one, we approached 5 organizations within which to conduct interviews on the stated topic. Our aim was merely to understand the organizational perspective and approach to the concept of Corporate Social Contract, not to compare these perspectives and approaches.   Each of the chosen organizations met certain basic criteria mentioned in our work that permitted us to include them in our sample. The thesis’ conclusion reflected various organizational approaches towards Corporate Social Contract from the angle of Corporate Social Responsibility as well as varying perspectives on, and expectations of, society’s reciprocity. The study has shown that our view of the equal importance of the concepts of CSR and Reciprocity, within the framework of CSC fulfillment, is an under investigated area in both academics and in the practical business world. This has also been supported by our interviewees’ view on expectations, placed on society, as an implicit area in their organizations’ policies. Through our study we have uncovered practical reasons as to why CSC cannot be fulfilled all the time, how expectations between both organizations and society differ from project to project, and the importance of societal reciprocity in the aim of CSC fulfillment. And thus, through our study, we endeavor to comprehend how organizations fulfill the CSC and how they view society’s attempts to fulfill its end of the contract.   As a result of our work, future students and researchers stand to gain insights into the mentalities of organizations that hail from different industries and are based in different parts of the world. Future students and researchers could also derive their own interpretations of our respondents words based on the culture prevalent in the country in which the respondents are based. Apart from this, one can note that the respondents were also from a range of departments and their professionally skewed perspective on our topic makes for an interesting contribution to those seeking insights into our topic and those interlinked.   Key Words: Corporate Social Contract, Corporate Social Responsibility, Reciprocity, Corporate Sustainability, Corporate Citizenship, Shared Value, and Willingness to Pay.

The prominence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives today suggests that the corporate perception of such policies has shifted from an unnecessary addition to a critical business function. Using a reliable source of data on corporate social performance (CSP), this study explores and tests the relationship between CSP and corporate financial performance (CFP). Unlike prior research, this study additionally tests the impact CSP has on sales and gross margin in hopes of providing insight on sales strategies that can be implemented to maximize the impact of the relationship. The dataset includes most of the S&P 500 firms and covers years 2001-2005. The relationships are tested using time-series regressions. Results indicate that CSP and CFP have a significantly positive relationship in both directions, supporting the view that CSR programs have positive impacts on the bottom-line. Results also indicate that increased CSP leads to increases in gross margin, indicating that some customers are willing to pay a premium for the products and/or services of a company with CSR initiatives. Lastly, results also indicate that increases in CSP leads to a decrease in sales, which implies a decrease in customer base because less people are willing to buy the products at premium. Despite the result on sales, I argue in this paper that firms can increase sales by increasing CSR investments—assuming increases in CSR investments leads to higher CSP—as long as the perception of programs transform from socially responsible, philanthropic actions to programs promoting corporate shared value (CSV).

O presente trabalho analisou a propensão dos executivos do setor de papel para embalagem no Brasil à aplicação dos conceitos de Criação de Valor Compartilhado (CVC) como forma de aprimorar a vantagem competitiva das empresas do setor. O conceito de Valor compartilhado foi lançado por Porter e Kramer em 2011, através do artigo publicado na Harvard Business Review chamado de: A Grande Idea – Como consertar o capitalismo. De acordo com Porter e Kramer, o conceito de valor compartilhado redefine as fronteiras do capitalismo ao conectar melhor o sucesso da empresa com o progresso da sociedade, este conceito abre muitas maneiras de atender a novas necessidades, ganhar eficiência, criar diferenciação e expandir mercados, tornando-se mais competitiva. De acordo com os autores, se as empresas utilizarem as mesmas ferramentas que norteiam suas escolhas no core business para analisarem as oportunidades socioambientais, deixa de ser um custo ou filantropia para se tornar uma fonte de oportunidade e de vantagem competitiva (PORTER; KRAMER, 2011). Para a realização do trabalho, procedeu-se à revisão de literatura disponível sobre o tema CVC, sobre estratégia e competitividade, o que permitiu conhecer melhor os conceitos para que uma empresa possa coloca-los de fato em prática. Após a revisão da literatura, realizou-se a pesquisa de fontes secundárias, que utilizou dados coletados através de materiais internos e externos sobre o tema disponíveis no Brasil e no mundo, tais como: publicações de revistas, vídeos, apresentações em fóruns, artigos, dissertações e teses acadêmicas, publicações em sites e notícias vinculadas. Os dados secundários ajudaram a tangibilizar o conceito de CVC realizado na revisão literária, através de exemplos de empresas de classe mundial, que já estão aplicando e desenvolvendo projetos e iniciativas de CVC. A partir dos dados recolhidos através de entrevistas de profundidade com executivos e especialistas em sustentabilidade, verificou-se que o tema é pouco disseminado e, ainda, confundido com os conceitos de sustentabilidade, porém, indicam a propensão às práticas de CVC pelas empresas do setor. / The present work analyzed the application of the concepts of Creating Shared Value (CSV) by executives of the area of paper packaging in Brazil as a way to improve the competitive advantage of companies in the sector. The concept of Shared Value was devised by Porter and Kramer in 2011 through the Harvard Business Review article called "The Great Idea How to Fix Capitalism." According to Porter and Kramer, the concept of shared value redefines the boundaries of capitalism by better connecting the company's success with the progress of society, this concept opens up many ways to meet the new needs of this society, such as gaining efficiency, creating differentiation and expand markets, making it more competitive. According to the authors, if companies use the same tools that guide their choices in the core business to analyze socio-environmental opportunities, it is no longer a cost or philanthropy to become a source of opportunity and competitive advantage (PORTER, KRAMMER, 2011). In order to carry out the work, a review of available literature on the CSV topic on strategy and competitiveness was carried out, which allowed a better understanding of the concepts for a company to actually put into practice. After reviewing the literature, secondary sources were searched, using data collected through internal and external materials available in Brazil and in the world, such as: magazine publications, videos, presentations in forums, articles, dissertations and academic theses, publications on websites and related news. The secondary data helped to underpin the CSV concept addressed in the literary review, through examples of world-class companies that are already implementing and developing CSV projects and initiatives. Based on data collected through in-depth interviews with executives and sustainability experts, it was verified that the theme is poorly disseminated and also confused with the concepts of sustainability, but indicate the propensity to CSV practices by companies in the sector.

From the moment the concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV) was introduced in 2011, it was by some considered to be an evolutionary way of contributing to society whereas for others it initiated an ongoing critical debate. This debate that is taking place on the academic scene has, among other things, focused on defining what CSV really is and differentiating it from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This is mainly because the critical side believes that CSV is unoriginal and strikingly similar to CSR. Interestingly, in practice companies are implementing CSV in many different ways and some are adding it to their CSR strategy. The fact that these two concepts are closely related has led to a blurry line, which in return has caused disagreements in the mentioned debate. Given the above, we aim at understanding how managers interpret and implement CSV in comparison to CSR and what the differences between these two concepts are in practice. Data was collected by employing case studies which entailed semi-structured interviews with company informants. The findings indicated that managers interpret CSV as a way of contributing to society as well as the firm’s business simultaneously, and thus the implementation of the concept is highly industry-specific. CSR on the other hand, was mostly interpreted as a way of conforming to external pressures and is therefore implemented in relatively similar ways across the companies interviewed. In contrast to academia, it was indicated that managers are more interested in infusing the above two concepts than separating and differentiating them.