Values-Based Performance: Seven Strategies for Delivering Profits with Principles

Abstract

Companies today are under intense pressure to rebuild public trust and to be competitive in a global economy. To do this they must act with greater accountability, transparency and integrity, while remaining profitable and innovative. They must engage with activists as well as analysts, cooperate as well as compete, manage social and environmental risks as well as market risks, and leverage their intangible assets as well as their financial and physical assets. We have studied sixty multinational companies that are taking a lead in responding to these challenges. Drawing on their experiences, we present seven business disciplines that move the concept of corporate responsibility beyond the boundaries of compliance, public relations and philanthropy, to become a more integral part of corporate governance, strategy, risk management and reputation. Applied broadly, this values-driven approach offers companies new opportunities for value creation, benefiting not only shareholders, but employees, customers, communities, and society at large.