Additional resources

In his book Grow the Pie, London Business School’s Professor Alex Edmans shows that companies can create both profit and social value. The most successful companies don’t target profit directly but are driven by purpose – the desire to serve a societal need and contribute to human betterment and discusses the critical role of collaboration with a company’s investors, employees, and customers.

Other helpful articles from Alex include:

• 28 Years of Stock Market Data Shows a Link Between Employee Satisfaction and Long-Term Value, HBR
• Does Good ESG Performance Reduce the Cost of Debt?, Grow The Pie blog
• “Grow the Pie” in 28 Tweets, Grow The Pie blog

In her book Reimagining Capitalism, Harvard Professor Rebecca Henderson debunks the worldview that the only purpose of business is to make money and maximize shareholder value. She shows that we have failed to reimagine capitalism so that it is not only an engine of prosperity but also a system that is in harmony with environmental realities, striving for social justice, and the demands of truly democratic institutions.

The broader system shift from a focus on financial value to value for society is powerfully argued in Marianna Mazzucato’s book The value of everything, and Mark Carney in his Reith lectures develops her insights to argue that purpose-led businesses, focussed on creating value for society not just financial value, is key to transforming both industry and finance.

Developed by Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics, is a theory that reframes our understanding of economic success by the extent to which the needs of people are met without exceeding the Earth’s ecological ceiling.

In his book Prosperity, Professor Colin Mayer, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, challenges the fundamentals of business thinking, setting out a comprehensive new agenda for establishing the corporation as a unique and powerful force for promoting economic and social wellbeing in its fullest sense – for customers and communities, today and in the future.

The Future of the Corporation programme is the British Academy’s review of the role of business in society. In 2018, the research suggested a need to develop a new, more human framework for the corporation around well-defined and aligned purposes, complemented by ethical cultures and commitments to trustworthiness.

In her book The Shareholder Value Myth – The Key Point, Lynn Stout debunks the myth that corporate law mandates shareholder primacy.

We also recommend this Financial Times article from December 2018 by Martin Wolf in which he argues that the idea that businesses only pursue profits leads to dire outcomes and another from January 2019 by Andrew Edgecliffe- Johnson which looks back at 50 years of shareholders primacy and why now even the largest investors are challenging that consensus.

This UK Government Mission-led Business Advisory report from 2016 discusses mission-led business in the UK, sets out a vision and makes 10 recommendations that the panel hoped would help businesses and government move forward.

The Purposeful Company Taskforce report discusses how purpose-led business could be encouraged to flourish, transforming the economy for the good of all. Section 2 discusses why purpose matters.

PAS 808 – In July 2022 a number of organisations were convened by the BSI to create PAS 808 for purpose-driven organisations to provide guidance to governing bodies and executive managers on what purpose is, how a purpose-driven organization (PDO) approaches decisions, and how it acts. It outlines the worldviews, principles and the associated behaviours and activities of a PDO and establishes common terms and definitions related to purpose. you can download an executive summary and the full PAS here: PAS 808 | BSI (bsigroup.com) 

On climate change:

This Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) working paper Unleashing the sustainable business – July 2021 summarises why a purpose-driven approach to business is the optimum route to create a durable, equitable and sustainable future.

This briefing by CISL seeks to provide practical, strategic guidance for how organisations can overcome some of the challenges that are preventing action and how they can find ways to implement a net zero strategy.

See the Committee on Climate Change website and its landmark report on net zero in May 2019 – The Executive Summary is well worth a read.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is currently in its Sixth Assessment cycle, during which the IPCC has produced the Assessment reports of its three Working Groups, three Special Reports, and will produce a synthesis report in 2022. Based on the latest findings in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report the scientific community has called for more urgency, finding that the effects of climate change are already widespread, rapid, and intensifying and “unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach.”

The previous report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2018 stated that climate change was happening faster than previously expected, that 1.5 degrees would be hugely better for the planet than 2 degrees of warming and that the world needed to take far more action far faster than previously known – this led to the urgent need for net-zero by 2050.

The Dasgupta report for the UK Government on biodiversity and loss of natural capital discusses the other side of the coin to climate change – because net-zero will need to be accompanied by the restoration of natural capital and biodiversity – the two are completely interconnected. 

For examples of collective action – The Rainforest Alliance is an example off bringing together a diverse group allies, from farmers, to forest communities, companies, and consumers, to make deep-rooted change on some of the most pressing social and environmental issues of our time. They’re implementing proven and scalable solutions on the ground while testing innovative ways to drive change.