Shared Value: Michael Porter and Mark Kramer

Marketing for profit alone isn't as powerful as marketing with the larger good in mind. Michael Porter and Mark Kramer endorse a concept they call shared value, the idea that a company can and should profit while...

"...advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which it operates. Shared value creation focuses on identifying and expanding the connections between societal and economic progress."

By applying the concept of shared value, marketers can tackle real-world issues and keep profit in the equation, rather than simply using profits from business operations to "do good."

Danone and Grameen Bank have been partners for several years in a yogurt business that provides jobs making and distributing nutritious, affordable yogurt in Bangladesh. This is a social business, aimed at addressing poverty in a targeted market. In a limited way, it applies shared value.

On a larger scale, General Electric's ecomagination initiative is creating innovative, sustainable products and services that benefit customers in diverse markets. Between now and 2015, GE is investing $10 billion to research "clean" (green) technologies. Since ecomagination was introduced in 2005, GE has reaped revenues of $85 billion from these goods and services. This is shared value, because GE and its stockholders benefit from the profits while customers and communities benefit from green offerings that are environmentally-safe.