social value business plan

How to Develop Your Social Value Strategy (with PRACTICAL examples)

June 8, 2023
Georgie Judd

In today's interconnected world, businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of their social impact. Developing a robust social value strategy has become a vital aspect of long-term success and sustainability. A well-crafted strategy not only enhances a company's reputation but also fosters positive relationships with stakeholders, including customers, employees, and the broader community. In this article, we will explore the key steps involved in developing an effective social value strategy. Along the way, we will emphasise the significance of sustainability and how it intertwines with the overall success of businesses. Moreover, the UK government places significant emphasis on social value when awarding contracts, encouraging businesses to integrate sustainability into their operations.

Understanding social value.

Before diving into strategy development, it is crucial to grasp the concept of social value. Social value refers to the positive impacts generated by a business on society, beyond its economic performance. It encompasses a wide range of factors, such as environmental responsibility, community engagement, employee well-being, and ethical business practices. By aligning corporate goals with social value, organisations can create a purpose-driven identity that resonates with stakeholders.

Example : A clothing brand that implements fair trade practices, ensuring that workers in its supply chain receive fair wages and operate in safe working conditions, demonstrates social value by prioritising human rights and supporting communities.

Conducting a Social Impact Assessment

To develop a comprehensive social value strategy, businesses must first conduct a thorough social impact assessment. This assessment involves evaluating the existing social initiatives and identifying areas where improvements can be made. By examining the company’s current practices, strengths, and weaknesses, organisations can gain a holistic understanding of their social impact landscape. When conducting a social impact assessment, it is important to ask relevant questions to gain a comprehensive understanding of the company’s social initiatives and their impact. Here are some key questions to consider:

– What social initiatives does the company currently have in place? – How does the company engage with and support the local community? – What measures does the company take to ensure employee well-being and satisfaction? – What environmental practices does the company follow, and how do they impact sustainability? – How does the company ensure ethical business practices throughout its operations? – What social issues or challenges is the company currently addressing? – How does the company measure the effectiveness and impact of its social initiatives? – Are there any areas where the company’s social impact can be improved? – What are the company’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of social value? – How does the company involve stakeholders in its social initiatives?

Example : A technology company conducts a social impact assessment and discovers that its operations consume significant energy and contribute to carbon emissions. It recognises the need to reduce its environmental footprint and implements energy-efficient practices, such as utilising renewable energy sources and optimising its supply chain for reduced carbon emissions.

Setting Clear Goals and Objectives

Establishing clear goals and objectives is crucial for creating an effective social value strategy. These goals should align with the company’s mission and values while addressing relevant social issues. Whether it is reducing carbon emissions, promoting diversity and inclusion, or supporting local communities, setting measurable targets helps organisations stay focused and accountable.

Example : An online marketplace sets a goal to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% over the next five years. It implements initiatives such as optimising transportation logistics, incentivising sustainable packaging practices, and encouraging sellers to adopt eco-friendly practices. The company regularly tracks its progress to ensure it meets its sustainability targets.

Engaging Stakeholders

A successful social value strategy involves active engagement with stakeholders. Collaborating with customers, employees, suppliers, and community organisations allows businesses to gain valuable insights and build mutually beneficial relationships. Engaging stakeholders not only enhances credibility but also generates innovative ideas and perspectives that can shape the strategy’s direction.

Example : An automotive manufacturer involves its employees in decision-making processes by forming sustainability committees. These committees provide a platform for employees to contribute ideas on reducing waste, improving energy efficiency, and supporting local community projects. By engaging employees, the company fosters a sense of ownership and shared responsibility for social value initiatives.

Integrating Sustainability

Sustainability plays a pivotal role in any social value strategy. By incorporating sustainable practices into their operations, businesses can minimise negative environmental impacts while maximising positive outcomes. This includes implementing energy-efficient technologies, adopting responsible sourcing methods, and reducing waste generation. A sustainable approach not only aligns with societal expectations but also fosters long-term success by mitigating risks and enhancing resilience.

Example : A hotel chain integrates sustainability into its operations by implementing energy-saving measures, such as LED lighting, smart thermostats, and water-saving fixtures. It also sources locally produced food for its restaurants to support local farmers and reduce carbon emissions from transportation. The hotel chain actively educates its guests about its sustainability initiatives, encouraging them to participate in conservation efforts during their stay.

Measuring and Reporting Progress

To ensure the effectiveness of a social value strategy, regular measurement and reporting of progress are essential. Implementing key performance indicators (KPIs) allows businesses to track their impact and identify areas for improvement. Transparent reporting fosters accountability and builds trust among stakeholders, demonstrating a commitment to social responsibility. Here are some KPIs all businesses could consider:

– Environmental Impact: Track and report metrics such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, water usage, waste generation, and recycling rates. Set targets to reduce environmental impact over time. – Community Engagement: Measure the number of community events or initiatives supported, volunteer hours contributed by employees, and partnerships with local organizations. Monitor the impact of community programs on the target population. – Diversity and Inclusion: Assess workforce diversity metrics, including representation of underrepresented groups at all levels of the organization. Monitor initiatives promoting diversity and inclusion, such as mentorship programs or employee resource groups. – Supplier Responsibility: Monitor the percentage of suppliers that adhere to ethical and sustainable practices. Track efforts to source from minority-owned or women-owned businesses. – Social Impact Measurement: Develop specific metrics to evaluate the social outcomes achieved through the company’s initiatives. This could include metrics related to poverty reduction, education, healthcare access, or any other social issue relevant to the business. – Employee Well-being: Monitor employee satisfaction and engagement through regular surveys. Measure metrics such as employee turnover rates, absenteeism, and participation in wellness programs. – Customer Satisfaction: Assess customer satisfaction through surveys, reviews, and feedback mechanisms. Track metrics such as customer loyalty, repeat purchases, and referrals. – Financial Inclusion: Measure the number of individuals or businesses reached through financial inclusion initiatives. Monitor metrics such as the number of low-income individuals accessing financial services or small businesses receiving microloans. – Ethical Business Practices: Implement metrics to evaluate adherence to ethical standards and policies, such as anti-corruption measures, fair trade practices, or supply chain transparency. – Stakeholder Engagement: Monitor the level of stakeholder engagement and satisfaction through surveys or feedback mechanisms. Measure the effectiveness of communication and collaboration with stakeholders.

Example : A financial institution establishes KPIs to measure its social impact, including the percentage of loans granted to underserved communities and the number of financial literacy programs conducted. The institution regularly reports its progress to stakeholders, showcasing its efforts to address social inequality and promote financial inclusion.

Continuous Improvement and Adaptation

A social value strategy should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than a one-time effort. It requires continuous improvement and adaptation to changing social and environmental landscapes. Regularly reviewing and revising the strategy based on feedback, emerging trends, and evolving stakeholder expectations ensures its relevance and effectiveness over time.

Example : A technology company embraces a culture of continuous improvement by soliciting feedback from customers, employees, and community organisations. It uses this feedback to refine its social value strategy, incorporating new initiatives that address emerging social challenges, such as privacy concerns in the digital age or promoting digital inclusivity.

Why Should You Introduce Social Value?

Introducing social value into your business strategy goes beyond altruism. It brings numerous benefits that contribute to long-term success and sustainability. By understanding social value, conducting assessments, setting clear goals, engaging stakeholders, integrating sustainability, measuring progress, and embracing continuous improvement, organisations can unlock the power of purpose-driven strategies. Moreover, recognising the significance of sustainability in these efforts is crucial for creating a positive and lasting impact on both society and the bottom line. Together, let us embark on a journey towards a more socially responsible and sustainable world.

Find the best procurement & tender management solution for you

Augmentas Group Limited bid management support comes from a combination of procurement professionals who have worked in both the private and public sector, our bid management consultants who consistently win responses for customers in various sectors and industries. At Augmentas Group, we have 100% success rate at the qualification stage and 88% success rate at tender stage across numerous industries. We understand the formulae to producing winning tender submissions and we implement this into every bid we write.

Contact us for an exploratory call

Optimize for Both Social and Business Value

June 27, 2019 By David Young , Wendy Woods , and Martin Reeves

A s we approach a new decade, we are also approaching a tipping point for business , with new benchmarks for what constitutes a good company, a good investment, and a good leader. The defining expectation: good companies and investments will deliver competitive financial returns while helping society meet its biggest challenges, and in so doing will enable sustainable business.

Building resilient businesses, industries, and societies

Leaders with foresight and courage will use this dynamic to create new opportunities for growth, sustained returns for shareholders, and greater societal impact. To do this, they will need to think in new ways, create new modes of competitive advantage, pursue deep and broad business model innovation , and engage strategically with ecosystems. They must merge the two currently disconnected uses of the “S-word” in business: sustainability and sustainable competitive advantage.

The implications for companies, capital, and capitalism are profound. Here, we share our take on the emerging era of business value, and the CEO agenda for value and the common good.

Why Is Corporate Capitalism at a Tipping Point?

Stakeholders are beginning to pressure companies and investors to go beyond financial returns and take a more holistic view of their impact on society. This should not surprise us. After all, we have lived through two decades of hyper-transformation, during which rapidly evolving digital technologies, globalization, and massive investment flows have stressed and reshaped every aspect of business and society.

As in previous transformations, the winners created new dimensions of competition and built innovative business models that increased returns for shareholders. Many others found their businesses at risk of being disrupted, with familiar formulas no longer working. To meet the unwavering demands of Wall Street, many companies relentlessly optimized operating models, streamlined and concentrated supply chains, and specialized their assets and teams—leaving them less resilient and less adaptable to shifting markets and trade flows. The resulting waves of corporate restructuring, consolidation, and repositioning have fractured companies’ cultures and undermined their social contracts.

Waves of corporate restructuring, consolidation, and repositioning have fractured companies’ cultures and undermined their social contracts.

Furthermore, this hyper-transformation cascaded beyond individual companies and created socio-economic dynamics that left many people and communities economically disadvantaged and politically polarized. Combined with the increasing shared anxiety that the earth’s climate is changing faster than the planet can adapt, a global zeitgeist of risk and insecurity has emerged. We will enter the 2020s with more citizens, investors, and leaders convinced that the way business, capital, and government work must change—and change quickly.

We now must rethink the sustainability of the whole system in the face of extreme externalities—or risk losing social and political permission for further progress. The 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identify the moral and existential threats that we must meet head-on. While some question the SDGs’ breadth and timeline, most agree that, if achieved, they would create a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world. Goal 17 calls for new engagement by companies and capital in partnership for collective action across the public, social, and private sectors. Five years into the SDG agenda, there is ample evidence that governments, investors, and companies are beginning to exercise their capacity to create much-needed change.

We now must rethink the sustainability of the whole system or risk losing social and political permission for further progress.

Change Is Underway but Is Hardly Sufficient

Many institutional investors are racing to integrate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) assessments into their decision making, and they are expecting companies to report on how they deliver on those metrics. New efforts promote radical disclosure, like the Bloomberg/Carney TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures), which encourages signatories to report on the climate risks of their financial holdings. New standards initiatives are creating a foundation for nonfinancial performance accounting, and the prospect of widespread “integrated reporting” seems realistic. Companies are investing in “purpose” and defining their contributions to society against material ESG factors and SDG goals. Corporate sustainability and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) functions, historically on the sidelines, are now being integrated into line business activity, with progressive companies expanding the scope of competition to include differentiation on environmental and societal dimensions. And through industry consortia, many companies are taking collective action on issues that both threaten their right to operate and open up new opportunities for their industries.

Through industry consortia, many companies are taking collective action on issues that both threaten their right to operate and open up new opportunities for their industries.

Such examples are important early signals that the context for business is changing. However, for all the progress on commitments, agreements, metrics, and policies, there has been little aggregate progress against top-level goals, like reducing CO2 emissions, cutting plastics waste, or narrowing social and economic inequality within nations. Without demonstrable impact and collective progress, social and political pressure will only build, further threatening the legitimacy of corporate capitalism.

A New Societal Context for Business

Companies will face escalating social activism by investors, stakeholders, social mission organizations, and policymakers on issues of climate risk, economic inequality, and societal well-being. Governments and local communities will set a higher bar for a company’s right to operate, and in a connected world a company’s local performance will quickly affect its global reputation and trigger social and regulatory consequences. Stakeholders will expect radical transparency on ESG performance. This will shift investors’ perceptions of a company’s risk and opportunity, skewing capital toward those that deliver both financial returns and positive societal impact. To satisfy a growing demographic of socially minded consumers and businesses, companies will need to demonstrate “good products doing good” and anchor their brands and identity around a credible purpose. Talent will gravitate toward companies that give employees a line-of-sight to making the world better while also providing a fulfilling career.

To win, companies will need to define competition more broadly, adding new dimensions of value through environmental sustainability, holistic well-being, economic inclusion, and ethical content. This will require radical business model innovation to enable circular economies for precious resources; to provide assets that are shared rather than owned; to broaden access and inclusion; and to multiply positive societal impact.

At this critical moment for corporate capitalism, business is more trusted than government, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. Farsighted corporate leaders will see the opportunity for their industries to mitigate environmental and societal threats, catalyze collective action to discover new solutions, shape wider ecosystems, and expand trust with stakeholders. Such actions will be indispensable to strengthen social permission for corporate capitalism before it is further undermined.

Management Will Need a Value and Mission Mindset

As in previous transformative eras for business, it will take a shift in managerial mindset to unlock new ways to win. We need a fundamental rewiring of managerial imagination and decision making, underpinned by an equation for corporate value that goes well beyond delivering a predictable P&L and a steady dividend stream.

The starting point is to instill an inspiring purpose that captures the broader ambition of the business beyond profit and gives employees meaning in their daily work . “Purpose” should not be a comforting and self-congratulatory statement of what the company already does , however—that would be an impediment to progress. Rather, it should define the aspirational societal contribution of a company based on its unique attributes, and inspire awareness of the broader context and progress toward business and societal value.

Armed with purpose, leaders can promote a culture of curiosity and courage to stretch their business models in new ways, into their surrounding economic, environmental, and societal ecosystems. Knowing that such transformative thinking can be impeded by traditional metrics, which only tell us how to ascribe value, farsighted leaders will work to change what we value. They will break from the tyranny of quarterly financial reporting by engaging investors and stakeholders in the company’s performance against a more balanced scorecard, demonstrating how their actions will transform the business model, better positioning the company to deliver returns and societal impact over time. They will think beyond designing their operations and organization mainly for efficiency, and thoughtfully engineer-in redundancy, diversity, and flexibility for more resilience and adaptability. And they will enrich their decision making by including staff with nontraditional business skills.

Armed with purpose, leaders can promote a culture of curiosity and courage to stretch their business models in new ways.

Success in the coming decade will take management teams that both know the business and envision its larger potential to compete differently, with benefits for both shareholders and the common good.

CEOs Need an Agenda for Value and the Common Good

We frame the journey to new corporate value and the common good around six imperatives. It begins with reimagining corporate strategy, then involves transforming the business model, reframing performance and scorekeeping, leading a purpose-filled organization, practicing corporate statesmanship, and elevating governance. (See Exhibit 1.) While challenging to execute, we argue that this agenda will be essential to create a great company, a great stock, a great impact, and a great legacy.

Reimagine Corporate Strategy

We believe few companies have strategies for this new era of business. Exhibit 2 illustrates the ambition of such a strategy, which establishes competitive advantage at the intersection of shareholder value, corporate longevity, and societal impact . The “quality” of the strategy is thus judged by how it delivers both total shareholder returns and total societal impact.

Consequently, it widens the scope of competition to encompass creating rich differentiation and relative advantage in multiple areas of societal value. It embeds “social value” into new business constructs, shared value chains, and reconstructed ecosystems. It also opens, broadens, and deepens markets to enable access and inclusion. And it expands the scope of business by calling for coalitions for collective action that address existential risks to environmental and societal ecosystems.

This new type of strategy flips leadership’s perspective from “company-out” to “societal needs-in,” by asking how a specific SDG target could be met by extending the company’s capabilities, assets, products, services, and ecosystem—and those of its industry. Exhibit 3 lists ten questions that strategists should incorporate into their strategy processes to ensure that they embrace the opportunity to create both shareholder returns and societal impact.

However, these new strategies cannot simply be grafted onto existing business models. Buiness models themselves will need to be transformed. Sustainable business model innovation (SBM-I) takes a much wider perspective than traditional business model innovation by considering a broader set of stakeholders; the system dynamics of the socio-environmental context; longer time horizons for sustaining adaptable advantage; the limits of business model scale, viability, and resilience; the cradle-to-grave production and consumption cycle; and the points of leverage for profitable and sustainable transformation.

Transform Business Models

We can already observe seven topologies for sustainable business model innovation, sometimes in combination, all with the potential to increase both financial returns and societal benefits.

Own the origins. Compete on capturing and differentiating the “social value” of inputs to production processes, products, or services. For example, pursue cleaner energy, sustainable practices, preserved biodiversity, recycled content, inclusive and empowering work practices, minimized waste, digitized traceability, fair trade, and so on. Performance here will require differentially advancing the societal performance of the supplier base and its stewardship of resources, communities, and trade flows. Achieving this may require backward integration to ensure fast and complete upstream transformation and then holding and using these new capabilities for competitive advantage and differentiation.
Own the whole cycle. Compete by creating societal impact through the whole product usage cycle, from creation through end of life. This competitive typology puts a wide aperture on the business and requires systems analysis to uncover business models that offer the richest competitive and financial options. For example, designing for circularity, recyclability, and waste to value; creating offerings that enable sharing rather than owning to ensure high utilization of resources and end-of-life value; constructing infrastructure to facilitate circularity and repurposing; integrating into other value chains to capture societal value; educating and enabling consumers to choose whole-cycle propositions on the basis of value to people and planet. To achieve these ends, expect to reposition operations, reinvent supply chains and distribution networks, pursue new backward or forward integration, acquire business adjacencies, or undertake unconventional strategic partnering.
Expand “social value.” Compete by expanding the value of products or services on six dimensions: economic gains, environmental sustainability, customer well-being, ethical content, societal enablement, and access and inclusion. Then advocate new standards, increase transparency and traceability, tune marketing and segmentation, engage customers on the product’s wider value and their involvement in bigger change, and seek premium pricing. In business-to-business offerings, help customers integrate the full social value of your products, services, and business model into their own differentiation and ESG ambitions.
Expand the chains. Compete by extending the company’s value chain, layering onto other industries’ value chains to extend the reach of your products and services and the societal impact for both parties, while changing the economics and risks of doing so. For example, use the reach of a consumer products distribution system to extend payments and financial services to small merchants; layer one company’s health services onto another company’s physical supply chain to benefit its workers and their families while expanding markets for health services; or use the byproducts of one company’s operations as feedstock in other companies’ value chains.
Energize the brand. Compete by digitally encoding, promoting, and monetizing the full accumulated social value that is embedded in products and services, along the whole value chain—from origins to customer, from cradle to grave. Use such data to rethink differentiation, the brand experience, customer engagement, pricing for value, ESG reporting, investor engagement, and even potential new businesses. For example, strengthen the brand with promotions that showcase the business’s performance on the open, clean, green, renewable, and inclusive attributes of its operations; and increase customer engagement and loyalty by using data on the product’s environmental and societal footprint to empower customers in choosing how their lifestyle affects the planet and its people.
Relocalize and regionalize. Compete by contracting and reconnecting global value chains to bring societal benefits closer to home markets in ways stakeholders value. For example, build local and regional brands that better express local tastes and values; source from smaller local producers to minimize logistics emissions and strengthen local economies; reimagine production networks against total environmental and societal costs; capture local waste streams as feedstocks for other activities; or reconstitute jobs for microwork to use local talent.
Build across sectors. Compete by creating models that include the public and social sectors to improve the company’s business and societal proposition, particularly in emerging and rapidly developing economies. For example, work alongside governmental bilateral aid institutions and NGO development organizations to improve the agricultural capacity of small farmers so they become reliable sources of agricultural inputs to the agro-processing value chain; partner with global environmental organizations and governments to promote the reuse of ocean plastics as feedstocks to production systems; partner with governments to strengthen social safety nets and prevent corruption through digitization and electronic payments; or partner across sectors to restructure recycling systems to enable higher penetration of waste-to-value business models. Extend this into industry coalitions for collective action that reshape broader rights to operate and generate new opportunities.

All seven types of SBM-I create new sources of differentiation, operating advantage, network dynamics, and societal value—enabling more durable and resilient businesses that benefit shareholders and society. But to assess and improve the performance of these business models and communicate their value, we need to expand today’s scorecards.

Improve Scorekeeping and Increase Transparency

Managers will need new scorecards for a fuller equation of business value to assess and reward performance and inform decision making. While today’s ESG measures are a start, their use and the mindset they represent, as for most nonfinancial reporting, remain anchored in compliance, not business advantage. Consequently, scorecards and reporting must go beyond mapping general ESG materiality. Instead, they should focus the business and its stakeholders on insightful metrics that directly connect the company’s unique purpose and business models to the way the company creates differentiated value and societal impact—its full business value (FBV) .

These metrics will assess performance throughout the value chain—from procuring inputs, to owning the post-use cycle, to establishing the company’s full societal footprint. As with financial performance, good companies will integrate these metrics into their managerial software—operating plans, target setting, investment decisions, executive compensation, and employee recognition. Further, the company will promote radical transparency of its FBV scorecards, fully reflecting them in investor relations and corporate communications, quarterly calls, and annual meetings, and making them integral to marketing, social media, public relations, and government affairs. As a result, stakeholders will see the company in new ways and its advantages relative to peers on new dimensions.

Lead a Purpose-Filled Organization

Talent prizes purpose. Consequently, winning and engaging the best talent depends on reinforcing a motivating purpose that captures ambitions beyond profit and gives employees meaning in their work. Research shows that companies with a motivating purpose have higher employee engagement, and that higher engagement correlates to better financial performance. So purpose is a win for recruiting employees with “mission-mindedness” and enhancing the organization’s energy and performance.

But building a stronger organization will take rethinking the skills and capabilities that can truly differentiate performance on both financial and societal metrics. The organization can no longer delegate sustainability and social responsibility to individual departments; rather, those considerations need to be fully integrated into operations and decision making. That requires augmenting line businesses with nontraditional business skills—finding people capable in systems thinking, anthropology, social dynamics, behavioral economics, sustainability, and development policy.

The organization can no longer delegate sustainability and social responsibility to individual departments.

Those workers will become part of agile teams that conceive innovative operating models optimized for both operational effectiveness and societal benefit within value chains, markets, and customer segments. That requires developing and rewarding new ways of working that are more flexible, embedding rapid cycles of learning and deployment, and reaching into the wider business and societal ecosystem to create positive change and performance. Successes in doing so create the stories that bring purpose alive for the organization and energize its culture.

Practice Corporate Statesmanship

It will take the scale and capacity of entire industries and their ecosystems to help solve society’s biggest challenges, such as reducing plastic and food system waste. Thus, farsighted leaders will turn threats to their industry’s right to operate into opportunities for reinvention and expansion. Rather than ignoring these risks or mobilizing their government affairs groups to block change, they will instead practice strategic statesmanship and build coalitions for collective action within their industry, and sometimes across industries, to find and scale new solutions.

As in their own companies, they will articulate a compelling purpose and vision for how the industry and ecosystem could expand the total value delivered to society, while ensuring the industry’s longevity, profitability, and resilience. They will promote platforms that foster pre-competitive R&D, scale solutions, expand access and inclusion, accelerate industry learning and standards, and build capacity in the larger industry ecosystem. They will seek new partnerships with the public and social sectors to multiply what the industry could accomplish alone and shape new models of collective action for positive societal change.

Elevate Board Governance

Boards need to build new capacity to responsibly guide management toward setting an ambition for the full role the corporation will play in society. As with current management, most directors spent their careers focused on financial performance, with some sidelined activities in CSR and sustainability. However, to steer the company in this new era of business and hold the CEO accountable for the company’s financial, environmental, and societal performance, boards will need to be educated on societal needs and the SDGs; they will need directors with different skills and life experience in the social sectors; and they will need to restructure committees, charters, and policies to provide oversight on social performance. They must challenge long-held views about the boundaries and time horizons of business, about what makes a good CEO, about new risks and rights to operate, and about measuring performance, and they will need to expand their view of managerial competence beyond the ability to hit annual business targets. And they must assess whether management is building a more resilient and adaptable company that delivers for shareholders and society even at the expense of short-term financial performance.

This ambitious agenda challenges us to reconceive business, commit to purpose, and pursue sustainable business model innovation. Doing so will open up new opportunities for growth, shareholder value, and benefits to society and the planet. CEOs and their boards can wait to be pushed into this agenda by competitors, customers, and regulators. Or they can embrace it proactively and use it to reinvent the company, reshape the industry, propel the stock, deliver remarkable impact, and leave a notable legacy of corporate public good.

The BCG Henderson Institute is Boston Consulting Group’s strategy think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration from the Institute, please visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) .

Managing Director & Senior Partner, BCG Henderson Institute Fellow

Vice Chair, Social Impact, Climate & Sustainability; Managing Director & Senior Partner

Managing Director & Senior Partner, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute

San Francisco - Bay Area

ABOUT BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

For information or permission to reprint, please contact BCG at [email protected] . To find the latest BCG content and register to receive e-alerts on this topic or others, please visit bcg.com . Follow Boston Consulting Group on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) .

BCG Henderson Institute Newsletter: Insights that are shaping business thinking.

The Mathematical Revolution That Was Bred on a Sheep Farm

New clues reveal the true origin of earth’s water, openmind books, scientific anniversaries, whatever happened to… mind reading, featured author, latest book, value proposition in social entrepreneurship.

Why do we exist? One person asks another. Silence. What do we want to achieve? They ponder. What value are we trying to create? What problems, needs, goals do we want to help you solve, cover, answer or build?

They look at each other and nodding they murmur asynchronously: What is the heart of our social enterprise?

But the answer to this question, like most important questions in life, although intuitive, might not be easy to pin down, shape or articulate into words. So it needs to be pondered deeply, as we are only able to visualize it in this way.

The value proposition is the ultimate goal, the raison d’être or the telos of our business plan . It is about reflecting on who we want to be and why we want to be like this. Their response will require a deep knowledge of the recipients and will be key to addressing the issues of distribution, communication, partnerships, etc. Now, the value proposition , as the heart of the company, is not static but an organ that breathes and evolves: it adapts to changes in society. So we must define it, true, but not set it in stone. This will allow us to revisit and redefine it in the future.

There is a value proposition in every company, although it acquires special characteristics in the social enterprise. As a company, it camps in new terrain reminiscent of what Pine and Gilmore (1999) call economics of transformation . In this new territory, the qualities of a product, a service or even an experience, however good they may be, are not sufficient. Recipients of the social enterprise are not satisfied with the fact that the value proposition offered can improve their world but demand that they meet a higher purpose: they must contribute to improving the world.

To address the important challenge, we may have to change toolbox or perhaps, as noted by Professor Yunus “use these tools in a timely way” (Noeville, 2011:524). In any case, we consider that the following 10 instruments, in the form of principles, are key:

Creating a community and social network: the social enterprise has to promote a sense of community, whether physical or virtual. It has to take advantage of and enhance the network effect, at both a cognitive and emotional level.
Customer focused or customer centric: this involves making a special effort in getting to know customers, recipients, users, or “guests” in order to give them a differential treatment.
Customization, tuning and individualization: in a globalized world that is increasingly more homogeneous the individualization proposal is particularly relevant. From a more concrete level, customization means adapting to the specificities of customers or their tastes and needs, from a more abstract level, it opens the possibility that the recipient expresses its uniqueness, participating in the design or production process (co-production, co-creation and prosumerism).
Emotional connection: the recipient of the social enterprise is looking for something more than a mere economic transaction with the supplier. This customer is inspired by human contact and the desire to incorporate those responsible for the social project in its circle of reference or influence.
Transparency, consistency and integrity: in a world where anonymity is disappearing, the principle of transparency acquires an important social dimension, especially for recipients of the social enterprise. This group likes to be informed, is not easily influenced and places special value on consistency and personal integrity. Tolerant of human mistakes and forgetfulness, these individuals welcome sincere apologies but are relentless with deception and manipulation.
Sensitivity to the social context and mood: as a result of mobile technology and location aware computing, in the near future it will be possible to know the customer’s immediate geographical and time context. This will require that companies are able to adapt, be flexible and respond to the environment to a great extent. This fact will not only make it advisable to include accurate information on the value proposition circle of life but also be sensitive to the emotional context or general climate in which the social enterprise and the recipient is immersed.
Flexibility and generosity: flexibility in applying the rules governing the relationship between the company and customer is valued (this is what Trendwatching has called (f)ridig no more) and the generosity of companies (not necessarily understood as free and not necessarily directed to the recipient) as an expression of empathy and sensitivity to the context.
Balance between futurism and nostalgia: a good value proposition has to adapt to a dual time dimension. It must show some optimism towards the future (room for improvement and learning) but without forgetting the past, an opportunity to connect with affection and identity.
Distribution of information: this is to help recipients make informed decisions, giving them the choice between different possible alternatives and making them aware of their impact.
Open value proposition: this involves collaboration between several companies, so that the value proposition is the result of the combination of dialogue and participation between multiple players.

Yet, the social enterprise (when understood in this light) not only makes the entrepreneur become a “social innovator” but offers the recipient the opportunity to participate in social transformation . In other words, it provides them with the opportunity to overcome the consumer’s reductionist acceptance to recover the citizen’s liberating expression as a key player in the already promising economics of happiness.

Guía del emprendedor social de la Universidad Pontificia de Comillas

Noiville, F. (2011). Soy economista y os pido disculpas . Barcelona: Deusto.

Pine, B. J. y Gilmore, J. H. (1999). The Experience Economy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Estela Díaz

Member of the E-SOST research group, Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, Madrid (Spain)

Related publications

Andy Miah: “We are not fully aware of the impact of technology in the long term”
Big Data: Challenges, Opportunities and Exploitation
Entrepreneurship: a Key Element for Development and Growth

More about Economy

Geopolitics, global economy, comments on this publication.

Morbi facilisis elit non mi lacinia lacinia. Nunc eleifend aliquet ipsum, nec blandit augue tincidunt nec. Donec scelerisque feugiat lectus nec congue. Quisque tristique tortor vitae turpis euismod, vitae aliquam dolor pretium. Donec luctus posuere ex sit amet scelerisque. Etiam sed neque magna. Mauris non scelerisque lectus. Ut rutrum ex porta, tristique mi vitae, volutpat urna.

Sed in semper tellus, eu efficitur ante. Quisque felis orci, fermentum quis arcu nec, elementum malesuada magna. Nulla vitae finibus ipsum. Aenean vel sapien a magna faucibus tristique ac et ligula. Sed auctor orci metus, vitae egestas libero lacinia quis. Nulla lacus sapien, efficitur mollis nisi tempor, gravida tincidunt sapien. In massa dui, varius vitae iaculis a, dignissim non felis. Ut sagittis pulvinar nisi, at tincidunt metus venenatis a. Ut aliquam scelerisque interdum. Mauris iaculis purus in nulla consequat, sed fermentum sapien condimentum. Aliquam rutrum erat lectus, nec placerat nisl mollis id. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Nam nisl nisi, efficitur et sem in, molestie vulputate libero. Quisque quis mattis lorem. Nunc quis convallis diam, id tincidunt risus. Donec nisl odio, convallis vel porttitor sit amet, lobortis a ante. Cras dapibus porta nulla, at laoreet quam euismod vitae. Fusce sollicitudin massa magna, eu dignissim magna cursus id. Quisque vel nisl tempus, lobortis nisl a, ornare lacus. Donec ac interdum massa. Curabitur id diam luctus, mollis augue vel, interdum risus. Nam vitae tortor erat. Proin quis tincidunt lorem.

Gamification: A Long-Term Technological Trend?

Do you want to stay up to date with our new publications.

Receive the OpenMind newsletter with all the latest contents published on our website

OpenMind Books

The Search for Alternatives to Fossil Fuels
View all books

About OpenMind

Connect with us.

Keep up to date with our newsletter

SUGGESTED TOPICS
The Magazine
Newsletters
Managing Yourself
Managing Teams
Work-life Balance
The Big Idea
Data & Visuals
Reading Lists
Case Selections
HBR Learning
Topic Feeds
Account Settings
Email Preferences

Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value

George Serafeim

Companies don’t win over investors just by issuing sustainability reports and engaging in other standard ESG practices. What they need to do, says Harvard Business School’s George Serafeim, is integrate ESG efforts into strategy and operations. He makes five recommendations: Identify the material issues in your industry and develop initiatives that set your firm apart from rivals; create accountability mechanisms to ensure the board’s commitment; infuse the whole organization with a sense of purpose and enthusiasm for sustainability and good governance; decentralize ESG activities throughout your operations; and communicate regularly and transparently with investors about ESG matters.

The Board’s Role in Sustainability

To build long-term profitability, boards of directors must pay more attention to ESG concerns—and a compelling corporate purpose should underpin their efforts. That’s the contention of the authors, who offer a research-based framework called SCORE to guide boards’ actions: Simplify —define and communicate your purpose clearly; Connect —link your purpose to strategy and capital allocation decisions; Own —ensure that all employees embrace the firm’s mission and have the means to deliver on it; Reward —tie executive compensation to metrics that include ESG performance; Exemplify —use data and narrative accounts to show stakeholders how you’re achieving your purpose and improving sustainability.

The Challenge of Rating ESG Performance

Over the past decade, more and more institutional investors have taken an interest in companies’ records on environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and governance. In this article the head of ESG research at Sustainalytics, which gathers information on tens of thousands of companies worldwide, explains why this data matters and how his firm arrives at its performance ratings. The process involves identifying the risks a company faces, assessing how well it’s managing them, and engaging in follow-up dialogue to ensure accurate analysis. MacMahon also discusses why certain companies’ ratings have improved or worsened and how to put your best foot forward.

The complete Spotlight package is available in a single reprint.

They must be woven into your strategy and differentiate your company.

Idea in Brief

The Situation

Many CEOs feel as if they’re doing everything that’s asked of them in terms of improving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. Yet their firms aren’t being rewarded by capital markets.

The Insight

Following the crowd on ESG activities is not the answer. To gain a competitive advantage, firms should instead focus on the ESG issues that are financially material for them and pursue those in distinctive ways.

The Actions

Management should take five steps: Adopt strategic ESG practices; create accountability structures for ESG integration; identify a corporate purpose and build a culture around it; make operational changes to ensure that the ESG strategy is successfully executed; and commit to transparency and relationship building with investors.

Until the mid-2010s few investors paid attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data—information about companies’ carbon footprints, labor policies, board makeup, and so forth. Today the data is widely used by investors. Some screen out poor ESG performers, assuming that the factors that cause companies to receive low ESG ratings will result in weak financial results. Some seek out high ESG performers, expecting exemplary ESG behaviors to drive superior financial results, or wishing, for ethical reasons, to invest only in “green funds.” Other investors incorporate ESG data into fundamental analysis. And some use the data as activists, investing and then urging companies to clean up their acts.

A new framework for getting directors behind ESG efforts

GS George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he leads the Climate and Sustainability Impact AI Lab. Follow him on Twitter @georgeserafeim

Partner Center

Speak to an expert social value advisor now: +44 (0) 203 747 6555

Social Value FAQs: Essential guidance for maximising your impact

Our new Social Value Frequently Asked Questions guide delves into the most common questions that bidders, buyers, and businesses have about Social Value. Read some of the highlights here.

Social Value has become a critical tool for organisations to create and measure the positive change they are creating in society.

But we know that navigating the complexities of Social Value can be daunting.

That’s why our experts have put together a comprehensive Social Value FAQs guide , addressing common queries from bidders, buyers, businesses, and other stakeholders. From tendering and procurement to Social Value strategy and delivery, we’re here to help.

Here are a few of the key areas we cover in this essential Social Value FAQs.

Bidding: How to get the edge with Social Value

As we discussed in our recent article, ‘A tale of three bids’ , Social Value can be the determining factor in a competitive tendering process.

However, to integrate Social Value into your bid, you will need to understand the buyer’s needs, make relevant commitments, and demonstrate your capabilities.

Our FAQs guide explores the ‘Six Steps to Pro’, which provides a strategic framework for organisations vying for success in their bids.

Procurement: Unlocking Social Value for communities

Through the lever of procurement, buyers can create enormous Social Value for communities. And the benefits extend to the buyers too – as recently highlighted by our Head of Public Sector Delivery Terry Brewer.

But embedding Social Value requirements into your procurement process in a way that is relevant, proportionate, and fair for all potential bidders comes with complexities – which is why it’s a key focus in our guide.

Strategy: Your Social Value vision

Creating meaningful impact starts with having a clear view of what you want to achieve and how you’ll do it.

How can you embed Social Value into your organisational planning? How can you capitalise on your organisation’s strengths to maximise the Social Value you create? A robust and targeted Social Value strategy should factor in these crucial considerations.

Delivery: Amplifying your impact

Social Value should not be limited to ‘commitments’ – for real benefits to be realised, organisations must make delivery into a strategic focus.

Having helped numerous organisations to manage and amplify this critical phase, we know what it takes to take Social Value from idea to impact. It requires specific targets, effective measurement, and consistent reporting and evidencing, all of which we investigate in our FAQs.

Measurement and reporting: Capturing outcomes that matter

Measuring and reporting Social Value is essential for accountability, transparency, and credibility.

The Social Value TOM System ™ is the leading standard for capturing and enhancing the good you do, trusted by thousands of organisations.

Learn about how the Social Value impact of specific initiatives like volunteering, how to use the TOM System for central government bids, and much more.

Read our Social Value FAQs

As Social Value becomes increasingly embedded in operational priorities, reliable guidance and resources is becoming indispensable. Whether you’re a bidder, a buyer, or a business, these FAQs offer will help you unlock your full potential.

Check out the guide now .

Share this article

Skip to main content
Skip to primary sidebar
Skip to footer

Impact Reporting

The Social Value Measurement Platform

Nil Khalifa / 13th September 2019

Top 10 Ways to Incorporate Social Value Into Your Business

Demonstrating a commitment to social value is now an integral part of business life. However, changing behaviours, adapting processes and on-boarding employees can prove tricky. In this article, you’ll find 10 ways to embed long term solutions that will solve your social value concerns, maximise your impact and create buy-in from all stakeholders.

Letting employees choose charities – While having a ‘charity of the year’ is the norm in corporate circles, asking staff to nominate a chosen charity can help make this process more democratic. Allow staff to vote from a list and partner with the winning charity – this will help with engagement.
Developing employee initiatives – Organise lunchtime cycling, weekend volunteering and recycling projects for all to get involved. Open the floor to suggestions, allowing employees to make recommendations that are important to them. The most popular ideas are often the most successful.
Building social value into client contracts – Insist that partner organisations prioritise social value too. This is the norm in public sector contracts and is becoming more familiar across a wider range of sectors. It is a sure-fire way to help organisations stand out in business circles.
Leading from the top – The most successful CSR-focused businesses have CEOs and MDs who are active and committed to a social value mission statement. To show how dedicated a business is to the cause, encourage the CEO/MD to get involved so they become an example for all staff.
Adopting a framework – The time is now to be serious about CSR. Paying lip-service won’t give businesses the desired results. Set real objectives with fixed timeframes, and work towards those.
Aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Benchmark achievements against 17 global goals set by the UN in 2015 to achieve a more sustainable future and address global challenges related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. These will help drive growth, attract capital and focus on purpose and offers accountability and assessment.
Gamifying the creation of social value – Inspire employees to do more and get competitive about it. For example, set up a leader board and offer prizes as incentives. Motivate employees by appealing to their competitive nature.
Starting with the basics – Transforming the business’s attitude to social value won’t be an over-night process. It’s OK to start small and scale up . Get rid of plastics, put recycling bins in place, ditch cars, use public transport or walk into work.
Listening to stakeholders – Align with the organisation’s mission, vision or values. To truly embed social value into a business, it needs to harmonise. It’s about working towards a culture whereby social impact is created naturally and fluidly.
Working with pro-social companies – Be open to partnering with social enterprises, charities, or other ‘good’ companies at all stages of negotiating contracts. Learn from each other, produce CSR reports , offer solutions and network with likeminded people. Move forward, together.

So what next?

Embedding social value is just one part of a journey for organisations looking to have an impact. To really understand the difference you’re making, you need to report on it. That’s where Impact comes in . Learn more about our feature-rich, social value reporting tool – trusted by over 100+ organisations.

Lear more from the Impact Blog

Get best practice tips, news, updates, and trends from our list of social impact blogs and articles to support your CSR reporting, develop your strategies and champion your social value init i atives.

How the Procurement Act affects social value now that Royal Assent has been granted

Key impact measurement and management trends to watch for in 2024

Mola and impact trailblaze together, pioneering social value reporting in archaeology.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0) 161 532 4752

Top Features

Analytics & Insight

Staff Engagement

Dashboards & Reports

Regulatory Compliance

Data Capture

Learning Library

Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Accessibility Statement

Please send me more info!

Fill in the below form or call 0161 532 4752

Delivering more social value from your tenders isn't rocket science

You just need the right tools in place to do it.

We built our social value evaluation platform alongside our local authority partners to hold suppliers to account and ensure the delivery of their commitments:

Import existing measurement standards including LGA and National Socal Value Taskforce approved frameworks
Easily integrate into your existing procurement workflows
Delegate data capture to suppliers instead of contract managers
Real-time reporting on a full range of objectives, KPI's and community benefits realised

Yes, provide me with a live demo!

Fill in the below form or call 0161 660 7949

Stand out for the right reasons. Demonstrate your social value. Instantly.

Over 100 forward-thinking organisations are already using Impact’s unique data-led approach to provide evidence of their social value and sustainability like:

Notify me when ESG Reporting is live!

Fill in the below form and we will get in touch when we launch

Stand out for the right reasons. Demonstrate your Impact. Instantly.

Achievable, measurable, transformative value for business and society

You’re already creating more value than you realise. Whatever stage you’re at in your social value or ESG journey, harness it to accelerate growth, inspire loyalty and build reputation.

Social Value: what it is and why it matters

What’s your starting point.

No-one starts at zero. Every time you employ someone, deliver an hour of training, pay a local supplier or deliver a trusted service to customers, you’re accruing value. So don’t be daunted – let’s get started.

Every time you employ someone, deliver an hour of training, pay a local supplier or deliver a trusted service to customers, you’re accruing value. So don’t be daunted – let’s get started.

No-one starts at zero

This doesn’t describe us – go straight to our Service Menu

All our knowledge, skills and insight – at your disposal

You want to work with brilliant, down-to-earth people who ‘get’ your organisation. People who are passionate, hands-on and understand the commercial realities of the modern workplace.

Did you know that many of our specialists are social business owners and board trustees in their own right? Our people are our secret superpower – we don’t preach a fairer society; we’re out there, leading the change.

Kier Transportation’s industry-leading approach is recognised with Gold

Kier Transportation is leading the industry on diversity and has become the first to achieve Gold accreditation.

New podcast: Setting the Gold Standard in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Donna Howard, Head of Social Sustainability at Kier Transportation, discusses the organisation’s journey to embed a diverse culture.

Social Value Business fast-tracks major tech co towards procurement success

DXC is a leading multinational IT company that provides a full suite of IT support and services worldwide, employing 130,000 people and operating across 70 countries.

Rutherford House, Warrington Rd, Birchwood, Warrington WA3 6ZH

0345 017 97 67

Funders & Investors
Guiding Principles
Our History
President & CEO Transition
Accounting & Finance
Board Opportunities
Fiscal Sponsorship Projects
Strategic Consulting
Leaders Circles®
Financial Leadership Cohorts
Social Enterprise Accelerator Cohort
Past Cohort Learning Initiatives
Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program
Seeding Cultural Treasures
Case Studies

Social Enterprise Business Plan

A social enterprise is an activity of a nonprofit that employs entrepreneurial, market-driven strategies for earned income in support of its mission. This outline for a social enterprise business plan is a guide for research, planning, and writing a business plan for nonprofit social enterprises.

A social enterprise is an activity of a nonprofit that employs entrepreneurial, market-driven strategies for earned income in support of their mission. Business plans are a common tool for entrepreneurs when starting or growing a business enterprise. For nonprofits that are starting or growing a social enterprise as a part of their program activities, developing a business plan is an essential step. While social enterprise business plans address all of the questions needed for any business, nonprofits also need to consider the alignment with mission, organizational background and structure, and evaluation of both financial and social impact.

This outline for a business plan is a guide for research, planning, and writing a business plan for nonprofit social enterprises. The sections below are provided as a roadmap for the plan. Most business plans include each of these sections, though the length and amount of detail will vary depending on the nature of the enterprise, the complexity of the organization, and the purpose and audience for the plan.

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary provides the most important information for readers that need to understand and support the concept but not necessarily know the detailed plans. This is usually written last.

Organizational description
Business concept
Market description
Value proposition, or competitive advantage
Key success factors
Financial highlights and capital requirements

A social enterprise of a nonprofit organization may contribute directly to achieving mission; may be complementary or supportive of mission; or may be unrelated to mission (with primarily financial goals). The alignment to mission is a critical question.

Organization mission and/or vision statement
Relationship of social enterprise to organizational mission, or separate mission for the enterprise

Background and Structure

This section summarizes the organization’s history and programs and how the enterprise will fit in to the larger organization.

Most social enterprises operate as an activity or program within the nonprofit, though some are legally structured as a separate nonprofit, a for-profit subsidiary, or an independent organization.

Form should follow function and the legal structure should support the purpose and activities of the enterprise. Advice from an expert attorney may be needed.

Brief description of the nonprofit, including context and programs
How the business venture will be structured in the organization
Legal structure and governance (Boards, advisory committees, reporting)

Market Analysis

The market analysis is the heart of the business plan and is too often inadequately explored when planning a social enterprise. Solid research is necessary to understand the target customers and how the enterprise will meet a gap and demand in the market. No amount of mission or commitment will overcome a deficiency in market knowledge and a bona fide demand for the product or service.

Summary of current market situation
Target market and customers
Customer characteristics, unmet demands and buying factors

Competitive Analysis

This section describes the competitors, both nonprofit and for-profit, and the value proposition, or market advantage, of the proposed business.

Primary competitors
Competitive products/services
Risks and opportunities in competitive market
Recent or emerging changes in the industry
Specific description of competitive advantage/value of proposed product or service

Products/Services

This section is a summary of the product or service that will meet the demand in the market. It does not need to include detailed descriptions, price lists or other materials.

Product/service description
Positioning of products/services
Future products/services

Marketing and Sales

This section will describe how the organization will reach the target market and turn those prospects into paying customer.

Marketing strategy
Sales tactics
Advertising, public relation, and promotions
Summary of sales forecasts

This is the “how to” section, describing the creation and delivery of the business’ product or service.

Management structure
Staffing plan and key personnel – if this includes programmatic elements related to the mission, expand this section
Production plan or service delivery, including summary of costs of materials and production
Customer service/support strategy and plan
Facilities required, including specialized equipment or improvements. If the business is retail, discuss location characteristics

Evaluation and Assessment

Most for-profit businesses measure their success by the financial results. Social enterprises have a double bottom line (or a triple bottom line.) This section describes the factors that will be evaluated to assess the success of each aspect of the enterprise.

Quantifiable financial goals
Quantifiable mission goals
Monitoring and evaluation strategy

Financial Plan and Projections

The financial section includes projections for revenue and expenses for at least three years with a summary narrative of the key assumptions. This section also details the start up costs for capital equipment, inventory, initial marketing and staffing, and subsidy needed to cover losses during the start up period. These capital requirements may be funded from a combination of contribution from the nonprofit, grants for the enterprise, and/or debt financing.

Start up costs and investments in equipment, technology, or one time costs
Capital requirements and sources
Income and expense projection
Pro forma balance sheet for start up
Cash flow summary or projection
Assumptions and comments
Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Twitter

About Propel

Propel Nonprofits is an intermediary organization and federally certified community development financial institution (CDFI). We provide capacity-building services and access to capital to support nonprofits in achieving their missions including the ability to link strategy, governance, and finance and to support nonprofits throughout their organizational lifecycle.

Posted On:August 20, 2022

How Small Business Owners Can Develop a Business Sustainability Plan

The adoption of sustainable practices not only improves a business’s bottom line, but also helps to improve brand reputation, reduce cost, attract high-quality employees, and improve investments. As such, many global businesses are developing sustainability plans.

If you are a business owner and you’re ready to develop your own business sustainability plan, then this is the perfect guide for you! By following the steps outlined in this article, you’ll be able to develop a truly sustainable business.

How to create a Business Sustainability Plan

Step 1: learn about sustainability.

The first step in creating a business sustainability plan is to ensure that you completely understand the notion of sustainability and how it can be applied to business processes.

To assist with this, there are several online guides and/or courses that you can take to boost your knowledge and shift your mindset away from the old, linear ‘take – make – waste’ business perspectives. This would also be a good time to learn about local environmental laws and the international standards that exist for the industry that your business falls within.

To begin searching for this information, it would be a great idea to start by accessing the website of your country’s leading environmental agency or government department.

Step 2: Assess Your Business

Now that you have gained a better understanding of sustainability, sustainable business practices, local environmental laws, and international standards, it is a good idea to check your compliance with these existing laws and standards.

Take note of any areas within which your business fails to meet these requirements, and research cost-effective ways in which your compliance can be improved, for example, by hiring a sustainability consultant or investing in better technology.

To help you to get started with this step, you can ask yourself the following questions:

How much energy/water does my company use?
How much waste does my company create? Is it hazardous?
How eco-friendly are our buildings?
Do our products use materials that are eco-friendly or sustainably sourced?
Do we offer employee training in sustainability? Do we have a green team?
Can we reduce business travel and/or offset our carbon emissions?

Step 3: Create a Mission Statement

Now that you are aware of your current situation, it is a good idea to visualise where you would like to be.

You can do this by creating an overlying sustainability goal, or by going deeper and creating a vision for all your business departments.

Once a draft of the vision is created, it would be a good idea to present this vision to your employees and give them the opportunity to provide suggestions and feedback so that they can feel better connected to the vision and take ownership.

Step 4: Find Opportunities & Build an Action Plan

Now that you have a good understanding of sustainability, your business’s current standpoint, and your company’s general goals for the future, it is time for you to create a detailed list of planned initiatives including information about timelines, expected cost, and the people needed to push this project forward.

Once this is done, you can actively step into the spirit of innovation and start implementing these initiatives to improve your business practices. While this step may seem daunting at first, the good news is that you can ensure that this is a team effort, with different staff members having different responsibilities.

Step 5: Implement Changes

Now that you have identified options for improved sustainability, it is time to take the most important step – Implementation! This should be done within a planned timescale to ensure that your goals are met as quickly as is feasible.

You can begin this process by changing your current business policies or creating new policies to align with your new goals and identified opportunities.

Following this, you can move on to bigger steps such as purchasing and installing new technologies. It is important to note that this step is the most challenging and that there will be situations where troubleshooting is required, however, you will likely learn from any difficulties encountered and develop stronger policies with any new information that you learn.

Once you successfully implement the changes you planned for, you can then communicate your new sustainability initiatives to your stakeholders such as clients and investors.

However, it is important to ensure that you do not make any unqualified claims when going public, this will ensure that you do not mislead anyone and avoid the issue of greenwashing. Once your environmental marketing is done properly, public relations rewards are sure to occur.

Step 6: Monitor and review performance

To ensure that the practices that you implemented are being implemented on time and achieving the results that you anticipated, it is important to develop metrics to track their success. This could be as simple as comparing your previous energy bill to your new energy bill after implementing planned changes. A decrease in your energy bill would show success.

Share this post...

Business Environmental Sustainability

Business Environmental Sustainability (BES) is a new way of thinking about business. It's an approach that considers the environmental impact...

Find Out What Drives Business Sustainability

Discover what drives business sustainability - In the 1900s many business owners believed that their only job was to create...

Social Value Action Planning Tool

The Social Value Action Planning Tool is a free online solution that enables suppliers to develop a customised Social Value Action Plan.

The tool will help you review the environmental, economic, and social impacts of your business and allow you to clearly identify where you are already having a positive social value impact and where you could do more.

This tool will help you create a tailored social value action plan for your business, which can be used to demonstrate to customers (including BlueLight Commercial and 43 Forces) how you are contributing to the social value issues we all care about. Social value is important to all public sector bodies and it will increasingly be asked about as part of the procurement process, we wanted to ensure that our suppliers are well prepared to respond.

What are the benefits of the tool for suppliers?

Developing an action plan takes about 30-45 minutes and you can return to it at any point, to update and improve. The action planning process is simple to use and covers many of the key issues that you are already thinking about including considerations such as staff wellbeing, sustainable travel, carbon reduction and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Within the tool there is advice and guidance as well as links to further resources and information.

How will BlueLight Commercial and the 43 Forces use the data from the tool?

Firstly, you may well be asked about your action plan as part of contract management when working with us. We will look at trends and identify where groups of suppliers are struggling with certain issues and also doing well. This information will be used to develop further resources, guidance and training for our suppliers. We are committed to supporting our suppliers to deliver social value for the benefit of their business and the community.

Find out more about BlueLight's Commercial's work on Social Value here .

What Are Social Values in Business?

What Are Social Values in Business: Introduction

Social value in business refers to the positive impact that a company creates for society and the community through its activities. It goes beyond just making money. It’s about doing things that make people’s lives better and contribute to the overall wellbeing of communities.

For example, a business that provides jobs, supports education, cares for the environment, or helps local charities is creating social value. It’s like being a good neighbour – you’re not just concerned with your own interests, but you’re also thinking about how your actions affect those around you.

Today’s business education is the first in a series focusing on social values. This week we focus on the types of Social Value businesses can engage in. The next in the series will focus on the benefits to your business.

Play It Green helps our members engage in all the social values above and through our content, we help educate you on what it all means. So please read on to find out about ten different types of social value your business can engage in.

Social Values in Business: 1-4

Community Engagement and Development : Supporting local communities through initiatives like job creation, skills training, and infrastructure development.

Environmental Sustainability : Implementing eco-friendly practices and reducing carbon footprint to contribute positively to the environment.

Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain Management : Ensuring fair labour practices, responsible sourcing, and ethical treatment of workers throughout the supply chain.

Social Procurement : Prioritising suppliers that are committed to social responsibility, diversity, and inclusion.

Social Value in Business The three pillars of social value and how they overlap

Social Values in Business: 8-10

Philanthropy and Charitable Giving : Donating to causes, charities, and nonprofits to address social issues and support those in need.

Employee Well-being and Development : Providing a supportive work environment, fair wages, and opportunities development, making the workplace a place of belonging.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion : Promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace that values individuals regardless of background or identity.

Social Values in Business: 5-7

Social Innovation and Collaboration : Fostering innovation to address societal challenges and collaborating with other organizations for collective impact.

Education and Skills Development : Supporting educational initiatives and providing opportunities for skill-building and lifelong learning.

Health and Well-being : Promoting initiatives that improve physical and mental well-being in both the workplace and the wider community.

Social Values in Business: Wrap Up

Social value can be measured in terms of how much people appreciate the positive changes a business brings to their lives. It includes things like improving health, happiness, and inclusion in the community.

Overall, businesses that focus on social value aim to do well for themselves while also doing good for the world around them. It’s a win-win situation – the company prospers, and the community benefits too.

Even if you don’t see it as a moral imperative, the business case for engaging in Social Value is there for all to see and will be the focus of next week’s business tip. But if you can’t wait, here are a couple of facts from research carried out recently.

66% of consumers would spend more for a product if it came from a sustainable brand, and 81% of global consumers feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment

Forbes 2022

Having a transparent sustainability strategy can reduce costs substantially and can affect operating profits by as much as 60%

McKinsey 2022

Of the 14,700 Gen Z and Millennials surveyed in our global employee survey 20% would not even consider working for a company with poor or no environmental and social credentials.

Deloitte 2023

Why Sign Up?

Boost your ESG actions and credentials by subscribing to Play It Green from as little as £60 per annum.

Your ROI on £60 is 52 weekly pieces of education and footprint reduction tips sent every Friday. A company Forest with 156 trees planted. 10% regifted to a good cause of your choice. Free access to a host of tools and partners to help your business get to net zero and lots of marketing support.

Better For Business, Better For People, Better For Planet.

Sign Up For Our Unique Subscription Service & Be The Solution to Climate Change

Recommended, eco-friendly steps: sustainability news for 8th april.

News, Sustainability

Sustainable Ice Cream: A Cooler Path to Green Living

Consumer / Household tips, Green Tips, News, Weekly Tip

Sustainability F-G: Your Guide to Green Terms

Business Tips, Green Tips, News, Sustainability

Find Out More

Discover how your business can thrive sustainably

By submitting you agree to the privacy policy

Go to Forest Garden

Create New Campaign

Edit Campaign

Account Settings

[email protected]

The Science

Data, AI, & Machine Learning
Managing Technology
Social Responsibility
Workplace, Teams, & Culture
AI & Machine Learning
Diversity & Inclusion
Big ideas Research Projects
Artificial Intelligence and Business Strategy
Responsible AI
Future of the Workforce
Future of Leadership
All Research Projects
AI in Action
Most Popular
The Truth Behind the Nursing Crisis
Work/23: The Big Shift
Coaching for the Future-Forward Leader
Measuring Culture

The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.

Past Issues
Upcoming Events
Video Archive
Me, Myself, and AI
Three Big Points

Creating Values-Driven Business Value

Leading Change
Business Models
Corporate Social Responsibility

Author Daniel Aronson explains how to generate, measure, and communicate the business value of values.

Many business leaders have prioritized issues such as sustainability and human rights — indeed, sustainability emerged as the No. 1 CEO challenge in IBM’s most recent CEO survey. But even the most committed leaders often struggle to show the business value of their investments in these areas. It needn’t be that way. Acting on values that have a positive impact on the world can improve operations, benefit customers and employees, and bolster the bottom line.

In this webinar, Daniel Aronson, author of The Value of Values , will demonstrate how values-driven investments can, in fact, generate real business returns. You’ll learn:

The five areas of business that are ripe for value opportunities.
The hidden opportunities in operations, product development, marketing, and more.
An evidence-based approach to counter ESG pushback — and how to calculate it.

Event Notifications

Get periodic email updates on upcoming webinars, panel discussions, and other special events.

Please enter a valid email address

Thank you for signing up

About the Authors

Daniel Aronson is the founder of Valutus, a consulting firm specializing in creating value through sustainability and responsibility, and the author of the book The Value of Values: How Leaders Can Grow Their Businesses and Enhance Their Careers by Doing the Right Thing (MIT Press, 2024). Abbie Lundberg is editor in chief at MIT Sloan Management Review . She moderated the session.

More Like This

Add a comment cancel reply.

You must sign in to post a comment. First time here? Sign up for a free account : Comment on articles and get access to many more articles.

Watch CBS News

Trump's social media company loses billions in value as stock price swings wildly

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: April 3, 2024 / 6:14 PM EDT / CBS News

Former President Donald Trump's fledgling media business is losing its sheen among investors a week after going public, with a sharp reversal in the company's stock price lopping $4 billion off its value.

Monday's plunge in Trump Media & Technology Group's shares, which debuted on the Nasdaq Composite Index on March 25 under the ticker "DJT" (after the former president's initials), comes as it disclosed mounting losses in a regulatory filing . The company also noted that its accountant had issued a warning that its losses "raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern."

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, whose primary asset is the Truth Social platform, tumbled 21% on Monday, closing at $48.66, or below its opening price last Monday of $49.90 per share. It also represents a 39% plunge from the stock's high of $79.38 on March 26.

Since then, the stock has whipsawed, rallying 6% on Tuesday, but then dipping 5.4% on Wednesday, when it closed at $48.81, again below its opening price when Trump Media went public last week.

Still, the stock also remains higher than before a deal that took Trump's media company public last week. The shares had previously traded under the name Digital World Acquisition Corp., a shell company designed to take Truth Social public. Even after Monday's dip, the stock has surged 179% this year.

As of the close of trading on Tuesday, Trump, who owns 57% of the newly public company, has lost $2.5 billion — at least on paper — because of the stock slide. His stake is now worth $3.8 billion, down from $6.3 billion at the stock's peak last week.

Worth more than Harley-Davidson

To be sure, Trump Media continues to maintain a heady market capitalization for a business that's in the red and that booked just $4.1 million in revenue last year. Even after Monday's stock plunge, the business is worth $6.7 billion, making it more valuable than companies like Bausch & Lomb, Alcoa Corp. or Harley-Davidson, all of which have annual revenue in the billions.

Trump Media's soaring valuation has prompted comparisons with so-called "meme" stocks like GameStop, which typically attract individual investors based on social media buzz, rather than the tried-and-true yardsticks relied on by institutional investors, such as profitability and revenue growth.

Yet Truth Social has positioned itself as an alternative to more established tech giants such as Meta's Facebook, which also endured losses in its early years.

"GameStop was the meme stock of a lifetime, but Trump Media has put it to shame," Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told the Associated Press last week.

Despite the attention around Trump Media's debut on the public market, it's not giving a much of a boost to Truth Social, according to Similarweb. The web analytics firm found that traffic from daily active users of the platform fell 23% last week.

"Even during the peak of excitement over the IPO (plus the release of a Trump-branded Bible), usage was less than 1% higher than the previous week," Similarweb said in a new report.

Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes: No debt

In a statement on Tuesday, Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes said Truth Social "has no debt and over $200 million in the bank, opening numerous possibilities for expanding and enhancing our platform."

But details about Trump Media's finances show that the company's revenue is far lower than other social media platforms. On Monday, the company said it booked $4.1 million in revenue last year, compared with $1.5 million in the year-earlier period.

That means Trump Media had about $750,000 in revenue in the fourth quarter, as the company had previously disclosed sales of $3.38 million for the first nine months of 2023. By comparison, Reddit, another money-losing tech company that recently went public, booked $804 million in revenue last year.

Trump Media & Technology Group also posted a loss of $58 million in 2023, compared with a profit of $50 million in the prior year.

Additionally, it noted that its accountant flagged that the company's losses raise doubts about its ability to continue operating. Such a warning, however, reflects the company's current situation; the company could grow its user base, revenue and reverse its losses, putting it on a more stable path.

Trump's stake locked up

Trump stands to make billions from his majority stake in Truth Social's parent company, a windfall that comes at an opportune time for the former president given mounting financial pressures .

Even so, Trump is unable to access the stock, at least for now. That's because Trump and other company executives are subject to a so-called "lock-up" provision that bars them from selling the stock for at least six months. Such provisions are common in IPOs as a way to keep insiders from dumping shares immediately after a company goes public.

"Trump cannot sell his stock in the company for six months, making it difficult to translate Truth Social's value into liquid cash that can be spent on the campaign," Europa Group analysts said in a report. "That outlook could change over the coming months, particularly if Trump obtains the waiver or can find a lender willing to accept shares in Trump Media as collateral."

Many of the investors in DJT appear to be small investors who want to show their support for the former president by buying shares in the company. On Truth Social, some of these shareholders posted rebuttals about the stock decline, blaming short sellers, or people who make bets that a stock will decline.

Others predicted that Trump Media's shares will soon rebound, while others blamed the stock decline on the former president's detractors. "They don't like President @realDonaldTrump and his policies, especially his creation, Truth Social, so they are trying to destroy his company, DJT," one supporter on a DJT group on Truth Social wrote.

Donald Trump
Truth Social

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

More from CBS News

Trump Media shares slide 12% to end second week of trading

Democrats pitch renaming prison after Trump in response to GOP airport bill

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggests Jan. 6 prosecutions politically motivated

Biden campaign says he raised over $90 million in March

Do Not Sell My Personal Info

⋅
Content Marketing

35 Content Marketing Statistics You Should Know

Stay informed with the latest content marketing statistics. Discover how optimized content can elevate your digital marketing efforts.

Content continues to sit atop the list of priorities in most marketing strategies, and there is plenty of evidence to support the reasoning.

Simply put, content marketing is crucial to any digital marketing strategy, whether running a small local business or a large multinational corporation.

After all, content in its many and evolving forms is indisputably the very lifeblood upon which the web and social media are based.

Modern SEO has effectively become optimized content marketing for all intents and purposes.

This is when Google demands and rewards businesses that create content demonstrating experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) for their customers – content that answers all of the questions consumers may have about their services, products, or business in general.

Content marketing involves creating and sharing helpful, relevant, entertaining, and consistent content in various text, image, video, and audio-based formats to the plethora of traditional and online channels available to modern marketers.

The primary focus should be on attracting and retaining a clearly defined audience, with the ultimate goal of driving profitable customer action.

Different types of content can and should be created for each stage of a customer’s journey .

Some content, like blogs or how-to videos, are informative or educational. Meanwhile, other content, like promotional campaign landing pages , gets to the point of enticing prospective customers to buy.

But with so much content being produced and shared every day, it’s important to stay updated on the latest trends and best practices in content marketing to keep pace and understand what strategies may be most effective.

Never has this been more true than in 2024, when we’re in the midst of a content revolution led by generative AI , which some feel represents both an opportunity and a threat to marketers.

To help you keep up, here are 35 content marketing statistics I think you should know:

Content Marketing Usage

How many businesses are leveraging content marketing, and how are they planning to find success?

According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 73% of B2B marketers, and 70% of B2C marketers use content marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy.
97% of marketers surveyed by Semrush achieved success with their content marketing in 2023.
A B2B Content Marketing Study conducted by CMI found that 40% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy; 33% have a strategy, but it’s not documented, and 27% have no strategy.
Half of the surveyed marketers by CMI said they outsource at least one content marketing activity.

Content Marketing Strategy

What strategies are content marketers using or finding to be most effective?

83% of marketers believe it’s more effective to create higher quality content less often. (Source: Hubspot)
In a 2022 Statista Research Study of marketers worldwide, 62% of respondents emphasized the importance of being “always on” for their customers, while 23% viewed content-led communications as the most effective method for personalized targeting efforts.
With the increased focus on AI-generated search engine results, 31% of B2B marketers say they are sharpening their focus on user intent/answering questions, 27% are creating more thought leadership content, and 22% are creating more conversational content. (Source: CMI)

Types Of Content

Content marketing was synonymous with posting blogs, but the web and content have evolved into audio, video, interactive, and meta formats.

Here are a few stats on how the various types of content are trending and performing.

Short-form video content, like TikTok and Instagram Reel, is the No. 1 content marketing format, offering the highest return on investment (ROI).
43% of marketers reported that original graphics (like infographics and illustrations) were the most effective type of visual content. (Source: Venngage)
72% of B2C marketers expected their organization to invest in video marketing in 2022. (Source: Content Marketing Institute – CMI)
The State of Content Marketing: 2023 Global Report by Semrush reveals that articles containing at least one video tend to attract 70% more organic traffic than those without.
Interactive content generates 52.6% more engagement compared to static content. On average, buyers spend 8.5 minutes viewing static content items and 13 minutes on interactive content items. (Source: Mediafly)

Content Creation

Creating helpful, unique, engaging content can be one of a marketer’s greatest challenges. However, innovative marketers are looking at generative AI as a tool to help ideate, create, edit, and analyze content quicker and more cost-effectively.

Here are some stats around content creation and just how quickly AI is changing the game.

Generative AI reached over 100 million users just two months after ChatGPT’s launch. (Source: Search Engine Journal)
A recent Ahrefs poll found that almost 80% of respondents had already adopted AI tools in their content marketing strategies.
Marketers who are using AI said it helps most with brainstorming new topics ( 51%) , researching headlines and keywords (45%), and writing drafts (45%). (Source: CMI)
Further, marketers polled by Hubspot said they save 2.5 hours per day using AI for content.

Content Distribution

It is not simply enough to create and publish content.

For a content strategy to be successful, it must include distributing content via the channels frequented by a business’s target audience.

Facebook is still the dominant social channel for content distribution, but video-centric channels like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are growing the fastest . (Source: Hubspot)
B2B marketers reported to CMI that LinkedIn was the most common and top-performing organic social media distribution channel at 84% by a healthy margin. All other channels came in under 30%.
80% of B2B marketers who use paid distribution use paid social media advertising. (Source: CMI)

Content Consumption

Once content reaches an audience, it’s important to understand how an audience consumes the content or takes action as a result.

A 2023 Content Preferences Study by Demand Gen reveals that 62% of B2B buyers prefer practical content like case studies to inform their purchasing decisions, citing “a need for valid sources.”
The same study also found that buyers tend to rely heavily on content when researching potential business solutions, with 46% reporting that they increased the amount of content they consumed during this time.
In a recent post, blogger Ryan Robinson reports the average reader spends 37 seconds reading a blog.
DemandGen’s survey participants also said they rely most on demos ( 62% ) and user reviews (55%) to gain valuable insights into how a solution will meet their needs.

Content Marketing Performance

One of the primary reasons content marketing has taken off is its ability to be measured, optimized, and tied to a return on investment.

B2C marketers reported to CMI that the top three goals content marketing helps them to achieve are creating brand awareness, building trust, and educating their target audience.
87% of B2B marketers surveyed use content marketing successfully to generate leads.
56% of marketers who leverage blogging say it’s an effective tactic, and 10% say it generates the greatest return on investment (ROI).
94% of marketers said personalization boosts sales.

Content Marketing Budgets

Budget changes and the willingness to invest in specific marketing strategies are good indicators of how popular and effective these strategies are at a macro level.

The following stats certainly seem to indicate marketers have bought into the value of content.

61% of B2C marketers said their 2022 content marketing budget would exceed their 2021 budget.
22% of B2B marketers said they spent 50% or more of their total marketing budget on content marketing. Furthermore, 43% saw their content marketing budgets grow from 2020 to 2021, and 66% expected them to grow again in 2022.

Content Challenges

All forms of marketing come with challenges related to time, resources, expertise, and competition.

Recognizing and addressing these challenges head-on with well-thought-out strategies is the best way to overcome them and realize success.

Top 3 content challenges included “attracting quality leads with content” ( 45% ), “creating more content faster” (38%), and “generating content ideas” (35%). (Source: Semrush’s The State of Content Marketing: 2023 Global Report)
44% of marketers polled for CMI’s 2022 B2B report highlighted the challenge of creating the right content for multi-level roles as their top concern. This replaced internal communication as the top challenge from the previous year.
Changes to SEO/search algorithms ( 64% ), changes to social media algorithms (53%), and data management/analytics (48%) are also among the top concerns for B2C marketers.
47% of people are seeking downtime from internet-enabled devices due to digital fatigue.
While generative AI has noted benefits, it also presents challenges for some marketers who fear it may replace them. In Hubspot’s study, 23% said they felt we should avoid using generative AI.
Another challenge with AI is how quickly it has come onto the scene without giving organizations time to provide training or to create policies and procedures for its appropriate and legal use. According to CMI, when asked if their organizations have guidelines for using generative AI tools, 31% of marketers said yes, 61% said no, and 8% were unsure.

Time To Get Started

As you can clearly see and perhaps have already realized, content marketing can be a highly effective and cost-efficient way to generate leads, build brand awareness, and drive sales. Content, in its many formats, powers virtually all online interactions.

Generative AI is effectively helping to solve some of the time and resource challenges by acting as a turbo-powered marketing assistant, while also raising a few procedural concerns.

However, the demand for content remains strong.

Those willing to put in the work of building a documented content strategy and executing it – by producing, optimizing, distributing, and monitoring high-value, relevant, customer-centric content, with the help of AI or not – can reap significant business rewards.

More resources:

6 Ways To Humanize Your Content In The AI Era
Interactive Content: 10 Types To Engage Your Audience
B2B Lead Generation: Create Content That Converts

Featured Image: Deemak Daksina/Shutterstock

Jeff has been helping organizations manage, measure and optimize their Web presences for over 20 years. He has deep knowledge ...

Subscribe To Our Newsletter.

Conquer your day with daily search marketing news.

International edition
Australia edition
Europe edition

‘How did a shell company, which manufactured nothing and produced no services, rise to such a value?’

Trump isn’t doing anything new with his recent Truth Social windfall

The ex-president is now majority owner of an unpopular website worth billions – and the truth behind how that happened really isn’t all that impressive

A lot of people think investing in the stock market is rigged in favor of the big investors, the large financial firms and the people in the know. Small-fry individual investors have as much chance of success on Wall Street as they do at the Bellagio. Donald Trump’s recent windfall isn’t going to win any converts.

Trump merged his unprofitable and tiny Truth Social platform, which has reportedly lost tens of millions of dollars, into a shell company that was previously created and already had a value of billions. The shell company is called a Spac, which is an entity created to take a private business public without conducting an initial public offering (and therefore avoiding much of the regulatory scrutiny).

How did a shell company, which manufactured nothing and produced no services, rise to such a value? Because the price of its shares was bid up by Trump’s supporters through message boards and other social media platforms in a similar fashion to the share price run-up of meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment .

When Trump traded in Truth Social’s shares for shares of the shell company a value had to be placed on those shares and what other means could be used other than the Spac’s inflated, fake market price? None. So now Trump is the majority owner of a company that’s worth billions but runs a not very popular social media site.

“In the short term, if a lot of people say, ‘I don’t really care what it’s worth, I’m just gonna keep buying it, and I’m gonna keep propping it up,’ you can do that for a reasonable period of time,” Harry Kraemer, a professor specializing mergers and acquisitions at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management told CBS News . “That almost defies economic logic, but there we are.”

There’s nothing illegal about this. People are allowed to buy and sell shares. A lot of individuals are making paper profits. But, like other meme stocks , the price of Trump’s company is likely to be volatile and could collapse and investors could take a beating. There are no guarantees. And it will be the individuals who pay the price. My bet is that by then, Trump and his large money backers will have taken what they need.

It’s kind of impressive in an ugly sort of way. But then again what else would you expect from a New York real estate tycoon dealing with New York financiers from New York’s Wall Street? Can’t you just see them all toasting each other at their Greenwich country clubs and laughing at how they reaped enormous fees by creating billions in value out of thin air? And all to scratch the back of a man who will surely scratch theirs once he’s re-elected?

Of course, this is all fake. But there you go. Trump isn’t doing anything particularly new here. The rich will always figure out some way to pull off these dubious transactions to make themselves richer while the rest of us are grateful for the 4% earned on our money market accounts.

What I’ve learned is that individual investors who are outside of the system or not in the know don’t have a chance. Sure, there are always a few outliers who get lucky and inspire Hollywood movies about them. But for the rest of us, our best bet is to pay the fees and let the fund managers play the game for us. These are the people that are in the know. They’re having lunch together right now. They’ll be playing squash with each other at the Harvard Club this evening.

Taking this approach certainly doesn’t guarantee your returns. But it does protect you much more than attempting to play this game on your own. That’s the real truth in all this.

US small business

Trump Media Shares Slump as Early Fervor Fades

A rapid fall in price erased billions of dollars in the market value of the parent company of Truth Social, eating into some of the gains made in the volatile stock’s public debut.

Blurred people walking by a building with tall glass windows and blue TV screens that say “Truth” with stock prices.

By Joe Rennison and Matthew Goldstein

April 1, 2024

Shares of former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company slumped just over 20 percent on Monday, as the fervor around the company’s debut on public markets last week appeared to subside.

The sell-off cut the market value of Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the ticker “DJT,” by some $2 billion, to about $6.5 billion.

The value of Mr. Trump’s majority stake in the company fell to about $3.7 billion, from over $6 billion at its peak last week.

Still, shares of Trump Media were higher than they were immediately before the firm merged with a public shell company on Tuesday and began trading on the Nasdaq. Strong support for the merged company after it began trading pushed its market value as high as $10 billion at one point last week.

That raised eyebrows across Wall Street, given the relatively small size of Trump Media’s business. A filing on Monday showed that the company generated just $750,000 in revenue in the fourth quarter last year, bringing its full-year total to $4.1 million. Trump Media recorded a $58 million loss in 2023. It got more than $300 million in cash as part of its merger with the shell company.

All the company’s revenues come from advertising on Truth Social, the digital platform that has become Mr. Trump’s main outlet for reaching his supporters and blasting his critics, political opponents and other perceived enemies, including the prosecutors and judges involved in his criminal and civil cases.

Over the weekend, Mr. Trump shared a video on the platform that had an image of a decal on the back of a truck of a hogtied President Biden .

Trump Media stands out on Wall Street as the market’s most “shorted” stock — shares that investors bet will fall. Derivatives linked to the stock, which allow investors to speculate on its future price, have also been popular, suggesting that traders are braced for more big price swings — both higher and lower — in the weeks to come.

It is not uncommon for so-called meme stocks, which are heavily influenced by momentum and the enthusiasm of masses of small shareholders, to be extremely volatile, prone to sudden and steep increases and declines.

One question surrounding Trump Media is whether the company’s board will relax a provision that prohibited Mr. Trump from selling stock or using his shares as collateral for a loan for six months after the shares began trading. But in Monday’s filing, the company said the board made no changes in the lockup provision.

That makes it unlikely Mr. Trump will rely on his stake of about 60 percent in Trump Media to help pay for the posting of a $175 million bond in connection with his appeal of a civil fraud penalty imposed by a New York state judge.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, is not a member of the company’s seven-member board. But because of his large stake, Trump Media is considered a “controlled company,” where more than 50 percent “of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual.”

Trump Media’s board is already under Mr. Trump’s sway, as its members include his eldest son and three former members of his administration. Mr. Trump, who served as chairman of Trump Media before the merger with the shell company, is not an officer or director of the company now.

After the merger, Trump Media adopted a code of ethics that requires “covered persons” — board members and employees — to engage in political activities only as private citizens. If these people engaged in political activities, they “must make clear that their views and actions are their own, and not those of the company,” according to the code.

Also on Monday, two of the main defendants in a $22 million insider trading scheme stemming from the October 2021 merger announcement of Trump Media and Digital World Acquisition Corp. were scheduled to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday to change their not guilty pleas, according to an entry on the court docket.

The federal authorities have charged Michael Shvartsman and his brother Gerald Shvartsman with using nonpublic information about the proposed deal to make highly profitable trades. Both men were scheduled to go on trial this month.

No one associated with Trump Media was implicated in the scheme. A lawyer for Michael Shvartsman could not be reached for comment, and the lawyer for his brother declined to comment..

Joe Rennison writes about financial markets, a beat that ranges from chronicling the vagaries of the stock market to explaining the often-inscrutable trading decisions of Wall Street insiders. More about Joe Rennison

Matthew Goldstein covers Wall Street and white-collar crime and housing issues. More about Matthew Goldstein

IMAGES

Four Examples of Social Value
Social Business Model Canvas
Unlocking the social value of infrastructure investment
Social Business Model Canvas Template
Social Value
Social value

VIDEO

Social Value is higher than Monetary Value
Social value ability#education #explore #video
Poor vs Rich Mindset💸
🌟 Unlocking success through shared value business management!
Social Value Talk Part 4 By Mohammad Younis Bhat zahid Makkah Madina Tour Travel
Your Social Value Pathway

COMMENTS

Key components of a successful social value strategy
This engagement can lead to greater job satisfaction and retention. In summary, a successful social value strategy is a multidimensional framework that integrates clear objectives, seamless integration into business operations, measurable metrics, adaptability, active stakeholder involvement, and a culture of innovation.
10 Things Every Business Should Know about Social Value
MAC 2.1 - "Create opportunities for entrepreneurship and help new organisations to grow, supporting economic growth and business creation". MAC 3.1 - "Create a diverse supply chain to deliver the contract including new businesses and entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals".
How to Develop Your Social Value Strategy (with PRACTICAL examples)
Conducting a Social Impact Assessment. To develop a comprehensive social value strategy, businesses must first conduct a thorough social impact assessment. This assessment involves evaluating the existing social initiatives and identifying areas where improvements can be made. By examining the company's current practices, strengths, and ...
PDF Guide to using the Social Value Model
5. Talk to the market. Start talking to the supply market as early as possible to understand the drivers of cost, quality and efficiency, and include social value in these discussions. This allows you to design the specification and the procurement in a way that achieves best value for the taxpayer.
How to win work and deliver results under the Social Value Model
Under the Social Value Model, the procurement process follows three basic steps: Buyers choose their objectives: The model includes a 'menu' of Social Value objectives for central government procurement, executive agencies, and non-departmental bodies. From this, authorities select the Themes, Policy Outcomes and Model Award Criteria (MAC ...
Optimize for Both Social and Business Value
Optimize for Both Social and Business Value. June 27, 2019 By David Young , Wendy Woods, and Martin Reeves. As we approach a new decade, we are also approaching a tipping point for business, with new benchmarks for what constitutes a good company, a good investment, and a good leader. The defining expectation: good companies and investments ...
What is social value?
The team at Social Value Portal is ready to support businesses through the whole process of creating social value - from writing a business case and strategy, to designing the project plan, priorities, and communications. You'll also get access to the National Themes, Outcomes and Measures (National TOMs) - our gold-standard framework for ...
PDF Social Business Plan Outline
The social venture business model includes the social value proposition; service beneficiaries value creation, management team infrastructure, operations plan, sustainable financial plan, and resource model.
Value Proposition in Social Entrepreneurship
The value proposition is the ultimate goal, the raison d'être or the telos of our business plan. It is about reflecting on who we want to be and why we want to be like this. Their response will require a deep knowledge of the recipients and will be key to addressing the issues of distribution, communication, partnerships, etc. Now, the value ...
Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value
Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value. They must be woven into your strategy and differentiate your company. by. George Serafeim. From the Magazine (September-October 2020) Marlies Plank ...
7 practical examples of social value for your business
Strengthening brand reputation. Reducing reputational and operational risk. Helping you win new customers and retain existing ones - making you the supplier of choice in your market. Helping recruit and retain employees. Strength your supply chain. Delivering on ESG requirements demanded by investors.
Social Value strategy and planning
Your strategy will also align to emerging legislation, societal trends and client expectations, including the Central Government toolkit and pending social value requirements within your sector. The depth and duration of your strategy can be tailored based on your business needs - from a simple 6-month action plan to a 3-year strategic approach.
Social Value FAQs: Essential guidance for maximising your impact
The Social Value TOM System ™ is the leading standard for capturing and enhancing the good you do, trusted by thousands of organisations. Learn about how the Social Value impact of specific initiatives like volunteering, how to use the TOM System for central government bids, and much more. Read our Social Value FAQs
PDF Social Value Business Guide
Social Value Creation: The Context: An Overview of the Social Context for Canadian Businesses Section One Page 8 Social Value Creation through Human Resource and Procurement Functions: A description of three opportunities to create social value through two business functions: Human Resources: Community Hiring and Living Wage
PDF What is 'social value' and how to plan it?
How to plan for social value Here is my 5-point plan for business or organisation to plan an approach to social value. Its particularly tailored for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), because they make up the vast majority (99.9%) of UK private sector businesses. 1. Dont sweat a definition.
Top 10 Ways to Incorporate Social Value Into Your Business
Gamifying the creation of social value - Inspire employees to do more and get competitive about it. For example, set up a leader board and offer prizes as incentives. Motivate employees by appealing to their competitive nature. Starting with the basics - Transforming the business's attitude to social value won't be an over-night process.
Measurable social value ESG
Value Positive Your roadmap to net contribution Read more Achievable, measurable, transformative value for business and society You're already creating more value than you realise. Whatever stage you're at in your social value or ESG journey, harness it to accelerate growth, inspire loyalty and build reputation. Let's have a.
PDF CHAS Social Value: A Guide to Getting Started
That's why CHAS has partnered with the Social Value Portal, the UK's leading Social Value measurement and reporting platform, to develop a simple and easy-to complete Social Value question set that enables contractors to showcase their Social Value capabilities. It's likely you're delivering Social Value in your normal business ...
Social value
As part of their ambitious Reset Plan West Sussex have created a Social Value Framework to ensure all projects and contracts commissioned by the County Council achieve maximum benefit for residents. The Framework has three key targets; In contracts over £100,000, where it is appropriate to generate Social Value, a minimum weighting of 10% will ...
Social Enterprise Business Plan
This outline for a social enterprise business plan is a guide for research, planning, and writing a business plan for nonprofit social enterprises. ... This section describes the competitors, both nonprofit and for-profit, and the value proposition, or market advantage, of the proposed business. Primary competitors; Competitive products/services;
How Small Business Owners Can Develop a Business Sustainability Plan
Social Value for Your Business Uncover our all-in-one social value solution. The simple solution to your social value needs ... If you are a business owner and you're ready to develop your own business sustainability plan, then this is the perfect guide for you! By following the steps outlined in this article, you'll be able to develop a ...
Social Value Action Planning Tool
Social Value Action Planning Tool. The Social Value Action Planning Tool is a free online solution that enables suppliers to develop a customised Social Value Action Plan. The tool will help you review the environmental, economic, and social impacts of your business and allow you to clearly identify where you are already having a positive ...
What Are Social Values in Business?
Social Values in Business: 8-10. Philanthropy and Charitable Giving: Donating to causes, charities, and nonprofits to address social issues and support those in need. Employee Well-being and Development: Providing a supportive work environment, fair wages, and opportunities development, making the workplace a place of belonging.
Creating Values-Driven Business Value
It needn't be that way. Acting on values that have a positive impact on the world can improve operations, benefit customers and employees, and bolster the bottom line. In this webinar, Daniel Aronson, author of The Value of Values, will demonstrate how values-driven investments can, in fact, generate real business returns. You'll learn:
Trump's social media company loses billions in value as stock price
Former President Donald Trump's fledgling media business is losing its sheen among investors a week after going public, with a sharp reversal in the company's stock price lopping $4 billion off ...
35 Content Marketing Statistics You Should Know
The following stats certainly seem to indicate marketers have bought into the value of content. 61% of B2C marketers said their 2022 content marketing budget would exceed their 2021 budget. 22% of ...
Trump isn't doing anything new with his recent Truth Social windfall
Trump merged his unprofitable and tiny Truth Social platform, which has reportedly lost tens of millions of dollars, into a shell company that was previously created and already had a value of ...
Trump Media Stock Slumps as Early Fervor in Truth Social Owner Fades
Trump Media Shares Slump as Early Fervor Fades. A rapid fall in price erased billions of dollars in the market value of the parent company of Truth Social, eating into some of the gains made in ...
Trump Media stock sinks to post-merger low
Since then, the Truth Social owner's share price has plunged by 49% to the closing price of $40.49 on Friday. Trump Media's shares have lost about a third of their value this week.
Trump's Truth Social stock price slides
Analyst marvel at the stock price of a social media platform valued at over 1000 times its earnings. Trump owns more than 50%; a dip this week cost him $1b.