The turn of the year is the time for outlooks. One term is almost always used in the brand and management world when talking about significant topics for 2020: Purpose. In the trade media, the discussion is running hot. We have compiled a list of articles that you can use to form your own well-founded opinion.
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An important note in advance: We are currently writing our new book with the working title "Corporate Purpose - Why companies can change the world with attitude" (to be published by SpringerGabler in 2020). Accordingly, we are convinced of the importance and impact of "purpose". With the following contributions, we would like to present various perspectives on the discussion that, in our view, underpin this positive attitude.
Blackrock Letters to CEOs
Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of the world's largest asset manager Blackrock, has been publishing a "letter" to CEOs - implicitly primarily of companies in which Blackrock is invested - at the beginning of the year since 2012. The 2018 and 2019 editions already dealt extensively with the topic of "corporate purpose", which Fink rates as highly significant from an investor's perspective. In the 2020 edition, he focuses on the impact of climate change on the financial system.
Business Round Table for Stakeholder Value
In summer 2019, the "Business Round Table" caused a stir. It is an association of almost 200 CEOs of prominent US companies and redefined its central purpose of a company: It is no longer the generation of shareholder value alone, but stakeholder value - the creation of benefits also for other stakeholders such as employees, customers, local communities and the environment. The article by Fortune (user account required) provides a very well-founded and multi-faceted look at the background and development of capitalism.
Sustainable Development Goals
What contribution in the sense of a higher purpose with benefits for the market environment can a company concretely make or set as a goal? Often, the first step to answering this question is particularly difficult. Many pioneering companies are guided by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' Agenda 2030, adopted in 2015.
What a Corporate Purpose can achieve
The meta-study by IO Sustainability and Babson College investigated what concrete financial or otherwise business-relevant effects "corporate responsibility" can have. Attention: for those who want to approach the topic with data and figures!
Learning from Purpose pioneer Patagonia
Hardly any other company has been as consistently purpose-driven for decades as the brand for outdoor equipment and clothing. Nevertheless, the corporate purpose was tightened again in 2018: Patagonia is now "in business to save our home planet. Very interesting background information in the article by Fast Company.
Bonus: Purpose from the Marketoonist
Under this name, illustrator Tom Fishburne takes a humorous look at the world of business and marketing. "Purpose" has already provided him with a number of templates for this...
