I've followed Michael Porter for over a decade - this is a great introduction to, and argument for, social enterprise. We do need a breakdown in this divide in order to solve the world's problems. Business need to see themselves differently, but perhaps more importantly, consumer and capital markets needs to view businesses differently. I look forward to the day when I'm at an event and don't get blank stares when I say "our business was created to help solve a social problem".
And he also refutes the idea that business profits from pollution or unsafe work environments: pollution means that you use resources and it is cheaper for business to use as little resources as possible, therefore there is a drive to reduce resource usage and with this ultimately pollution. Safe work environments are good, because accidents are extremely expensive.
@@lukastux3024 Yeah but on the macro level the global north has trade liberalization policies that keep them at an advantage and keeps the poor countries at a disadvantage. I doubt privitized interest is the answer, but neither are most NGOs the answer as well.
It is a fantastic presentation and I salute this guy who has really analysed the Enterprise Strategy in detail and came up with lot of models like 5 forces, Generic strategies and lot many. For this guy to make a point about Business solving Social problems - he is trying to break a huge barrier locked up in people's mind, I believe. How easy is for us to point a finger at Government to take care of the social issues, while we elect the government and at the backside, create all the social issues for the Government to worry... It is this disconnect that Michael Porter is trying to project through his lectures. I agree, Business can support the Government and if they can work in tandem to solve social issues, the results would be for every one to see...
“This guy” The understatement of the century. This guy is Prof. Dr. Micheal Porter, the father of competitive strategy. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School.
This man is incredibly wise and his books have been a Bible to me in my quest to understand the world of business. Sustainable business aimed to solve social issues using the concepts of profit making is the only real way we will be able to solve these issues. NGO's and corporations have to work together. Eco friendly products are the new buzz we all know that but affordability, exposure are the only way they will be consumed by the masses
Totally agree. Business has such potential to impact on relevant areas of life it touches. It does all come down to intention and whether corporates want to make more money (which they've proven they're pretty good at) or make far reaching social change that benefits all, including their bottom line. Whether they do or not remains to be seen but I believe that the new gen of business leaders will lean this way.
I'm a soon to be business graduate and I find it so funny how I just recently looked into Porter's proposition on how business can solve problems through creating profit. It suddenly struck me how the concept is honestly Biblical: think back to the story of Joseph in Genesis. Through his God-given insight, Joseph made suggestions to essentially avoid social and economic disaster through using a business model: basically, (paraphrasing Genesis 41:34-37) "collect during the seven years of plenty, and you will have enough during the years of famine." Amazing how some of our worst modern-day problems have solutions found in ancient history. Just an interesting thought.
Ancient religious books are often a compilation of comon knowledge. So its pretty common too find references and "answers" to modern problems in them (: the bibles cool
@@mateopavolini I agree. I would also take it a step further and argue that the moral principles on which ethical business conduct has been founded are due to the wisdom and understanding provided by the Word of God. Just my opinion, but I believe that there is evidence to back it up.
@@josephread4702 i totally agree and i think thats more of a fact than an opinion. The fact it was a, pretty much, general cultural reality molded the way values have been formed and perceived to this day. Having the god that forgave the siners instead of condeming them has a direct influence in the consolidation of our rights, and i think it wont stop yet. Well adjust our views and laws until they fit the word of god and respect our freedoms. If politicians let us, that is. A lot of love from Colombia, and sorry for my spelling sometimes
Maybe? Just says on the years that are fruitful, aka good crop/inflow of ‘riches’ is wise to save up and not spend all you blessings, so that when a dry season comes along & not fruitful with ‘riches’ you would be able to survive bc you planned ahead. Like putting money into a retirement account in modern times
between 2:08 and 2:16 He said everything you need to know about modern business. What he said in next 2 seconds doesn't make situation easier, it's just a trick to make it look like "this is not the main point of all problems". It IS, my friend... It is the main cause of problems in the world dear Porter
You are right, he said there are bad actors out there and then proceedes to talk for 10 minutes saying that the bad actor should see buisiness differently and follow a social path
It all shows that awareness is rising and many businesses are moving to solve social problems. Just as these organisations (public listed) are required to make their accounts transparent, why the NGO's who get money from public are not required to to make their accounts transparent too? This will clear many genuine organisations who are doing great work in this direction and bring to the open, the ones who use more than 50%, some even 80% or more for their own survival and rest for the cause. Time has come that people who contribute to such causes, become fully aware of what actually happens to their contributions. Further, the governments need to know as they are big indirect contributor to these organisations as most of such contributions are tax-deductible.
This is absolutely an amazing talk. Businesses must see themselves differently and society must see businesses differently as well. I cannot agree less. Businesses must create shared values by meeting societal needs in the course of creating economic value.
I've just ran through some comments below and I just "love" how most of people are fixed in stereotype that business can only "fuck" with everyone and there is no social business and no social value of business. I think profit can really make solutions for world problems more sustainable but only with right mindset. You shouldn't be closed-minded like that guys.
This is so inspiring! Business is def a great way to mitigate poverty around theworld. I think it's so important Social Entrepreneurs utilize their business skills to focus more on shared values and movement beyond market share, encourage competition as one of the means to scale impact, set a mission and empower local business people to effectively address the nuances of local markets in order to bring about significant upturns. Porter is so right about redeploying returns responsibly to tackling these issues...
Porter is right. But he is facing a wave of leftism against business that will be hard to convince. For examples, industry is that evil mechanism owned by the 1 percenters that keep the rest of society enslaved. I, however think it is more like a partnership. Industry needs the mass of people for resources, and the people need industry to better their lives.
Some of the people disagreeing with Porter, saying that money should not be the main driver for fixing social problems must realize that money is extremely important in our society even if you like the fact or not. We can not radically change this fact so we have to live with it and do the best we can with it. And that is what Porter is doing- seeing solutions using the tools we have at our disposal today.
Portor is a strategy professors, and he focuses on how businesses can compete in longterm in the industry. The problem with most managers is that they only see things in short-term, chasing dollars instead of creating a strategy that is everlasting.
"Only businesses can create resources. Other institutions can utilize them to do other work, but business can create them." I think this is where some people got confused in the role of business vs., say, government or charity in tackling problems. Sure, giving wealth to the poor is a good idea, but how can you give anything without wealth? You need to have a class of wealthy that can keep that wealth assuming you didn't take it all. And I think people forget how slim that difference between profit and cost really is.
It was such a refreshing lecture! As a person who values the coexistence of corporate profit creation and social responsibility, it was beneficial to learn about CSV. I learned from this talk that the resources needed to solve social problems are created by companies and they can contribute to society by creating those resources, and even more surprisingly, they can contribute to society by creating social value when they make profits. All of these facts interested me. In the future, I should become an entrepreneur and create a company that not only does social contribution activities after generating profits but also realizes the creation of shared values. Thank you for giving a good lecture.
I think Michael wants to convey the real essence and purpose of business in society which is established with a clear mission and vision which is to provide the needs of the people by creating goods or services which focuses on the benefit for society. If a business is causing social problems, obviously, it has no business within society. He thinks that business must focus on identifying shared values and create clearer view on the products and services from production to distribution with considerations both on social values and economic values in which the stakeholders or consumers and shareholders of the corporations collectively define to solve these social issues. Porter's expertise is in business strategies and I think his concept is one of the best strategy as collective effort of business and society on socioeconomic development. Reconceiving markets and production in the value chain and clustering development.
Who is the determining power that decides what products and services is a benefit to society and what are not? Be very wary of someone that says, "I'm from the Government and I can help!" This usually means they have an agenda in mind that will benefit them and not those that the idea is supposed to help.
Preocupavamos com o progresso e a falta de sustentabilidade, hoje este é um tema que ainda permeia o progresso, a falta de sustentabilidade. Porém naquele tempo não tínhamos as ideias incríveis de Elos Musk, hoje temos não só ele como exemplo, mas toda uma sociedade que vem se levantando e querendo caminhar no sentido da sustentabilidade, isso é incrível, a evolução é incrível. Espero que consigamos chegar ao objetivo de um mundo mais sustentável e feliz, estamos caminhando.
Mr. Porter has a short-sighted view on social problems. Wealth is not created only by businesses. Let me resume your whole talk with one word that has nothing to do with business. CONSCIOUSNESS... is the revolution for social problems.
The scene from Jerry Mcguire where Jerry (Tome Cruize) comes up with some new business model and introduces it to everyone. They clap, talk behind his back then fire him. That is the scene that I am envisioning now.
Easily the most constructive and insightful TED Talk I've seen in a while. It's amazing how much criticism it is receiving; a clear symptom of what is wrong with society today.
Solving social problems one business at a time! We need urgency on this matter. It's time for ethical leadership in all organizations from government, non-profit, and to all for-profit businesses big and small.
The thing is that in my opinion these newcomers non profit org as he says, they came from the business and they work for them in common its not something different..as a result i think that they focus ONLY at specific social problems and sometimes in order to solve the social problem and earn profit thet cause an other enviromental problem...so we all have to think carefully about these issues and how innocent the big companies are and how much they care about csr ! food for thought!
Dr, Porter was totally right in all what he said although most of the audience didn't agree with this. Please let me explain how he was thinking in the solutions 4 years ago and how we are realizing the solutions just nowadays. one of the comments was that we should claim capitalism that allows big business companies and manufactures generate money, but unfortunately this is wrong, because those business sold there products or services for huge consumers (for us ) we buy there products or services since we need it, since we believe in it, so if we should claim someone, we should claim ourselves in the first level. Secondly he said "business profits from solving social problems, that is where profits come from" the real explanation of this now in 2017 is like this: MacDonald leads to obesity and health problems because it serves an unhealthy food, they introduce a new product (salad) tobacco companies were responsible also for health problems, people want to get rid of cigarettes because its smells bad and bla bla bla , they shift into a new type of cigarettes (electronic cigarettes with different fruits flavors) and its a good and profitable business nowadays. car companies starts to innovate electronic cars, taxi companies are buying it cause it dosent consume fuel, they can reduce cost and expand the profits.
Speaking of history, one of my favorite stories (related to your question about reading history) is in Matthew 25. Jesus was teaching about the "Social Business Owner" who selected his team, went on a long trip, came back to take inventory and then made two of those team members into "partners". The third team member was "fired". Seems to me, there is a ton of practical wisdom in this parable that applies (perfectly) to the discussion here, there, and everywhere "Social Business" is concerned.
You can do it, simply by buying things provided by companies that solve social problems and create shared value, even if costs more. That's the only way, but I think we're doing good as society (looking thru the past and comparing to now)
Of course companies see social issues as profits, we got companies who shallowly support LGBTQ+ so they can profit off white or black shirts with their logos in rainbows; companies investing into charities with caps so they can leech off the “excess” cash instead of having no limits how much the charity is given; supporting mental awareness while also causing mental issues to non-executive level employees by using HR as the spokesmen for them as well as snitching out any employee acting in a ‘rebellious’ way; some more stuff
My criticism would be, that the tendency to exploit for profit will still exist, it wont be removed by just expecting business owners "be responsible" and "plan for the long term". If a company can put itself in a more profitable stage, regardless of how it affects society, it will. We have to get rid of the underlying incentives of profit and differential advantage, if we wish to impact the "scale" Michael referred to.
I agree with you. Another argument (or TED Talk) should be made about the fact that business are the most profitable when they work with the workers to their mutual benefit and not against them.
@@drkylemurphy I would argue that "All wealth is created by business" is not a true statement, because people can labor and work independent of business. People can make things and do work for charitable reasons, for fun, for a country that pays them a wage from the public treasury etc. Business is far from the "only" way wealth and resources are "made"
@@drkylemurphy Marx would argue against this actually, where he would say 'business' basically abstracts labor from the picture, where labor is put to the back burner but 'business' takes the forefront to wealth creation
Excelente perspectiva de Michael Porter. Creo que si se replicará ese modelo de pensamiento de crecimiento corporativo, habrían gran avances en la sociedad actual. Lamentablemente como dice Michael, las empresas siguen atadas a ese pensamiento de que no es negocio ayudar al medio ambiente porque eso involucra grandes gastos para ellos, sabiendo que puede ser una gran inversión para que sus clientes y su entorno estén en la mejor forma. Pero todo esta en una transformación en el pensamiento que tienen actualmente los empresarios. ¡Saludos!
I like this guy, he says things the way they are, not the way general public wants to hear it. I Also like the way he says the word profit 47 times the whole video... I know, I counted.
The titles of the two videos are in opposition, the talks themselves are not. Porter was talking about businesses solving the problems they create (I did not hear him talk about them fixing problems unrelated to their processes). Sandel spoke on how money can be a negative influence on some parts of our life, and that it can't be used to wholly fix or improve something.
No tradeoff between social progress and economic efficiency Shared value: addressing social issue with a business model Higher mode of Capitalism: Social Value + Economic Value
The businesses will only do good if the "market" is functioning properly. And there are plenty of cases where they're not, for example the banking system. And when the market is not working, the more money the more it can damage the society. I'm giving Porter the benefit of doubt by not saying his message was wrong when he missed, imo, a very important point.
The problem is though that people like Peter Joseph are talking about a world that's a long, long way away from reality. This talk is rooted in what's actually going on right now and proposes a mindset shift in some people (rather than in everyone, which is what the zeitgeist stuff relies on). It's one thing to say "everybody is greedy, we should all stop being so greedy" and another to accept human nature and utilise it to better the systems we have to help everybody.
The issue is finding profitable methods to solve social problems. The main reason this is so difficult is the lack of private property societies. For example, governments in many third world countries are filled with corrupt dictators, private property can be taken away at whim and you are lucky if you can keep what you have earned. If they could enter the marketplace, food would not be an issue and would be solved through the normal process of exchange.
Adam Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" is exactly that, a cross-national set of case studies to see why some nations were wealthy and some were not. His conclusion was that the results were directly related to the freedom of trade. More restrictions, more poverty. And that remains true to this day.
It is unfortunate that the depth of many people's curiosity seems to be "Every other advanced country on earth has universal healthcare, why not us?" while ignoring all the problems that go along with it. Best of luck, good sir, keep up the good fight. Truth will win in the long run, even if that is a very, very long run. All empires fall.
The difference is that non-profits are not thinking (enough) about a profitable business-modell, hence they are reliable on donations. They create value for sure, but they are reluctant to ask money for it. Porter reasons that this is the cause, that non-profits stay relatively small and cannot scale their vision to a size, where their intentions can be beneficial for a larger target-group.
2) On a side note; a curious claim of the Professor is that businesses create resources. I thought that they used resources to create goods. They also create billable services. In some cases, service industries that are not even required (a growing trend) and in a politically astute country would not even be wanted and would be rejected.
This solutions we have to work a lot to try to change our social problems day at day and be the business more atractive and give more enployment at future people
The problems have decreased, the awareness has increase, and Non Governmental Organizations are a thriving business, hard to say not profit when the first thing they do when the land is build a building, with no plans to leave, or accomplish a goal. Andy Lee Graham 90 countries and over 15 years of living abroad.
In the long run it does make sense for businesses to care about social issues as well, but i am not convinced that enough businesspeople share that point of view, or even care about the long run. Maybe they just care about making a big enough profit right now. For businesses to make that profit it also requires that a pretty large part of the population is aware and cares about these issues. Again, i am not convinced that enough people do that. Still an interesting talk.
So, apart from the vulgarity, your points are pretty clear. Have you been to Haiti? Do you have any idea the level of resources that have been sent to Haiti? And, how much of those resources ended up in the hands of those with the power? I haven't been there since the EQ but when I was there it was a valuable life lesson for me in terms of "Social Business" and "Gummit"
Mr.Porter is noble in his pursuit,but social problems are unsolvable,because they are predominatly caused through human behavior,and there is one constant in human history that is human nature.
Private profit is opposed to the general interests of society. That private capital may 'solve' a 'problem' is possible, but the cost to society is private capital accumulation which is then used against the interests of workers and the masses generally. Anything a private business can do, the people working together democratically, collectively, committed to achieving a goal or performing a valuable function, can do better - and without generating a private capital power that opposes them.
Assuming selflessly working humans, which is not what we observe in reality. Your political view is not supported by empirical evidence, just good intentions.
thor nielsen Its not what you observe in capitalist society. I mean you specifically, not generally. People who say this are blind; in your case you are also either lying or unaware of the empirical evidence. Every day, pretty much everywhere, people do things that are of social value without the prospect of payment. From opening doors for people, to motherhood, human existence is full of experiences that do not fit the capitalist view that all action is done only for payment. You yourself just made a comment about this video, is someone paying you for that? Why did you do it if you aren't getting paid? Because you can't help yourself. You are a human being with the need to engage socially. It is this essential aspect of human existence upon which communism is based; this aspect of human existence is real, essential, and the singular explanation for the rise of human civilization, and it's preservation from future disaster. The empirical evidence about the social nature of humans is very ample, and undisputed except by people with an agenda and zero information.
LTrotsky 21st Century You clearly don't understand capitalism, because if you did you would understand that the social nature of humans IS capitalism. Capitalism is the do whatever you want, no one is stopping you system. People hold doors for people because the WANT to. People buy things because they WANT to. People give gifts because they ENJOY making other people happy. A gift giver is always receiving more than the gift receiver. Always.These are all trades - capitalist, free market trades. The fundamental law of economics is that people are rational. That means that people will always to what's best for themselves. Always. Please try to understand.
firexgodx980 This is the David Brooks argument for capitalism - that capitalism accords with human nature. It's false of course, and has been seriously analyzed, both Brook's specific position as well as the nexus between so-called human nature and capitalism. Brook's analysis has been called "The Dumbest Story Ever Told." Capitalists have long made the assumption and argument that capitalism is aligned with human nature - the problem is they can't define either category, and therefore cannot describe the intersection. In essence, this argument is simply an ideology, a myth, and therefore simply garbage.
LTrotsky 21st Century I don't mean this in a negative way but this is the central flaw of Marxism. Marx recognized that humans have this potential to do good to others but we should also understand that humans have an equal if not more potential of doing harm to others. How many times do people go out of their way to help others and how many times do they try to harm, humiliate etc., others? Just eliminating "capitalists" or "feudals" will not make the "good" common people live happily. Some kind of societal construct that makes people behave only in a good way is necessary. And I think that is the essence of democracy.
This is already being done for a number of years. It began and was pioneered by Professor Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh) whose idea of the social business has gone global. It can work and will work.
Key issue: where the money come from. Business model approach makes no sense if there is no cash flow, which is usually the case for social work; that's why they fund-raise.
He did a great job explaining the problem but, how do you get business to invest in longterm new markets? Business is capable of scale but are too short sighted to invest in change. Change is risky and so they avoid it. Mr. Porter, how do we encourge/force business to see this reality? if you can answer that it will be the cog that moves all the other cogs. Until then I believe we should still with the current NGO and Gov't options. Business can step up any time they would like.
so essentially as long as someone can find a way to make money doing it (and it's not prohibited by government), businesses will start doing it - whatever the "it" is. and some of those "its" could be social problems.
The problem with business is that profit is the goal, not what's good for humanity, the environment or the future. With the current structure of what business is, it will never solve any problem - that's not the objective.
But what about something like a tobacoo company? It's core fundamental of the business ruins the environment and health of the people who uses the product, despite the fact you can argue they can increase efficiency in production of their product, create jobs which lessens the social issues. But the very core fundamental of the business and its products is what is causing that social issue such as lung cancer?
Maybe they die out as a business.. Or they evolve into selling products that no longer do harm?? Just like Mcdonalds and all these fast food chains selling cheap, unhealthy food.. Evolve as people start asking for healthier/better products or die out.
I think their role is now to create that cigarettes less dangerous for people health - and as I know they already started to invest a lot in R&D in order to find new solutions for future, to improve the experience of consumers and to make the smoking more clean. I think in the future they will find a good solution, as the people started to be more conscient related to smoking risks. In fact the companies will be forced to adapt so they will solve a social problem. :)
3 minutes in - ULCH ..... Poisonous Phenols all over my neck of the woods. PORT HOPE ... pretty town on a big lake that feeds directly into the St Lawrence River.
Not really. Its rhetoric. Gandhi stated the answer to poverty when he said he must "lower himself to the poorest of the poor,". Without sharing in the life of the poor in a more deep and meaningful way that moves beyond assets and wealth, no true impact will happen, because that is what underlies class division. Lack of assets, education, healthcare, etc are symptoms of a systemic problem but they aren't the cause of the problem.
11 лет назад
If there were profit to make out of solving these problem, other business men would already have invested in various "problems". But they can't make money out of solving some problems. For the problems they can make money by solving them, they're already doing so.
Being good can be good be good for business. This creating shared value initiative is a perspective that business can adopt to do different and do better - ethically and economically. Business have the resources and capabilities to have the most profound social impact; to me this idea promotes a more sustainable approach capitalism.
Two main arguments I don't agree on: 1) 'Business is the only institution creating wealth, and it can do so infinitely because profit.' Porter's main flaw in argumentation is that he assumes wealth created by business is created out of the void. Creating something, out of nothing. But business creates no resources, it uses them, usurps them. Resources become property by adding labour, following Locke's idea of property, but labour adds only the right to own, it adds nothing physical. Thinking that, due to profit, business can infinitely expand their resource 'creation' is wrong, since resources are finite. This is the whole flaw in industrial thinking and we are going to face the consequences. 2) 'Solving social problems is in the interest of business.' While I agree that this is true, social disasters are bad for business (sometimes, war for example is great), business's have a different concept of interests. Just like people: eating McDonalds is not in my best interest, still I do it. It is short term interests that guide business.
Which is why, as our needs change and we start demanding better and healthier products, the market will meet this demand. The reason MCDonalds can sell their unhealthy menu is because we ask for it. The market responds to a demand, which is why we have our own role to play to make Porter's vision a reality.
The wildlife parks are a good thing but that is one example and I struggle to think of more. Maybe the paper industry if they didn't favour monoculture too much. But as long as you agree that government should be somewhat involved I'm happy. And I totally agree, that the oversimplification of really complex issues in politics is a big problem.
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assignment brought me here but its nice talks
same here
Same
Same here
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literally same
I've followed Michael Porter for over a decade - this is a great introduction to, and argument for, social enterprise. We do need a breakdown in this divide in order to solve the world's problems. Business need to see themselves differently, but perhaps more importantly, consumer and capital markets needs to view businesses differently. I look forward to the day when I'm at an event and don't get blank stares when I say "our business was created to help solve a social problem".
That's what Pol Pot said too...
Key ideas:
"Business is meeting needs at a profit"
"Business allows solving social problems in a sustainable way, on a much bigger scale"
"Creating shared value: addressing a social issue with a business model."
..
And he also refutes the idea that business profits from pollution or unsafe work environments: pollution means that you use resources and it is cheaper for business to use as little resources as possible, therefore there is a drive to reduce resource usage and with this ultimately pollution. Safe work environments are good, because accidents are extremely expensive.
@@lukastux3024 Yeah but on the macro level the global north has trade liberalization policies that keep them at an advantage and keeps the poor countries at a disadvantage. I doubt privitized interest is the answer, but neither are most NGOs the answer as well.
Instablaster.
It is a fantastic presentation and I salute this guy who has really analysed the Enterprise Strategy in detail and came up with lot of models like 5 forces, Generic strategies and lot many. For this guy to make a point about Business solving Social problems - he is trying to break a huge barrier locked up in people's mind, I believe. How easy is for us to point a finger at Government to take care of the social issues, while we elect the government and at the backside, create all the social issues for the Government to worry... It is this disconnect that Michael Porter is trying to project through his lectures.
I agree, Business can support the Government and if they can work in tandem to solve social issues, the results would be for every one to see...
But the problem with that is that businesses are not democratically elected
“This guy”
The understatement of the century. This guy is Prof. Dr. Micheal Porter, the father of competitive strategy. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School.
@@fairy5668 it REALLY depends on the structure and purpose of the "business".
This man is incredibly wise and his books have been a Bible to me in my quest to understand the world of business. Sustainable business aimed to solve social issues using the concepts of profit making is the only real way we will be able to solve these issues. NGO's and corporations have to work together. Eco friendly products are the new buzz we all know that but affordability, exposure are the only way they will be consumed by the masses
Totally agree. Business has such potential to impact on relevant areas of life it touches. It does all come down to intention and whether corporates want to make more money (which they've proven they're pretty good at) or make far reaching social change that benefits all, including their bottom line. Whether they do or not remains to be seen but I believe that the new gen of business leaders will lean this way.
Thank you, Michael Porter. This topic should be a course for all business schools.
Respect to him for admitting businesses can also cause problems. The problem with businesses is that profit comes first and social issues come second.
The Tata Group has been doing this in India and globally for years and years . That s why it's sustained so well for the past 150+ years . .
I'm a soon to be business graduate and I find it so funny how I just recently looked into Porter's proposition on how business can solve problems through creating profit. It suddenly struck me how the concept is honestly Biblical: think back to the story of Joseph in Genesis. Through his God-given insight, Joseph made suggestions to essentially avoid social and economic disaster through using a business model: basically, (paraphrasing Genesis 41:34-37) "collect during the seven years of plenty, and you will have enough during the years of famine." Amazing how some of our worst modern-day problems have solutions found in ancient history. Just an interesting thought.
Ancient religious books are often a compilation of comon knowledge. So its pretty common too find references and "answers" to modern problems in them (: the bibles cool
@@mateopavolini I agree. I would also take it a step further and argue that the moral principles on which ethical business conduct has been founded are due to the wisdom and understanding provided by the Word of God. Just my opinion, but I believe that there is evidence to back it up.
@@josephread4702 i totally agree and i think thats more of a fact than an opinion. The fact it was a, pretty much, general cultural reality molded the way values have been formed and perceived to this day. Having the god that forgave the siners instead of condeming them has a direct influence in the consolidation of our rights, and i think it wont stop yet. Well adjust our views and laws until they fit the word of god and respect our freedoms. If politicians let us, that is. A lot of love from Colombia, and sorry for my spelling sometimes
Maybe? Just says on the years that are fruitful, aka good crop/inflow of ‘riches’ is wise to save up and not spend all you blessings, so that when a dry season comes along & not fruitful with ‘riches’ you would be able to survive bc you planned ahead. Like putting money into a retirement account in modern times
My task for University bought me here. Thank you my lecturer
between 2:08 and 2:16 He said everything you need to know about modern business. What he said in next 2 seconds doesn't make situation easier, it's just a trick to make it look like "this is not the main point of all problems". It IS, my friend... It is the main cause of problems in the world dear Porter
You are right, he said there are bad actors out there and then proceedes to talk for 10 minutes saying that the bad actor should see buisiness differently and follow a social path
It all shows that awareness is rising and many businesses are moving to solve social problems. Just as these organisations (public listed) are required to make their accounts transparent, why the NGO's who get money from public are not required to to make their accounts transparent too? This will clear many genuine organisations who are doing great work in this direction and bring to the open, the ones who use more than 50%, some even 80% or more for their own survival and rest for the cause.
Time has come that people who contribute to such causes, become fully aware of what actually happens to their contributions.
Further, the governments need to know as they are big indirect contributor to these organisations as most of such contributions are tax-deductible.
This is absolutely an amazing talk. Businesses must see themselves differently and society must see businesses differently as well. I cannot agree less. Businesses must create shared values by meeting societal needs in the course of creating economic value.
माइकल पोर्टर दाई संग ठ्याक्क कुरा मिल्यो है !
हार्भाड का प्रोफेसर र म जस्तै साधारण नेपाली नागरिक को विचार बिज्ञान त उस्तै छ गाठे !
I've just ran through some comments below and I just "love" how most of people are fixed in stereotype that business can only "fuck" with everyone and there is no social business and no social value of business.
I think profit can really make solutions for world problems more sustainable but only with right mindset. You shouldn't be closed-minded like that guys.
This is so inspiring! Business is def a great way to mitigate poverty around theworld. I think it's so important Social Entrepreneurs utilize their business skills to focus more on shared values and movement beyond market share, encourage competition as one of the means to scale impact, set a mission and empower local business people to effectively address the nuances of local markets in order to bring about significant upturns. Porter is so right about redeploying returns responsibly to tackling these issues...
oh stfu corporate troll
You're effectively daydreaming...
Porter is right. But he is facing a wave of leftism against business that will be hard to convince. For examples, industry is that evil mechanism owned by the 1 percenters that keep the rest of society enslaved. I, however think it is more like a partnership. Industry needs the mass of people for resources, and the people need industry to better their lives.
Some of the people disagreeing with Porter, saying that money should not be the main driver for fixing social problems must realize that money is extremely important in our society even if you like the fact or not. We can not radically change this fact so we have to live with it and do the best we can with it. And that is what Porter is doing- seeing solutions using the tools we have at our disposal today.
Portor is a strategy professors, and he focuses on how businesses can compete in longterm in the industry. The problem with most managers is that they only see things in short-term, chasing dollars instead of creating a strategy that is everlasting.
Long-termists are always making good anticipation and are good experts in strategy
"Only businesses can create resources. Other institutions can utilize them to do other work, but business can create them."
I think this is where some people got confused in the role of business vs., say, government or charity in tackling problems. Sure, giving wealth to the poor is a good idea, but how can you give anything without wealth? You need to have a class of wealthy that can keep that wealth assuming you didn't take it all. And I think people forget how slim that difference between profit and cost really is.
blessed to hear his ideas it great❤
Great talk, i'm finally feeling like i'm in college. I'm from Brazil, and it was very inspiring to watch this. Thank you so much.
It was such a refreshing lecture! As a person who values the coexistence of corporate profit creation and social responsibility, it was beneficial to learn about CSV. I learned from this talk that the resources needed to solve social problems are created by companies and they can contribute to society by creating those resources, and even more surprisingly, they can contribute to society by creating social value when they make profits. All of these facts interested me. In the future, I should become an entrepreneur and create a company that not only does social contribution activities after generating profits but also realizes the creation of shared values. Thank you for giving a good lecture.
I think Michael wants to convey the real essence and purpose of business in society which is established with a clear mission and vision which is to provide the needs of the people by creating goods or services which focuses on the benefit for society. If a business is causing social problems, obviously, it has no business within society. He thinks that business must focus on identifying shared values and create clearer view on the products and services from production to distribution with considerations both on social values and economic values in which the stakeholders or consumers and shareholders of the corporations collectively define to solve these social issues. Porter's expertise is in business strategies and I think his concept is one of the best strategy as collective effort of business and society on socioeconomic development. Reconceiving markets and production in the value chain and clustering development.
Who is the determining power that decides what products and services is a benefit to society and what are not? Be very wary of someone that says, "I'm from the Government and I can help!" This usually means they have an agenda in mind that will benefit them and not those that the idea is supposed to help.
Business does have a huge opportunity to have an impact, as do individuals on a daily basis. We are all in this together.
Preocupavamos com o progresso e a falta de sustentabilidade, hoje este é um tema que ainda permeia o progresso, a falta de sustentabilidade. Porém naquele tempo não tínhamos as ideias incríveis de Elos Musk, hoje temos não só ele como exemplo, mas toda uma sociedade que vem se levantando e querendo caminhar no sentido da sustentabilidade, isso é incrível, a evolução é incrível. Espero que consigamos chegar ao objetivo de um mundo mais sustentável e feliz, estamos caminhando.
Mr. Porter has a short-sighted view on social problems. Wealth is not created only by businesses. Let me resume your whole talk with one word that has nothing to do with business. CONSCIOUSNESS... is the revolution for social problems.
thank's for sharing Sir❤❤
The scene from Jerry Mcguire where Jerry (Tome Cruize) comes up with some new business model and introduces it to everyone. They clap, talk behind his back then fire him. That is the scene that I am envisioning now.
Easily the most constructive and insightful TED Talk I've seen in a while. It's amazing how much criticism it is receiving; a clear symptom of what is wrong with society today.
Solving social problems one business at a time! We need urgency on this matter. It's time for ethical leadership in all organizations from government, non-profit, and to all for-profit businesses big and small.
The thing is that in my opinion these newcomers non profit org as he says, they came from the business and they work for them in common its not something different..as a result i think that they focus ONLY at specific social problems and sometimes in order to solve the social problem and earn profit thet cause an other enviromental problem...so we all have to think carefully about these issues and how innocent the big companies are and how much they care about csr !
food for thought!
Yes, businesses need to be mobilised full scale to tackle the problems we are facing today.
Dr, Porter was totally right in all what he said although most of the audience didn't agree with this. Please let me explain how he was thinking in the solutions 4 years ago and how we are realizing the solutions just nowadays. one of the comments was that we should claim capitalism that allows big business companies and manufactures generate money, but unfortunately this is wrong, because those business sold there products or services for huge consumers (for us ) we buy there products or services since we need it, since we believe in it, so if we should claim someone, we should claim ourselves in the first level. Secondly he said "business profits from solving social problems, that is where profits come from" the real explanation of this now in 2017 is like this:
MacDonald leads to obesity and health problems because it serves an unhealthy food, they introduce a new product (salad)
tobacco companies were responsible also for health problems, people want to get rid of cigarettes because its smells bad and bla bla bla , they shift into a new type of cigarettes (electronic cigarettes with different fruits flavors) and its a good and profitable business nowadays.
car companies starts to innovate electronic cars, taxi companies are buying it cause it dosent consume fuel, they can reduce cost and expand the profits.
Speaking of history, one of my favorite stories (related to your question about reading history) is in Matthew 25. Jesus was teaching about the "Social Business Owner" who selected his team, went on a long trip, came back to take inventory and then made two of those team members into "partners". The third team member was "fired". Seems to me, there is a ton of practical wisdom in this parable that applies (perfectly) to the discussion here, there, and everywhere "Social Business" is concerned.
Great. Now convince all the businessmen that solving social problems brings in profits...
"Greed is good." ~ Gordon Gecko
You can do it, simply by buying things provided by companies that solve social problems and create shared value, even if costs more. That's the only way, but I think we're doing good as society (looking thru the past and comparing to now)
Of course companies see social issues as profits, we got companies who shallowly support LGBTQ+ so they can profit off white or black shirts with their logos in rainbows; companies investing into charities with caps so they can leech off the “excess” cash instead of having no limits how much the charity is given; supporting mental awareness while also causing mental issues to non-executive level employees by using HR as the spokesmen for them as well as snitching out any employee acting in a ‘rebellious’ way; some more stuff
My criticism would be, that the tendency to exploit for profit will still exist, it wont be removed by just expecting business owners "be responsible" and "plan for the long term". If a company can put itself in a more profitable stage, regardless of how it affects society, it will. We have to get rid of the underlying incentives of profit and differential advantage, if we wish to impact the "scale" Michael referred to.
"All wealth is created by labor." Marx
"All wealth is created by business." Porter
Business is people (labor), so both Marx and Porter are correct. It's just how wealth is divvied up that is really the issue.
I agree with you. Another argument (or TED Talk) should be made about the fact that business are the most profitable when they work with the workers to their mutual benefit and not against them.
@@xponentialme 👍👍
@@drkylemurphy I would argue that "All wealth is created by business" is not a true statement, because people can labor and work independent of business. People can make things and do work for charitable reasons, for fun, for a country that pays them a wage from the public treasury etc. Business is far from the "only" way wealth and resources are "made"
@@drkylemurphy Marx would argue against this actually, where he would say 'business' basically abstracts labor from the picture, where labor is put to the back burner but 'business' takes the forefront to wealth creation
Excelente perspectiva de Michael Porter. Creo que si se replicará ese modelo de pensamiento de crecimiento corporativo, habrían gran avances en la sociedad actual. Lamentablemente como dice Michael, las empresas siguen atadas a ese pensamiento de que no es negocio ayudar al medio ambiente porque eso involucra grandes gastos para ellos, sabiendo que puede ser una gran inversión para que sus clientes y su entorno estén en la mejor forma. Pero todo esta en una transformación en el pensamiento que tienen actualmente los empresarios. ¡Saludos!
I like this guy, he says things the way they are, not the way general public wants to hear it. I Also like the way he says the word profit 47 times the whole video... I know, I counted.
The titles of the two videos are in opposition, the talks themselves are not. Porter was talking about businesses solving the problems they create (I did not hear him talk about them fixing problems unrelated to their processes). Sandel spoke on how money can be a negative influence on some parts of our life, and that it can't be used to wholly fix or improve something.
The one thing I keep wondering is, when will Ted speak? I want to see his face.
No tradeoff between social progress and economic efficiency
Shared value: addressing social issue with a business model
Higher mode of Capitalism: Social Value + Economic Value
I'm such a huge fan lol basically this guy is my whole business degree 😂❤️
I listened to the Michael Sandel talk and Michael Porter Talks simultaneously to give them equal importance.
I love your theory, I much enjoy your concept of 5 forces framework
I am looking at this with a whole new lens after watching "The Social Dilemma"
Porter is a real strategist, I respect him
Thank you for a profoundly enlightening lecture
The businesses will only do good if the "market" is functioning properly. And there are plenty of cases where they're not, for example the banking system. And when the market is not working, the more money the more it can damage the society.
I'm giving Porter the benefit of doubt by not saying his message was wrong when he missed, imo, a very important point.
I don't know If I saved this vídeo or this vídeo that's saved me!! Thank you teacher!!!
The problem is though that people like Peter Joseph are talking about a world that's a long, long way away from reality. This talk is rooted in what's actually going on right now and proposes a mindset shift in some people (rather than in everyone, which is what the zeitgeist stuff relies on). It's one thing to say "everybody is greedy, we should all stop being so greedy" and another to accept human nature and utilise it to better the systems we have to help everybody.
The issue is finding profitable methods to solve social problems. The main reason this is so difficult is the lack of private property societies. For example, governments in many third world countries are filled with corrupt dictators, private property can be taken away at whim and you are lucky if you can keep what you have earned. If they could enter the marketplace, food would not be an issue and would be solved through the normal process of exchange.
7:26 the most exciting part of his speech is where he almost trips
This guy is so passionate. Respect!
Grande mestre, gratidão pela sua contribuição em minha vida pessoal e profissional.
Adam Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" is exactly that, a cross-national set of case studies to see why some nations were wealthy and some were not.
His conclusion was that the results were directly related to the freedom of trade. More restrictions, more poverty.
And that remains true to this day.
Free market and competition is the key to resolve problems.
It is unfortunate that the depth of many people's curiosity seems to be "Every other advanced country on earth has universal healthcare, why not us?" while ignoring all the problems that go along with it.
Best of luck, good sir, keep up the good fight. Truth will win in the long run, even if that is a very, very long run.
All empires fall.
I am interested in social business and thanks to this video , I have more interest about it now.
The difference is that non-profits are not thinking (enough) about a profitable business-modell, hence they are reliable on donations. They create value for sure, but they are reluctant to ask money for it. Porter reasons that this is the cause, that non-profits stay relatively small and cannot scale their vision to a size, where their intentions can be beneficial for a larger target-group.
2) On a side note; a curious claim of the Professor is that businesses create resources. I thought that they used resources to create goods. They also create billable services. In some cases, service industries that are not even required (a growing trend) and in a politically astute country would not even be wanted and would be rejected.
This solutions we have to work a lot to try to change our social problems day at day and be the business more atractive and give more enployment at future people
The problems have decreased, the awareness has increase, and Non Governmental Organizations are a thriving business, hard to say not profit when the first thing they do when the land is build a building, with no plans to leave, or accomplish a goal. Andy Lee Graham 90 countries and over 15 years of living abroad.
Its indeed true
Just sad that companies waste it all and no one fights them for it 😐.
I AGREE. TO PUT BUSINESSES ON THE TRACK OF PROBLEM SOLVING WILL GREATLY PROMOTE THE MOVEMENT THOUGH WE NEED CAREFUL SUPERVISION. 🍀
In the long run it does make sense for businesses to care about social issues as well, but i am not convinced that enough businesspeople share that point of view, or even care about the long run. Maybe they just care about making a big enough profit right now.
For businesses to make that profit it also requires that a pretty large part of the population is aware and cares about these issues. Again, i am not convinced that enough people do that.
Still an interesting talk.
So, apart from the vulgarity, your points are pretty clear. Have you been to Haiti? Do you have any idea the level of resources that have been sent to Haiti? And, how much of those resources ended up in the hands of those with the power? I haven't been there since the EQ but when I was there it was a valuable life lesson for me in terms of "Social Business" and "Gummit"
Mr.Porter is noble in his pursuit,but social problems are unsolvable,because they are predominatly caused through human behavior,and there is one constant in human history that is human nature.
Private profit is opposed to the general interests of society. That private capital may 'solve' a 'problem' is possible, but the cost to society is private capital accumulation which is then used against the interests of workers and the masses generally. Anything a private business can do, the people working together democratically, collectively, committed to achieving a goal or performing a valuable function, can do better - and without generating a private capital power that opposes them.
Assuming selflessly working humans, which is not what we observe in reality. Your political view is not supported by empirical evidence, just good intentions.
thor nielsen
Its not what you observe in capitalist society. I mean you specifically, not generally. People who say this are blind; in your case you are also either lying or unaware of the empirical evidence.
Every day, pretty much everywhere, people do things that are of social value without the prospect of payment. From opening doors for people, to motherhood, human existence is full of experiences that do not fit the capitalist view that all action is done only for payment. You yourself just made a comment about this video, is someone paying you for that? Why did you do it if you aren't getting paid? Because you can't help yourself. You are a human being with the need to engage socially. It is this essential aspect of human existence upon which communism is based; this aspect of human existence is real, essential, and the singular explanation for the rise of human civilization, and it's preservation from future disaster.
The empirical evidence about the social nature of humans is very ample, and undisputed except by people with an agenda and zero information.
LTrotsky 21st Century You clearly don't understand capitalism, because if you did you would understand that the social nature of humans IS capitalism.
Capitalism is the do whatever you want, no one is stopping you system. People hold doors for people because the WANT to. People buy things because they WANT to. People give gifts because they ENJOY making other people happy. A gift giver is always receiving more than the gift receiver. Always.These are all trades - capitalist, free market trades.
The fundamental law of economics is that people are rational. That means that people will always to what's best for themselves. Always. Please try to understand.
firexgodx980
This is the David Brooks argument for capitalism - that capitalism accords with human nature. It's false of course, and has been seriously analyzed, both Brook's specific position as well as the nexus between so-called human nature and capitalism. Brook's analysis has been called "The Dumbest Story Ever Told." Capitalists have long made the assumption and argument that capitalism is aligned with human nature - the problem is they can't define either category, and therefore cannot describe the intersection. In essence, this argument is simply an ideology, a myth, and therefore simply garbage.
LTrotsky 21st Century I don't mean this in a negative way but this is the central flaw of Marxism. Marx recognized that humans have this potential to do good to others but we should also understand that humans have an equal if not more potential of doing harm to others.
How many times do people go out of their way to help others and how many times do they try to harm, humiliate etc., others?
Just eliminating "capitalists" or "feudals" will not make the "good" common people live happily. Some kind of societal construct that makes people behave only in a good way is necessary.
And I think that is the essence of democracy.
Awesome! and insightful too.
This is already being done for a number of years. It began and was pioneered by Professor Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh) whose idea of the social business has gone global. It can work and will work.
there should be a noble prize for business research and management.
I loved this video, it was fantastic.
Key issue: where the money come from. Business model approach makes no sense if there is no cash flow, which is usually the case for social work; that's why they fund-raise.
Wrong.
He did a great job explaining the problem but, how do you get business to invest in longterm new markets? Business is capable of scale but are too short sighted to invest in change. Change is risky and so they avoid it. Mr. Porter, how do we encourge/force business to see this reality? if you can answer that it will be the cog that moves all the other cogs. Until then I believe we should still with the current NGO and Gov't options. Business can step up any time they would like.
JM Keynes said that in long run we are all dead, why would a person will try to solve a problem if he is not alive to reap its benefits??
so essentially as long as someone can find a way to make money doing it (and it's not prohibited by government), businesses will start doing it - whatever the "it" is. and some of those "its" could be social problems.
+richard reeves
I am in full agreement. Where there is money to be made, things get done.
wrr
this fella´s really been around. met him once personally in chicaco. he got pretty older
The problem with business is that profit is the goal, not what's good for humanity, the environment or the future. With the current structure of what business is, it will never solve any problem - that's not the objective.
Porter's Five Forces :D
im here for an assignment D:
My professor showed this video to our class. It’s funny reading the comments on here. Haha!
This is so thoughtful, the solution to the world problems are so simple yet seem so far
But what about something like a tobacoo company? It's core fundamental of the business ruins the environment and health of the people who uses the product, despite the fact you can argue they can increase efficiency in production of their product, create jobs which lessens the social issues. But the very core fundamental of the business and its products is what is causing that social issue such as lung cancer?
Not all businesses can create shared value
Maybe they die out as a business.. Or they evolve into selling products that no longer do harm??
Just like Mcdonalds and all these fast food chains selling cheap, unhealthy food..
Evolve as people start asking for healthier/better products or die out.
I think their role is now to create that cigarettes less dangerous for people health - and as I know they already started to invest a lot in R&D in order to find new solutions for future, to improve the experience of consumers and to make the smoking more clean. I think in the future they will find a good solution, as the people started to be more conscient related to smoking risks. In fact the companies will be forced to adapt so they will solve a social problem. :)
Develop new cigarette products that r cancer free, health conscious. Thats what they r doing now, particularly w/ the rising acceptance of marijuana
I found it somewhere and really liked it. Thanks for info. :)
Cheers matey.
Profound talk.
This video should have many more views.
Duff McDonald 's book The Golden Passport brought me here, its a book criticising Harvard Buisness School, there is a whole chapter on Michael Porter
3 minutes in - ULCH ..... Poisonous Phenols all over my neck of the woods. PORT HOPE ... pretty town on a big lake that feeds directly into the St Lawrence River.
The most logical solution to societal problems! Thank you!
Not really. Its rhetoric. Gandhi stated the answer to poverty when he said he must "lower himself to the poorest of the poor,". Without sharing in the life of the poor in a more deep and meaningful way that moves beyond assets and wealth, no true impact will happen, because that is what underlies class division. Lack of assets, education, healthcare, etc are symptoms of a systemic problem but they aren't the cause of the problem.
If there were profit to make out of solving these problem, other business men would already have invested in various "problems". But they can't make money out of solving some problems. For the problems they can make money by solving them, they're already doing so.
Not all business model scales to global level. Some businesses don't create resources, they manage it.
It's the only correct way: opposing philosophies should be showed at the same time for people.
MBA brought me here
Being good can be good be good for business. This creating shared value initiative is a perspective that business can adopt to do different and do better - ethically and economically. Business have the resources and capabilities to have the most profound social impact; to me this idea promotes a more sustainable approach capitalism.
Is here anyone else,,, those who r watching this in 2023 ??
2024❤
2024❤
2024
2024❤
2024 🎉
Two main arguments I don't agree on:
1) 'Business is the only institution creating wealth, and it can do so infinitely because profit.' Porter's main flaw in argumentation is that he assumes wealth created by business is created out of the void. Creating something, out of nothing. But business creates no resources, it uses them, usurps them. Resources become property by adding labour, following Locke's idea of property, but labour adds only the right to own, it adds nothing physical. Thinking that, due to profit, business can infinitely expand their resource 'creation' is wrong, since resources are finite. This is the whole flaw in industrial thinking and we are going to face the consequences.
2) 'Solving social problems is in the interest of business.' While I agree that this is true, social disasters are bad for business (sometimes, war for example is great), business's have a different concept of interests. Just like people: eating McDonalds is not in my best interest, still I do it. It is short term interests that guide business.
Which is why, as our needs change and we start demanding better and healthier products, the market will meet this demand.
The reason MCDonalds can sell their unhealthy menu is because we ask for it. The market responds to a demand, which is why we have our own role to play to make Porter's vision a reality.
The wildlife parks are a good thing but that is one example and I struggle to think of more. Maybe the paper industry if they didn't favour monoculture too much. But as long as you agree that government should be somewhat involved I'm happy. And I totally agree, that the oversimplification of really complex issues in politics is a big problem.
They just uploaded another one about why we shouldn't trust markets with our civic life. I think it's good that they present different points of view.