Aligning the Interests of Business and Society: Shared Value, Integrated Value, And Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

The evolution of CSR is largely the history of reconciling economic goals of business and social goals of society. Relatively recent CSR related concepts “creating shared value” (CSV) and “integrated value creation” (IVC) aim at aligning interests of business and society by producing economic and social value simultaneously. The purpose of this article is to compare the CSV and IVC concepts and show their relation to CSR. In particular, we discuss whether CSV and IVC can be regarded as substitutes for CSR, varieties of CSR or completely new paradigms, and come to the conclusion that the positioning of both concepts depends on how broadly CSR is defined. We summarize major criticisms of the CSV concept and provide our own vision of the strengths and limitations of both concepts, showing why at least the CSV concept cannot supplant CSR. Comparing CSV and IVC, we focus on the differences between them and show that IVC represents a more fundamental shift in business philosophy and aims at a deeper and system-wide rather than local and fragmentary integration within society. We maintain that the CSV and IVC ideas can and should be used in strategic planning as inspiration for innovative thinking, as guidelines for increasing business competitiveness and societal well-being. We also point out the need for refining methodological frameworks for the practical implementation of the CSV and IVC ideas.