and appreciating that the idea of Shared
Value is as much as business strategic tool
as well as a marketing one.
Like most marketing initiatives it will
start with identifying the challenges facing
society and looking for opportunities that
lie therein. They could for example ask
themselves: Are there any underserved or
ignored pockets of potential consumers?
Can our products be tweaked to serve
them or can we launch new products to
cater to them? Can we re-look our value
chain? Can we use different packaging
material in line with conserving the
environment?
Shared Value can give a competitive
advantage in a number of ways: Firstly
increased demand for the product or
service. Consumers are increasing looking
to buy from organisations that care.
They are attracted to and reward those
organisations that identify with the pain
of society and look for ways to alleviate
this pain.
Secondly identify new untapped and
often ignored consumers, like Equity did,
results in new revenue streams.
Thirdly the businesses attract and
retain talent. The younger generation
in particular is looking to working with
organisations that have a bigger cause
beyond making money. Moreover these
workers are more motivated as they are
able to serve better while meeting their
deep need to contribute to a better society.
Fourthly it can lead to greater efficiency
lowering cost of doing business. I will
use the example of UPS in the US. In
re-looking at how they can cut carbon
emissions given their fleets and the same
time cut costs they used Big Data to re-
look their route plans. This resulted in
cutting the number of kilometres some
trucks covered by using different routes
and everybody won. Increased efficiency
cut down costs, reduced emissions, and
resulted in less fatigued drivers reducing
the number of accidents, all because they
cared. This was told to us by Mitch Burns
a former CEO of Nielsen at a Conference
on March 6th 2020 in a presentation
on how the use of Big Data can lead to
increased efficiency. Having been exposed
to Shared Value concept I connected the
dots even though he was not talking about
it and it was a totally different conference.
Lastly businesses are looking to partner
and collaborate with those that are
embracing Shared Value. Collaborations
with like-minded partners in many cases
results in competitive advantage.
In conclusion Shared Value cannot solve
all the challenges that face our society but
as companies utilize their capabilities it
will go a long way in making the world a
better place for us all.
Robert Wamai is a trainer and
advertising consultant, a passionate
consumer advocate and believer in
the power of brands. You can engage
him on this or related matters via
email at: Wamai.Robert@gmail.
com.
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