“Society”, the NEW big growth opportunity for businesses

In my previous post, I have discussed the rise of the millennials generation as a driver of a current

movement for change; A change towards positive impacts and societal development. They believe that corporates should create economic value for society and shareholders simultaneously. They'd be more likely to purchase from a company that supports a cause they care about and would think more highly of a company that supports a social cause. Millennials are also willing to show their leadership skills.  They fully embrace the movement for redefining capitalism, initiated by leading thinkers and economists all over the world.

Here is first a question, what happens when milllennials become executive leaders of corporates? Will they use their leadership position to influence their corporate business strategy, investments and portfolio? Will they engage their companies towards this change?

I believe they will! Because everything is changing thanks to the Millennials, who promise to fundamentally change the world as we know it now.

Here is a second question, what will happen if they do it from a leadership position in a corporate? The answer is straight-forward; they will fundamentally shift how money flows to social change. Not more than that! They will control the wealth that is created and distributed. This wealth presents an opportunity for this generation to invest billions of dollars into impact investments instead of traditional investment vehicles.

Here is a third question, what does this really mean for businesses? This means that there will be more money made available for social change, and significant amount of money begin flowing to organizations that are working on positive social change? As a consequence, there will be a huge number of totally new opportunities for growth for businesses.

Few years ago, Harvard Professor Michael E. Porter and Mark Kramer launched their Shared Value Initiative, preaching for businesses to start tapping into the opportunities in the society. The more we learn about poverty, healthcare, water, nutrition, about societal issues, the more we see opportunities to create new business models to address these societal issues.

Leading thinkers are pushing towards this change, calling for redefining capitalism for an equal distribution of wealth among people and countries.
Ericsson’s Technology For Good type of engagement is a good example.

In conclusion, I believe that “Society” is the new big growth opportunity for businesses. Corporates must do the needed organizational change because capturing these opportunities will require new thinking about market segmentation, customer segmentation, supply chain management, human resource management, and other management disciplines.