Conflict can bring forth development, too
A book, recently published in Italy, reflects on the complex relationships between enterprise, stakeholders and growth opportunities
Caught between trying to make a profit (and stay financially sound) and stakeholders’ demands, companies are now constantly striving to find their own productive and organisational assets that will allow them to grow, develop, and deal with competitors and external changes. Not an easy feat, and a daily challenge to both organisations and the manufacturing culture itself, with its vision of entrepreneurial tasks and goals in tow.
Sarah Kaplan’s book, recently translated into Italian as L’ impresa a 360 gradi. Dai compromessi con gli stakeholder alla trasformazione organizzativa (The 360° Corporation: From Stakeholder Trade-offs to Transformation), revolves around this tangle of issues. It looks at the reality experienced by companies that are expected to meet a growing and pressing number of requests from different stakeholders. Said stakeholders include consumers who demand products that are both socially responsible yet financially sustainable for their pockets, employees entreating for jobs that will make them feel worthwhile, investors who need to assess environmental, social and governance criteria, and, additionally, so-called “clicktivists”, who can cause a storm on social media as soon as a company makes a wrong move.
Those who manage and organise enterprises – this is one of the key ideas in the book – have learned from all this that companies need to act according to social and financial criteria, although pressure from different stakeholders means that a compromise must be found somewhere, in order to generate financial outcomes that will keep shareholders happy.
The question that Kaplan is trying to answer is a very clear one: how can companies meet all these demands while remaining faithful to their environmental or equal opportunities policies? It’s a complex answer, outlined over about 240 very readable pages and revolving around the limitations of a model based on shared value that, according to the author, only gives the illusion of benefitting everyone. Instead of this shared value approach, Kaplan offers a way to explore the different paths that companies could take to tackle real conflicts, and how these could become an inspiration for innovation and, at times, even increase their wealth, by demonstrating how a shared value mindset can actually hinder progress and how conflict – if well managed – could be the source of “organisational resilience and transformation.”
As it happens with any book that is clearly written and presents well-defined concepts, readers are not expected to agree with all it suggests – yet another good feature of Kaplan’s work, which sparks questions and debate or, in other words, generates conflicts that might be positive for enterprises and the manufacturing culture.
L’impresa a 360 gradi. Dai compromessi con gli stakeholder alla trasformazione organizzativa (The 360° Corporation: From Stakeholder Trade-offs to Transformation)
Sarah Kaplan
Egea, 2020
A book, recently published in Italy, reflects on the complex relationships between enterprise, stakeholders and growth opportunities
Caught between trying to make a profit (and stay financially sound) and stakeholders’ demands, companies are now constantly striving to find their own productive and organisational assets that will allow them to grow, develop, and deal with competitors and external changes. Not an easy feat, and a daily challenge to both organisations and the manufacturing culture itself, with its vision of entrepreneurial tasks and goals in tow.
Sarah Kaplan’s book, recently translated into Italian as L’ impresa a 360 gradi. Dai compromessi con gli stakeholder alla trasformazione organizzativa (The 360° Corporation: From Stakeholder Trade-offs to Transformation), revolves around this tangle of issues. It looks at the reality experienced by companies that are expected to meet a growing and pressing number of requests from different stakeholders. Said stakeholders include consumers who demand products that are both socially responsible yet financially sustainable for their pockets, employees entreating for jobs that will make them feel worthwhile, investors who need to assess environmental, social and governance criteria, and, additionally, so-called “clicktivists”, who can cause a storm on social media as soon as a company makes a wrong move.
Those who manage and organise enterprises – this is one of the key ideas in the book – have learned from all this that companies need to act according to social and financial criteria, although pressure from different stakeholders means that a compromise must be found somewhere, in order to generate financial outcomes that will keep shareholders happy.
The question that Kaplan is trying to answer is a very clear one: how can companies meet all these demands while remaining faithful to their environmental or equal opportunities policies? It’s a complex answer, outlined over about 240 very readable pages and revolving around the limitations of a model based on shared value that, according to the author, only gives the illusion of benefitting everyone. Instead of this shared value approach, Kaplan offers a way to explore the different paths that companies could take to tackle real conflicts, and how these could become an inspiration for innovation and, at times, even increase their wealth, by demonstrating how a shared value mindset can actually hinder progress and how conflict – if well managed – could be the source of “organisational resilience and transformation.”
As it happens with any book that is clearly written and presents well-defined concepts, readers are not expected to agree with all it suggests – yet another good feature of Kaplan’s work, which sparks questions and debate or, in other words, generates conflicts that might be positive for enterprises and the manufacturing culture.
L’impresa a 360 gradi. Dai compromessi con gli stakeholder alla trasformazione organizzativa (The 360° Corporation: From Stakeholder Trade-offs to Transformation)
Sarah Kaplan
Egea, 2020