Inclusive Business: from Experimentation to Scale
On 17 October 2024, the Corporate Impact Acceleration Group brought together its members for a peer-to-peer learning session to discuss inclusive business strategies. This marks the last meeting before the group reconvenes at Impact Week to “transform corporate into a force for good” – catch up on these notes in advance of their session!
The Corporate Impact Acceleration Group is an Impact Europe programme that gathers progressive corporate social investors (CSIs, i.e., corporate foundations, impact funds, CSR and Corporate Citizenship teams) to explore their role in accelerating the related corporate impact journey. The October meetup of this community gathered best practices from Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath (Partner at Hystra), Valérie Mazon (General Manager, Danone Communities) and Thibaud Lefort (Head of Operations for the Global Health Unit at Sanofi). Their insights sparked a discussion that highlighted lessons learnt, challenges and key success factors to shape and implement the different strategies for inclusive business, from experimenting to scale.
Hystra identified 6 key steps to maximise companies’ opportunities to create an inclusive business able to withstand corporate changes and scale its impact. These examples were supported throughout by Sanofi and Danone Communities.
- Clarify the objectives and the business case. Embed social impact into the core of business strategy to ensure long-term sustainability, a source of business growth and resilience.
- Learn from others and find your unique strategic fit.
- Give the intrapreneur role to internal, credible and risk-taking leaders.
- Make the pilot a success, both on the ground and at headquarters.
- Create solid ties in the organisation; choose the right governance, involving senior management; set up partnerships that make the business hard to cut!
- Mainstream inclusive business in the organisation.
Common challenges
>Building the business case is not easy: financial returns may not be immediate; rather, companies see long-term gains with a number of indirect benefits for the organisation. These include the ability to facilitate the opening of new markets, strengthen brand and license to operate, boost social innovation capacity, recruit and retain talent and make the business value chain more resilient. There is no one fit-all model.
>Numerous experimentations exist but struggle to scale. Still, some successful models show common factors. Danone's and Total's experience showed how integrating impact into business KPIs enabled them to reach new markets and strengthen their core offerings.
Key success factors
>Ambition needs to be clearly stated upfront.
>Inclusive business strategies need to be developed by insiders.
>Cultural transformation needs to take place at the same time. Scaling social impact is not just about the business case — it requires a cultural shift within the organization.
>Engaging employees and fostering a sense of pride in the company’s social mission helps embed the program into the company’s DNA, making it harder to abandon during leadership or economic changes.
>Analytics and business mindset are critical to design scalable models.
>Business plans are needed to reassure management.
Key takeaways
>Initiatives thrive when they resonate with the company's broader goals, purpose and values.
>Identify what is material for business and salient to stakeholders.
>While social impact initiatives have immense potential, the human factor — from leadership buy-in to employee involvement — is essential.
>Speak the language of senior management. Balance quick wins and long-term vision.
>Test, experiment, scale and track progress.
*
The session underscored the importance of aligning corporate impact initiatives with business strategy, leadership commitment and partnerships to drive scale. While challenges remain, the discussion highlighted the growing recognition within companies of the value that social impact initiatives bring, not just to external stakeholders but also to business resilience and long-term success.
At Impact Week, members of the Corporate Impact Acceleration Group will take their learnings to a wider audience in the session “Cultural shift to transform corporate into a force for good” (November 28, 2024|14:15 - 15:30 GMT+1). Join us!