Stanford University Entrepreneurship Conference

Achieving impact through responsible business &social entrepreneurship

Jeffrey Hollender

Premise

•Social entrepreneurship & responsible business will only succeed in fulfilling its promise as a transformative economic & social movement if its development is guided by a system based perspective and implemented in a deeply cooperative manner.

•By social entrepreneurship & responsible business I include the broad landscape of businesses founded to do “good” in the world as an absolute and non-negotiable part of their mission.

•By a systems perspective, I mean a perspective that ensures its aspirations are guided and measured by a holistic, vales driven set of metrics. 

What is social entrepreneurship & responsible business?

• Responsible business must be resilient and regenerative, “good” not less bad.• The purpose of the responsible business is to harness both public & private assets to serve the public good.• Responsible business shall accrue fair returns for investors, but not at the expense of the legitimate interests of other stakeholders.• Responsible business shall meet the reasonable needs of the present while improving the ability of future generations to meet their needs.• Responsible business shall distribute the value and the wealth they create equitably among those who contribute to their creation.• Responsible business utilize governance structures that are democratic, participatory, transparent, ethical, and accountable.

Four topics of focus:

 

1) Key inflection points – or how did we get here

2) Successes worthy of celebration but not indicative of the future

3) Our challenge: Poorly defined standards & unclear goals or many movements with shared values that fail to cooperate

4) Ensuring success & accelerating change

Successes:

• Ethical personal-care products grew from $5.3 billion in 2005 to $8.1 billion in 2009, up 53% • U.S. organic food sales rose from $12.6 billion in 2005 to $21.4 billion in 2009, up 70%• Sales of local food, which travels less than 150 miles from source to table, rose from $4 billion in 2002 to $7 billion in 2011, up 75%• In 1994 there were 1,755 farmers’ markets, by 2010 there were 6,132, up 250%• In 1992, 935,000 acres of U.S. farmland were planted with organics, rising to 4,800,000 acres in 2008, up 413%• In Europe sales of fair trade–certified products grew from €220 million in 2000 to €3.4 billion in 2010, up 1,400%

Successes:

• The U.S. LOHAS market (lifestyle of health and sustainability) of products is estimated at more than $200 billion.

Major corporations have watched this growth closely• Toyota Prius sales rose from 3,000 cars in 1997 to more than 400,000 in 2010. • Whole Foods sales grew from $90 million across ten stores in 1991 to $9 billion across 300 stores in 2010. • Kashi cereal, owned by Kellogg grew from $25 million in 2000 to almost $1 billion in 2011.• Global alternative energy deals climbed 40% from 2010 to 2011 to $53.5 billion

10 ways to ensure success & accelerating change

1. A systemic approach2. Real innovation3. Revolution not just iteration4. Ownership & compensation matter5. Boundaries & metrics6. Accountability & radical transparency7. Corporate governance8. Cooperation9. Values & personal behavior10. Public Policy

Contact

Blog & website:

jeffreyhollender.com