The Institute for Real Growth released the findings of the first global study into how businesses pivot from shareholder primacy to value creation for all stakeholders. IRG calls that model Humanized Growth. It is meant to benefit employees, consumers, the community, the environment, and investors.
The study was run with the Future of Marketing Initiative at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. It rests on 450 in-depth vision interviews with C-suite executives, experts, and academics, plus a survey of global business leaders.
Key findings
- Overperforming businesses treat stakeholder value creation as a growth opportunity. 90 percent of their leaders do, against only 50 percent at underperforming businesses.
- The gap on purpose is wider still. 71 percent of leaders at overperforming businesses said purpose guides their decision-making. Seven percent of leaders at underperforming businesses said the same.
- The widest gap concerns whether stakeholders are present in the room at all. 69 percent of overperformers said stakeholders are represented in their decision-making. Three percent of underperformers said yes.
- The study also defines the leader the shift requires. The Da Vinci Growth Leader profile, developed with Spencer Stuart and the B Team, combines analytical, creative, and empathic attitudes and behaviors.
Why the question is being asked now
IRG founder Marc de Swaan Arons frames the problem as one of competing demands rather than competing values. Leaders are being pulled in all directions by their key stakeholders. Employees, customers, government, community, and investors are all louder and more demanding than before.
Andrew Stephen, co-leader of the study and Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research at Saïd Business School, places it against the U.S. Business Roundtable’s stakeholder commitment. A lot has changed since then. The study, he says, addresses one of the most complex business challenges impacting leaders across the C-suite and board.
Angela Ahrendts, a member of the study’s advisory board and former CEO of Burberry, puts the case in terms of survival. No sustained corporate growth is possible without addressing these key stakeholders’ needs. She describes the study as a practical roadmap for success.
The scope of the evidence base
The study is unprecedented in scope. It builds on the expertise and experience of hundreds of global experts, academics, and cross-functional C-suite practitioners. That breadth is the point: the pivot it describes is not one function’s problem.
The partner list runs across governance, human resources, finance, and communications. It includes the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. The Global CMO Growth Council, Spencer Stuart, and the Yale Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management also took part.
Scope and limitations
This is the announcement of the findings, not the findings themselves. It reports headline percentages and points readers to the study site for the full Da Vinci Growth Leader profile. It does not state the size or composition of the survey sample, nor how overperforming and underperforming businesses were classified.
IRG is not a neutral observer of its own study. It operates as an independent not-for-profit supported by WPP, Meta, Google, and TCS, among others.
Source
This page summarises Institute for Real Growth and Oxford Saïd FOMI Publish First Global C-Suite Study on Stakeholder Impact, by Marc de Swaan Arons, January 2024.