In advance of Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Future for Sustainability Summit, CCE partnered with Cranfield School of Management’s Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility and The Financial Times’ FT Remark to investigate the future of sustainability.
The results show that business has a lot of work to do. While it may think it is doing its bit for sustainability, it is very clearly not being seen to be doing so.
88% of both current CEOs and 90% of future leaders surveyed believe businesses should have a social purpose.
However, only 19% of future leaders think businesses already have a clear social purpose, compared to 86% of current CEOs.
The study, ‘Combining Profit and Purpose’ is based on the views of 50 CEOs and almost 150 MBA and MSc students and recent graduates across Europe. It was launched at Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Future for Sustainability Summit, an initiative by CCE to bring together current and future business leaders to investigate the challenges of prioritising purpose and sustainability to reward both business and society.
The research has shown that:
- Both current and future leaders agree that a business’ profit and the ability to provide shareholder value are the best barometers of business success today.
- The groups disagree on how that may change in the future. While the overwhelming majority of current CEOs feel that profitability and shareholder value will remain key in the future (94% and 88%, respectively), future leaders have higher expectations of the role business should play. According to the study they feel that societal and environmental impact (80%), innovation (61%) and development of future talent (57%) will be the more important indicators of business success.
- The two groups also disagree about the barriers to businesses combining social purpose with profit. 66% of CEOs view external factors such as government and regulation as the main barrier. 55% of future leaders cite internal factors, such as current management attitudes.
John F. Brock, chairman and chief executive of CCE, stated, “Forward-looking organisations are already focusing on how to balance profit and purpose, and there is clearly a growing expectation on businesses to do this. Today’s leaders play an essential role in integrating environmental and social issues into strategic decision making, but future generations have even higher expectations of business. It’s clear that social and environmental purpose will increase in importance in the years to come, and that collaborative innovation is the key to unlocking success.”
That having a social purpose benefits business is unchallenged by either current or future leaders. What those benefits are was viewed differently by the two groups:
- 78% of current CEOs say it offers relevance to the next generation of customers and employees, and 70% claim it actually ensures business survival.
- 54% of future leaders identified more engaged employees as the key benefit and 53% nominated increased innovation. Trust in business is also seen as a key benefit by tomorrow’s leaders.
Professor David Grayson, Director of the Doughty Centre, commented, “While it’s not surprising to learn that social purpose is seen as a priority for business, the big challenge is to ensure more business leaders define the real purpose of their business, and identify how they are going to achieve that purpose. By developing clearly defined strategies and identifying new, disruptive approaches now, businesses can better ensure success and relevance in the future.”
