Trend #5: Corporations will be more vested in addressing social problems

5 Trends in Social Innovation

“The business of business isn’t just about creating profits for shareholders — it’s also about improving the state of the world and driving stakeholder value,” said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce, in a February 2015 HuffPost article.

Benioff joins a number of powerful CEOs and business executives, like Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO, Tim Cook, who have championed a corporate focus on stakeholders rather than shareholders.

In 2010, the idea was advocated by Roger Martin, who wrote that maximizing shareholder value “is a tragically flawed premise, and it is time we abandoned it.” It’s since been adopted by business thought leaders and corporate executives, who all agree that the primary purpose of a corporation is not to maximize shareholder value, but rather “to serve customers’ interests.”

A Social Intrapreneur at Unilever. James Inglesby, a chemical engineer at Unilever, challenged Unilever’s established market areas to address areas in the world that lack access to sanitation. Piloting a program in Ghana, he built a business for Unilever that offers a branded, affordably-priced, self-contained plastic toilet and a toilet cleaning service run by a local social business which uses Unilever cleaning products, according to Forbes.

This idea goes beyond simply serving customers. It’s a call to action for corporations to take a stronger role in addressing social problems. In 2015 we expect to see corporations making product, service and operations adjustments to drive meaningful social value for customers and other key stakeholders. One of the best illustrations of this new dedicated effort can be seen in the rise of the social intrapreneur.

Intrapreneurship, coined by Gifford Pinchot III and Elizabeth Pinchot in 1978, and later championed by Peter Drucker, refers to the process of initiating new ventures or creating new sources of value within an established organization. Social intrapreneurs are “staying put in their companies and delivering business results that score high on financial, social and environmental metrics,” wrote Judy Samuelson from Skoll World Forum in a recent Forbes article. “They are imagining and implementing new products, services and management practices that address some of the most complex problems of our time. These intrapreneurs are the ones, for example, who see underserved markets where their company could deliver profitable products or services and deliver social value at the same time.”

In 2014, Forbes dubbed the social intrapreneur as the year’s most valuable employee. In 2015, as their significance for corporate gain grows, the role of the social intrapreneur will continue to skyrocket.

“Innovation is creating new discussions and asking new questions. It requires the resilience to face seemingly insurmountable challenges head-on and an understanding that the ‘answers’ you find are oftentimes fluid and ever-changing. Innovators never shy away from their mistakes. They confront failures head on and learn from them, focusing always on improvement.” — Jordan Levy, Ubuntu

Armed with a renewed focus on stakeholders and rising internal entrepreneurial activity, the potential that large corporations have to address social problems and develop social innovations has never been more apparent.

Take Internet.org, a Facebook-led initiative in partnership with major corporations Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia and Qualcomm, working to connect the two thirds of the world that doesn’t have internet access. The initiative is investing in the creation of a drone that could provide internet connectivity to developing areas. The solution requires 3.2 million times less power, is more efficient, and is more affordable than traditional methods of connectivity like satellites and towers. Beyond just access to Internet, the initiative hopes that the drones will eventually be able to assist in rural areas where traditional infrastructure has failed, such as aiding in disaster relief efforts like pinpointing areas that need material delivery, medicine or other supplies.

There’s also the Google X, an innovation facility run by Google that develops technologies as solutions to global problems. X has come out with four major projects, including driverless cars, Google Glass, high-­altitude Wi-Fi balloons, and glucose-monitoring contact lenses. Most recently, they announced they were developing a Fitbit-like bracelet that can detect cancer cells, a potential game-changer in terms of empowering individuals to take control of their health.

“The social sector needs more conversations that cross bounds and disciplines in 2015. How does biodiversity affect poverty? In what ways is our national food system rooted in racism? How do advancements in light detection technology and UAVs impact crop yields for farmers? Interdisciplinary conversations increase creativity. They connect the dots between seemingly disparate topics. It is through conversation that life-changing solutions to some of the most complicated environmental and humanitarian issues evolve.” — Becky Rosaler, Plant With Purpose