Sneak peak: Insights from the Inter Business Index 2018
We have just published the Inter Business Index 2017, listing the 50 largest corporations in Sweden based on the skills that indicate ability to create holistic value into the future. But the analysis of the 2018 Index is already on-going and here’s a sneak peak of initial findings from the Inter Business Index 2018.
1. System approach is still a struggle for many
The skill that companies seem to have the most difficulty in applying is system approach. For most companies, across sectors, understanding the system that we all are a part of, and how we all are interconnected is still a struggle to grasp and describe.
Many businesses have a hard time seeing their place in the system and therefore fail to acknowledge their responsibility — and at the same time fail to see the value they do create. Yet we are starting to see a couple companies that have begun talking about holistic value creation and the importance of integrating sustainability into the core of the business.
Some companies also used the concept of “holistic”, which we find both positive and interesting.
2. Different industries and the skills that they excel in
Generally, most businesses get a higher score in the purpose and empathy measurement, than in the system and transformation analysis — but we are seeing a difference between types of business and which skills they score highest in.
For example, technology-oriented companies tend to talk more about innovation than the importance of including stakeholders and their perspective — resulting in a higher score on transformation, and lower on empathy. This can be a sign of how industry bias influence the way a company thinks of itself in a limiting way and we see an opportunity for industry leaders to excel by embracing the full skillset.
3. The “unsustainable” businesses are communicating more
The companies that generally are in a more “unsustainable” industry, like fuel companies for example, are actually communicating and pushing more for sustainability than many other businesses. We are yet to drawn any definite conclusion on this, but it may be that businesses in a more exposed industry feels more pressured to communicate on sustainability matters.
We can see that communication as a tool can, when used right, be a very effective push when building the key skills of holistic value creation.
This gives the companies who are strong on communication an interesting position going forward.
4. Investment companies need to step up their game
Investment companies generally score low in all of the skills we look for. They’re showing (or sharing) little or no awareness of their own context, disclaim their responsibility to help solve our shared problems and instead turn it over to the businesses that they invest in. This could indicate that investment companies are not seeing themselves as actors in the way that most businesses today do. Like the previous year, we are unfortunately just seeing a focus on financial aspect, failing to create value in several dimensions and for more than just their shareholders.
5. Movement towards holistic value creation
Several of the companies received a higher result than previous year. More and more of the skills are being visible in the material communicated by the businesses.
We are for example starting to see that businesses are starting to move out of their bubble, going from an introvert view to seeing the bigger system which they are a part of. The Swedish businesses that we looked at are talking about stakeholders as being more than just shareholders or customers, and the importance of actually taking an interdependent stakeholder perspective and involving them. We also see that they are starting to talk about future needs and how they can help solve our contemporary problems.
The trend of just talking about environmental aspects when talking about sustainability finally seems to be something we are moving away from.
The full results of the Inter Business Index 2018 will be presented next year. Stay tuned!
Want more on methodology?
The development and method of the Inter Business framework and Index recently got published in the peer-reviewed academic journal “Journal of Management and Sustainability”. The article “The Inter Business Index: Developing a Tool for Measurement and Comparability of Holistic Sustainability in Businesses” presents the full analysis and methodology.
The research behind the development of the framework can be found in the first issue of the European Public & Social Innovations Review.
The Inter Business Index is a collaboration between:
Inter Business Initiative — a knowledge lab, developing framework towards holistic value creation where business can act as change agents in a world where sustainability, responsibility, agency are business as usual
IBX–helping clients make sense of holistic value creation through measuring and tracking
