Welcome to our first podcast of 2022! So, it’s a Happy New Year from us and another tantalising glimpse into what matters to business. Without further ado, we commence episode 8 of 12 with how good companies give back and create social value. To assist us in the discussion, we bring you a leading light in the North West business community. Thank you to Claire Ebrey for making this topic real and helping us to do it justice. Read on to find out more and listen in with the links below.
Claire Ebrey helping to make good companies
Claire runs a consultancy called On the Level and she consults on responsible, diverse and sustainable business. Additionally, Claire works on issues relating to the North West as part of the levelling up agenda. She has also assisted the Black United Representation Network (BURN), Stockport Race Equality Partnership (STREP) and The Good Board.
From her early days in the Co-op to Regional Director of The Institute of Directors North West, Claire has now taken on many board and advisory roles supporting leadership, diversity and sustainability. As an adopted Mancunian, heralding from the historic Coventry, Claire is a passionate supporter of Manchester’s diverse communities.
What is a good company?
Claire succinctly summarises this as “purpose beyond profit”. We hear the tropes of ‘fat cats’ who pay little heed to local concerns and are often net takers from society and local communities.
Claire disagrees with this image. She elaborates on some of her experiences with businesses that truly care about their people, striving to create quality jobs and making a positive difference in their communities. A positive upside to this is that young people want to work there.
What is social value?
Claire defines social value as “anything that captures the net value of what an organisation provides to society”. She refers to this as a ‘return on investment’ i.e. how many pounds are generated for society for every pound generated. Claire also elaborates on some of the successes in public sector and local Government procurement.
In practical terms, it means jobs, growth, a commitment to community and the environment. Social justice links heavily to the topic with inequality, distribution of wealth, opportunity and privilege. Furthermore, the socioeconomic status, race, regional cultural differences and more can hold back greater social value. Claire finishes with her view on ‘levelling up’ as “trying to make sure that the postcode that you’re born into doesn’t determine your life chances”.
Procurement and good companies giving back
Claire describes an opportunity to turn supply chains into “socioeconomic pipelines” and to use public procurement to transform the economic and social fabric of the UK. This is in reference to a public statement from the FSB. We can either continue to do what we have always done or do something different.
Claire and Steven had a brief discussion about how to get money into the hands of black business owners and small business owners. Claire asks how we can funnel money into local communities and good companies that create diverse and inclusive workforces. Ultimately, this is a challenge for private sector companies to review their procurement policies and supply chains.
Steven also adds that Think Beyond has declined to bid for a handful of public sector contracts due to “a tender document that was clearly aimed at very large companies”. When challenged on this, the procurement teams claimed that they were very interested in receiving bids from small businesses. Since they could not explain to us how we could fairly compete, we declined to bid for the work.
Climate change and social value
Steven posed a question on how to balance ‘greenflation’, heat pumps, electric vehicles, a possible tax on domestic gas supplies and a lower carbon footprint. Claire says that we can’t look at the cost of tackling climate change in this way because the costs of doing nothing are higher and continually rising. She also exposes the juxtaposed climate notions of the privileged global north and global south. One is thinking about the world that they will leave their grandchildren whereas the other is focused on how they are going to survive today.
Claire suggests that she has recently been thinking of the challenge of climate change in business terms – with things like payback periods and return on investment. But there is a more existential way of looking at it. In reference to the artist, Aurora, she muses, “what was it all for if we just allow climate change to happen?”. “We have achieved so much as businesses, as well as organisations and society. This is a challenge that if we can all come together…we could take on – and we must do it now.”
Being a good company makes sense
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Thank you to Claire Ebrey of On the Level Consultancy for her well-considered thoughts on how good companies create social value.
Think Beyond is a business and marketing consultancy that offers change and transformation services to help accelerate business performance.
Why not take this opportunity to listen to another fab podcast on how to create meaningful diversity or how businesses create opportunities for all. You can also check out the rest of the series in our knowledge section.
Thank you for listening.