Social Innovation has been the talk of the town recently, so much so that The World Economic Forum's global has an advisory body for it. The Global Agenda Council, comprising practitioners and thought leaders, has defined a social innovation model as the application of sustainable, market-based, and innovative approaches to help society in general and low-income sections of the population in particular.
In the current scenario, the social innovation model can prove to be quite effective for every business; here are a few advantages of adopting it: Allows the business to restore trust: According to reports, several businesses are facing a decline in trust levels.
A business contributing to the growth of society will earn the trust of its stakeholders (both internal and external). Reacting to scarcity of resources and sustainability concerns: With growing environmental concerns and the pressure exerted by various NGOs, companies need to focus on assessing the environmental and societal footprint of their activities.
They need to adopt responsible strategies and ensure the growth of their key stakeholders, including local communities and small producers.
Modifying the performance metrics: Several investors and brand leaders have introduced social and environmental factors into the performance evaluation schemes.
With the high poverty levels worldwide, there is a visible gap in the income levels. After the launch of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), the organizations can turn the growing unemployment and poor healthcare conditions into a business opportunity.
Maintaining a delicate balance between your financial and social goals is a critical step. Thus, you need to ensure seamless integration of the business model with the innovation strategies; here are some steps you can execute:
Though a company might offer a lot in terms of infrastructure and capital, it can also gain a lot from the partnerships. Thus, it is integral to clarify the responsibilities of each partner.
An integral part is to enable a culture of organization within the company. You should strive to build an environment that promotes and encourages an innovation culture within the teams.
You can also reap benefits from implementing a social innovation model. As an organization, you can look to identify opportunities to increase your profits and reduce your costs. Additionally, you can look at it as an opportunity to strengthen the supply chains and find new sources of revenue.
Several companies use it as a tool to mitigate risks that might arise in the future.
For example, experts predicted the shortage of cocoa in 2020 because of which companies depending on cocoa started working with NGOs to help out the farmers.
People across the world have started giving social innovation its due importance.
In the words of Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the chairman of the board for Nestle, it is the society that has allowed them to operate. A business leader should devise methods to solve the current societal challenges. Without the above approach, a business can not be sustainable.
MIT ID Innovation is one of the best platforms to take such courses and develop an innovative mindset. Navigate to the website to know more about the courses.
MIT ID Innovation Programme curates knowledge and experiences that challenge the very paradigm of evolution. And that's why we have set out to define the future of industries, communities, cities and ecosystems. MIT ID Innovation offers the best Courses in Innovation.
