What is “social enterprise 2.0”? <
Hint: It’s
your new competition >
It’s also your new core business. Social value is the new force reshaping business today. The Internet changed the cost structure of business and made it inherently global. Now it is changing the reasons why people—across the globe—are choosing to support and do business with some organizations rather than others. People are joining global tribes that share common values beyond the outdated boundaries of race, creed, and nationality. The social web is accelerating this transition by empowering people to share their values across the distances of time, space, and culture. With these barriers in ruin, business is entering an era in which its market value will increasingly be measured, not by its tangible assets, but by its social assets. It’s about turning values into value. Social enterprise 2.0 eclipses conventional notions of corporate social responsibility, “green” business, or nonprofit social enterprise. Social enterprise 2.0 starts from the insight that the contemporary organization’s value—and its lasting competitive advantage—lies in the social assets that arise from the authentic social impact it creates with and for the community it serves. Organizations that succeed in this contemporary environment build social impact strategically into their business models to generate the most productive confluence of social and financial results. And they open their business models to clients, partners, and even competitors, extending their social impact beyond the four walls of their own enterprises. In this way, they translate social impact into sustainable growth and position. It’s about activating the power of the social web. The social web and the underlying values it represents—community, authenticity, and open platforms—has transformed the way emerging enterprises launch, gain scale, and reach global markets. An organization with a compelling social value proposition built strategically into its operations can quickly and inexpensively attract a core community of supporters who share its values, promote its innovations among their peers, and directly contribute to the advancement of its business model. Such direct engagement—transcending old ideas of corporate transparency or brand affinity—creates trust in the social efficacy of the business model and a reputation for authentic social impact. Organizations accelerate this dynamic by adopting open platforms and distribution methods that turn their proprietary intellectual property and business models into social assets that others can share, to game-changing effect within their markets. In this way, they become engines of shared social value. It’s the new way to spell “success.” Social enterprise 2.0—its values, strategies, technologies, and business practices—has relevance to every emerging organization in media, information technology, and for-profit and non-profit social enterprise. richmedium can power your organization’s transition to this new paradigm by helping you develop the strategic framework to translate your values into shared social value: • • • •
Re-imagine your current operations and transform them into an engine of authentic social impact Attract a core community of supporters who share your values and promote you to their peers Accelerate your growth through open platforms that extend your impact beyond the four walls of your own enterprise Create a new blend of social and financial value that confers lasting competitive advantage
< richmedium > new media strategy and consulting • 1774 casterline road • oakland ca 94602 • 415.309.8391 p • 510.530.3695 f • richmedium@pacbell.net
< social enterprise 2.0 • turning values into value >
<
about
richmedium
>
richmedium is a strategic consulting firm serving emerging organizations in media, information technology, and for-profit and non-profit social enterprise. Our mission is to accelerate the growth of a values-driven economy by helping organizations in these three key, converging sectors to develop and implement business strategies that produce a new blend of financial and social value. We work with senior executives, investors, and funders who recognize the emerging role of social values in reshaping global markets, and seek to transform the enterprises they lead and support into engines of shared social value. We assist them to embed the values, technologies, and business practices of the social web strategically into their business models and operations, accelerating the growth and impact of their enterprises and conferring lasting competitive advantage. Our strategy engagements have enabled our clients to successfully launch, gain scale, enter new lines of business, and develop deep organizational understanding of the forces influencing their markets and enterprises: •
•
•
•
Media—We assisted a 25-year-old nonprofit publisher to reinvent itself as a multiplatform, for-profit social-purpose enterprise, by developing an Internet strategy that gave life to a nascent community of supporters and led to new product launches via the web, events, new media, and internationally. Information technology—We helped a startup digital media technology venture identify its opportunity for strategic social impact, find its core market, and position itself for successful acquisition. Social enterprise—We performed a bottoms-up business model analysis for a leading social finance pioneer, producing a strategy blueprint that guided it through a senior management transition and set the stage for developing and implementing a new long-range strategic plan. Thought leadership—We recently produced an assessment of the impact of globalization on media in emerging democracies for a leading international media funding organization.
A passion
for
innovation
and
impact
Richard Landry is the founder and CEO of richmedium. A senior executive with more than twenty years of experience leading emerging organizations through periods of transformative change, Landry is an innovator and thought leader on the convergence of media, information technology, and social enterprise, and has been at the forefront of new ways to fund and grow media startups and social enterprises. Landry began his career in the early 1980s as managing editor of Computer magazine, one of the first in a new generation of periodicals aimed at covering the nascent world of digital technology. He later became editor-in-chief and associate publisher of PC World, the first consumer magazine to appeal to a burgeoning new crossover group of professionals who used personal computers both at work and at home, for business, education, and personal entertainment. Landry was later appointed publishing director at PCW Communications, responsible for conceiving new media specifically targeting the emerging consumer digital lifestyle. In 1992, Landry joined HyperMedia Communications, a Silicon Valley venture-funded media startup. In little more than a year, HyperMedia’s flagship property, NewMedia magazine, became one of the hottest titles in high-tech publishing, and HyperMedia launched a successful IPO on the NASDAQ, making it a pioneer in the public financing of media startups—an achievement later recognized by Folio magazine. As its chairman and CEO, Landry turned HyperMedia into one of the first examples of a true cross-platform digital media company, and in the process anticipated several major media business trends. In 2003, Landry became executive director of the non-profit Independent Press Association, and developed and implemented a social-enterprise strategy to strengthen and grow the independent media sector through innovative partnerships between private enterprise and public philanthropy. Throughout his career, Landry has been a frequent speaker at digital technology and media business conferences. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Social Venture Network, and served on the Ad:Tech Conferences advisory board and the guest faculty of the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Stanford University.
< richmedium > new media strategy and consulting • 1774 casterline road • oakland ca 94602 • 415.309.8391 p • 510.530.3695 f • richmedium@pacbell.net