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Fortune Magazine’s #ChangeTheWorld List of Top Companies

August 18, 2015
Highlighting top companies that create impact through the power of capitalism

A quiet corporate revolution is underway around the world: Companies are beginning to compete to change the world for the better. The drive for profit, often criticised for coming at society’s expense, is driving and enabling solutions to many of the world’s most challenging problems.

That’s why we are delighted to share Fortune’s newly published Change the World list in collaboration with the Shared Value Initiative, which contributes to this trend by shining a spotlight on global companies that have made significant progress addressing major social problems as a core part of their business strategy.

When Michael Porter and Mark Kramer first described shared value in 2011, companies creating shared value were more the exception than the rule; but they have both contributed research to this list to show just how much the concept of aligning business opportunity and social impact is moving into the mainstream.

In working on the Fortune “Change the World” List, the Shared Value Initiative and the editors of Fortune reached out to dozens of business, academic, and nonprofit experts around the world, asking for their recommendations. More than 200 submissions were vetted by a joint team from the Shared Value Initiative and the nonprofit social impact advisory firm, FSG.

They considered four criteria:

  • degree of business innovation involved;
  • measurable impact at scale on an important social challenge;
  • contribution of the shared-value activities to the company’s profitability and competitive advantage;
  • and significance of the shared value effort to the overall business.

A team of journalists from Fortune then further vetted each of the nominees and reported on their impact. The final list of 51 was selected and ranked by the editors of Fortune based on the magazine’s own reporting and by the analysis provided.  Learn more about how these companies were chosen on Fortune.com