In 2021, the Shared Value Summit Asia Pacific took on a whole new level of urgency.
Recent crises have highlighted and accentuated the connection between social and economic success, and what’s at stake if companies don’t step up and address the issues that are material to their business. For many organisations, this was a wake-up call; and for the more advanced shared value practitioners, a nudge to sharpen and expand their practice – particularly as we mark 10 years of shared value.
In partnership with major sponsor AIA Australia and supporting sponsors IAG, NAB and PwC Australia, we met this heightened relevance of shared value thinking with an extended program which included 16 dynamic sessions and a record 40 speakers. With that kind of breadth and depth of insight, it’s only right that we share . . .
(SOME) KEY QUOTES
“Each of us needs to think deeply about our own sense of purpose in life. We need to think about how we express that purpose through the work that we do.”
— Mark Kramer | shared value co-creator
“We are the future leaders of your organisations, so if you want to attract and retain talent, it’s really important to invest in young people, to leverage their unique experiences and insights, and create opportunities that allow young people to genuinely contribute to decision-making.”
— Kareem El-Ansary | 21st Australian Youth Representative to the UN
“Bringing those two things together, the unmet social need and the business opportunity, requires artistry, commitment and ingenuity.”
— Hugh Foley | Shared value expert
“[Shared value] is about identifying how the head and heart come together (the economic and social benefits of what you’re doing). That’s going to drive a legacy that everyone wants to be a part of.”
— Damien Mu | CEO, AIA Australia and New Zealand
“If you genuinely want to make an impact, it must be baked into every decision you make, and that means sometimes you have to turn your attention away from company behaviour and towards system-level enablers of that behaviour. And that’s difficult.”
— Mary Delahunty | Head of Impact, HESTA
“The SDGs are a fantastic tool for the investment community, not only because they give us a roadmap for exactly where we can find opportunities, but also because they give us a helpful tool to communicate with clients about what sustainability is, to put a framework around it.”
— Daniel Roarty | Chief Investment Officer, AllianceBernstein
“We think there’s a real opportunity to move early [as] many regulatory frameworks are still being developed. Companies at the core of [the transition to a circular economic model] are being consulted and will shape outcomes that will affect the industry [at large]. Sitting on the sidelines isn’t in a company’s best interests.”
— Jeremy Thorpe | Chief Economist, PwC Australia
“This means the waste in our bins can be turned into something of value that creates an opportunity for most of the organisations in that loop, whether it’s packaging companies, film makers, resin manufacturers, or oil refineries. [And that means] there’s gold in our bins.”
— Margaret Stuart | Head of Corporate Affairs, Nestlé Oceania
“Mental health is the global warming of health.”
— Mitch Wallis | CEO & Founder, Heart On My Sleeve
“The circular economy is so much more than recycling. It means closing the loop of materials and energy cycles, so that all materials operate within a closed system, and waste is fundamentally viewed as value leakage.”
— Dr Lucas Carmody | Sustainable Urban and Regional Development, PwC Australia
“With the scope and size of Walmart, any crisis in any one of our locations around the globe has an impact, because of the supply chain impact… If we cannot get resources, no one has resources.”
—Andrea Davis | Senior Director of Global Emergency Management and Business Continuity | Walmart
“Resilience is practical. Once we define the outcome we want to achieve and understand the needs of communities, corporations can [enact] solutions, orienting them with a shared value approach towards those needs.”
Lauren Sorkin | Executive Director, Resilient Cities Network
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The Shared Value APAC Summit was held on 17 June 2021 in partnership with major sponsor AIA Australia and supporting sponsors IAG, NAB and PwC Australia.
Missed this year’s event? Don’t fret! We’ve launched a first-ever on-demand ticket, to give you access to the Summit’s full program of keynotes, panel discussions and lightbulb presentations for the next three months. Find out more by visiting svsummitapac.org.