Strategy & Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility

Winner of the McKinsey Award for the Best Harvard Business Review Article in 2006! These awards, judged by an independent panel of leaders in the business community, recognize outstanding works that are likely to have a major influence on the actions of business managers worldwide.

Professor Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, Co-founders of FSG Social Impact Advisors, introduce a new approach to corporate social responsibility in Harvard Business Review's December 2006 "Strategy and Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility."

Moving past generic CSR principles, Porter & Kramer see societal influence as the new frontier of competitive advantage. By integrating social dimensions into the core strategy frameworks that guide business decisions, companies can build on the interdependence between business and society, rather than being held back by the friction between them. The result is a new set of frameworks that enable companies to identify and address the specific social issues that matter most to their long-term success.

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