Bendigo’s shared value strategy shared on world stage
(18 May 2015 – Australia) Global business leaders had a chance to hear about Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s strategy on corporate social responsibility at the 5th Annual Shared Value Leadership Summit from 13-15 May.
The international summit held in New York was established by Harvard professor and world-leading business strategist Michael E. Porter and Mark Kramer.
Bendigo chairman Robert Johanson told the summit that the global conversation about corporate social responsibility was changing.
"There's a growing recognition that a business has a broader role in community beyond a narrow transactional role, and that this can sit comfortably at the core of a business,” he said.
"Shared Value advocates that businesses can add value to communities through solving social and environmental issues as part of core business strategy.
"Often confused with philanthropy, Shared Value is something quite distinct.
“For true shared value to exist, there must also be a reciprocity in what is being shared, that is, that the success of a business is intertwined with community prosperity, but that the community also see that their success feeds into the prosperity of the business."
Bendigo’s unique Community Bank® model was shared as an example of shared value.
Established in 1998 in the regional Victorian towns of Rupanyup and Minyip, the Community Bank® model responded to a growing trend in major banks reducing their branch presence, particularly across regional Australia.
Sixteen years later, the model has grown to 309 Community Bank® branches operating across regional and metropolitan Australia, returning more than A$130 million to local communities, generating local employment opportunities and ensuring future sustainability and prosperity.
"Banking is about the individual but also the many, and we feed into the prosperity of the communities and interest groups to which our stakeholders belong," Johanson said.
"You can't run a successful bank unless your customers succeed and they live in strong, prosperous communities, so it’s in our interest to invest in creating both."
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