BM_IMD_REPORT-How-Authentic-is-your-Corporate-Purpose

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Figure 6: Leadership and Authentic Corporate Purpose Balance λ = .83 Awareness λ = .97 Transparency λ = .93 Self- Regulation λ = .85 Reliability λ = .91 Leadership β = .70 ACP Consistency λ = .90 Originality λ = .89 Passion λ = .95 Reputation λ = .86 Embeddedness λ = .95 Long Term Orientation λ = .85 Connectedness λ = .90 22
7. Qualitative Research Findings In order to lend some richness and depth to the quantitative survey, we conducted interviews with several of the companies identified in the survey as having an authentic corporate purpose. We were interested to know how these companies define corporate purpose, what they see as the internal and external impacts of having an authentic corporate purpose, how they use corporate purpose in decision-making processes in their companies, as well as what are the barriers and enablers to living an authentic corporate purpose. Rather than probe each organization specifically regarding the twelve dimensions of ACP that we identified from the literature, instead, we listened for the emergence of these dimensions in their responses to our semi-structured interview questions. These interviews were conducted with senior executives from functions such as communications, procurement, sustainability and compliance and provided further insight into how companies view the importance of authenticity of corporate purpose and its influence at both the strategic and operational levels. 7.1 Defining authentic corporate purpose All interviewees identified authentic corporate purpose as being extremely important to their company. What is an authentic corporate purpose and how is it expressed by companies? While some companies did not distinguish between corporate purpose and mission statement, others suggested that while corporate purpose was something internal – driving the company’s understanding of itself and how it operates – a mission statement was a way to communicate the company’s purpose externally. Sustainability (generally defined as the ability to create economic value over the long term while protecting the natural environment and positively impacting societies) is central to the corporate purpose of five of the nine companies interviewed; three companies expressed their purpose as effecting positive change at the societal level. Several companies view purpose as being the central idea linking the company’s activities, and creating consistency between a company’s strategy, positioning and operations. One company defined purpose as being the internal driver of passion by building employee engagement and commitment to the company’s key activities. When discussing their individual companies, interviewees expressed corporate purpose in two main ways: (1) as a function of the company’s impact on customers or (2) how the company has a positive impact on broader society. We discovered that many companies have an explicitly stated purpose, whereas a more expanded implicit purpose emerges from discussions with their executives. For example, Google’s stated purpose is to affect positive change in various aspects of the world, whilst employees may express purpose as, for example “bringing people together, enabling them to work on issues that they believe will effect positive change, contribute to building knowledge and making good things happen at scale”. BMW’s explicit purpose is expressed as being “the most successful provider of premium mobility products and services” while more implicit expanded purpose emerges in discussions with employees such as “being a leader in the iconic change occurring in society around mobility, understanding the company’s social and environmental context, and 23
Page 1 and 2: How Authentic is your Corporate Pur
Page 3 and 4: Contents Executive summary ........
Page 5 and 6: Executive summary Introduction Over
Page 7 and 8: although awareness is critical to a
Page 9 and 10: Research by Burson-Marsteller and I
Page 11 and 12: To validate the dimensional structu
Page 13 and 14: Leading Image: In contrast, researc
Page 15 and 16: 4. Survey Results and Key Findings
Page 17 and 18: Figure 4: Top Five Companies with a
Page 19 and 20: We then asked more specifically for
Page 21: 6. Leadership and Authentic Corpora
Page 25 and 26: One executive described the “doub
Page 27 and 28: companies as members. Other such fo
Page 29 and 30: - Is the organization aware of the
Page 31 and 32: 1) Seeking feedback from stakeholde
Page 33 and 34: knowledge for the broader good. Tha
Page 35 and 36: - Does the organization openly shar
Page 37 and 38: • Strategy has to illustrate purp
Page 39 and 40: making process. If managers are not
Page 41 and 42: De Hoogh, A. H., Den Hartog, D. N.,
Page 43 and 44: Leading 13. Appendices Appendix I:
Page 45 and 46: Appendix II: Qualitative Interview
Page 47 and 48: Appendix III: Qualitative Interview
Page 49 and 50: Appendix V: Characteristics of Surv
Page 51 and 52: Appendix VII: Industry Demographics
Page 53 and 54: Appendix IX: Companies Identified a
Page 55 and 56: Appendix XI: Ranking of Full List o
Page 57 and 58: Appendix XIII: Status of Authentic
Page 59 and 60: Appendix XV: Standardized item fact
Page 61: Appendix XVII: Confirmatory Factor

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