Fishburn Hedges

13.05.2011

With the first anniversary of the Big Society in little under a week’s time, our panel looked at what the Big Society means for business, whether it can bring about real social change and if the concept is here to stay.

The speakers were:

David Scott: Head of Policy, Morrisons

Steve Moore: Director, Big Society Network

Peter Kyle: Deputy CEO, Association of Chief Executive of Voluntary Organisations

The key points were:

• The Big Society is an evolutionary not revolutionary concept for business yet has played an important role in helping corporates frame and accelerate their CSR
• The mantra that corporates bring the cash and the voluntary sector bring the values is outdated: business and the voluntary sector need to do more to engage on equal terms: both bring values to the table
• There is too much political capital vested in the idea for it to be dropped so, whatever your views about the Big Society, it is here to stay, and so has real potential to engage communities and individuals

Is the Big Society good for business?

David Scott, Head of Policy at Morrisons argued that for business the Big Society is an extension of CSR and is an evolutionary rather than revolutionary concept.

He felt that it was important and right for business to be engaged in the Big Society given the ability of corporates to make a real and tangible difference to people’s lives.

For Morrisons, the focus on price is about winning customers’ minds.  The focus on CSR and the Big Society is about winning their hearts.  These were commercial considerations, which are right for society and right for the business.

Companies need to embody CSR and Big Society values and demonstrate their positive impact on society.

Should business be part of the Big Society?

Peter Kyle, Deputy CEO, Association of Chief Executive of Voluntary Organisations suggested that the private sector has the potential to be a force for social good.

He argued that the Government needs to harness this and challenge business to do more to promote the Big Society in the same way that it’s done with the charitable sector.

Private and voluntary sector partnerships should not be shot-gun marriages in which one brings the money and the other the values. 

He thought the suggestion absurd that the voluntary sector couldn’t learn about values from the private sector, or that the private sector couldn’t learn about innovation and entrepreneurship from voluntary organisations. 

Creating long-lasting partnerships between the two could help harness and bring about positive social change.

Is the Big Society here to stay?

These sentiments were also echoed by Steve Moore, Director, Big Society Network and self confessed Big Society ‘romantic’ who suggested that the corporate sector has shown a real desire to be involved in the Big Society yet needs practical tools to show them how.

This was one of three reasons that Steve highlighted as to why he felt the Big Society was here to stay. The others included:

• People love to talk about the Big Society – although there are frustrations in how it’s being rolled-out the idea has captured people’s imagination 
• There is a huge amount of untapped talent and social entrepreneurship out there with the potential to improve lives and communities: people are clamouring to know how to continue

A consequence of this was that CSR is moving from “doing good” to “problem solving”, which reflected shifts increasingly recognising that there are bottom-line benefits which genuinely help to build the brand.

Finally, Peter Kyle stressed, there is too much political capital vested in the Big Society for it to be fade into oblivion. David Cameron and No.10 are too closely associated with the concept to allow it to fail.

 

For more on the Big Society and another perspective on the relationship between the Big Society and business, we recently held a focus group to see how the public see it.

Visit our Big Society microsite for more discussion