Reconceiving Products & Markets

Businesses have the potential to be more effective than governments and NGOs in creating and marketing solutions to community problems. New needs and new markets open up opportunities to differentiate, innovate, and grow. A new generation of social entrepreneurs is capturing these opportunities, and mainstream businesses must keep up to stay competitive by:

• Designing products and services to address societal needs (environmental impact, safety, health, education, nutrition, living with disability, housing, financial security, etc.)
• Opening new markets by serving unmet needs in underserved communities, which often requires redesigned products or different distribution methods.

Unlocking Shared Value in Products & Markets

More and more companies are pursuing market strategies that fit the shared-value model—and reaping the rewards of innovation and growth. General Electric, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Unilever, and Wal-Mart are examples of corporations that are creating shared value by reconceiving the intersection between society and corporate performance. To unlock potential shared value, companies must take a new approach to products and markets. Companies must:

• Rethink the business around unsolved customer problems or concerns, not traditional product definitions
• Identify customer groups that have been poorly served or overlooked by the industry
• Think in terms of improving lives, not just meeting customer “needs”
• Start with no preconceived constraints about product attributes, channel configuration, or the economic model of the business