Yara Africa strategy was featured as the keynote business case study when top corporate CEOs gathered at the Shared Value Leadership Summit in New York on 11-13 May.
The Yara case study was used as a prime example
on how the private sector is developing its strategies to take societal needs
into consideration. The study was
written by Harvard Business School Professor Michael E Porter, who is the leading authority on strategy and
competitiveness.
“This is as good a case on Creating Shared
Value as I can ever imagine,” said Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School,
Mark Kramer, after presenting a range of hurdles and results that Yara came
across in partnering to develop Tanzania’s agricultural sector. Kramer is also
the founder of consultancy firm FSG.
Creating win-win situations
The business case study shows how Yara creates shared value in Africa. By connecting smallholder farmers with the infrastructure that provided better access to markets, Yara grew the economic development in rural farming communities—and increased sales.
“It is very inspiring for Yara to be the
subject of a case study by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer at the Harvard
Business School. Shared value describes how it is possible to align shareholder
and societal interests, thereby creating win-win situations,” said Terje
Tollefsen, Yara’s Head of Strategy and Business Development, who responded to
the case at the event’s “Partners' Day”.
Michael Porter and Mark Kramer argue that
shared value can be a driver for a successful business strategy. Yara’s case
will be part of the curriculum taught at Harvard executive classes.
Multiplying yields sustainably
The audience responded actively and
positively to the case study, engaging on discussions about how post-harvest
losses could occur in a country with low yields and huge hunger, and why
educating the farmers and building roads is not be enough to transform the
agricultural sector – i.e. Yara’s market.
To Yara, delivering its business solutions
for improving agricultural productivity in a sustainable way is an important
part of growing the company’s business. Engaging in Climate-Smart Agriculture(CSA) is one area where Yara is leading the industry forward. The company helps
farmers, policy makers and major food and brewery companies reduce their carbon
footprints.
Speaking on this topic, Yara’s Senior VP
Global Initiatives Strategy & Business Development Sean De Cleene
participated in a panel discussion on CSA alongside representatives from the
Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto, the Sustainable Food Lab and National
Australia Bank. Sharing examples on how CSA is already being implemented, Sean
De Cleene highlighted how Yara combines a set of strategic goals:
“In Tanzania the scientific project
Environmentally and Climate Compatible Agriculture, the ECCAg, documented how
yields can multiply without increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Now we have
started looking into how we can add this knowledge to the wider context, and
the partnership platform SAGCOT, to create inclusive and sustainable growth,”
said Sean De Cleene.
Under the slogan ‘Business at its Best’,
this fifth consecutive year of Shared Value summits focused on how to generate
new business solutions to social issues.
What is shared value?
“The concept of shared value can be defined
as policies and operating practices that enhance the competitiveness of a
company while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions in
the communities in which it operates. Shared value creation focuses on
identifying and expanding the connections between societal and economic
progress.” – Michael Porter and Mark R. Kramer (2011) Visit the Yara website HERE.
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