Issue Focus

As society's negative views on companies are increasing, companies are getting obliged to participate in accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this context, the concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV) has received increasing interest, distinct from the concept of corporate social responsibility, which means that companies passively respond to the social or environmental concerns of stakeholders or deal with problems that arise in the course of business activities. The concept of CSV, first proposed by M. Porter and M. Kramer, is 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”(Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, 2011, “Creating Shared Value; How to reinvent capitalism and unleash a wave of innovation and growth, Havard Business Review). The concept implies the imperative that companies of all sizes should move from the passivity of doing less negative impacts to strategies for addressing societal needs and challenges by means of sustainable business models. In order to enter developing countries in Asia, Africa or Latin America which are important overseas markets for domestic construction companies, heavy local adaptation costs are in general imposed. Instead of directly paying these costs, the overseas construction sector pays attention to contribute to the sustainable development of these countries through shared value creation activities. For creating shared value to become an effective substitute for paying local adaptation costs in the overseas construction market, joint efforts of construction companies and the government are required. ① Construction companies should address social issues in developing countries and contribute to these countries’ realization of sustainable development goals(SDGs) by mobilizing their core competencies such as technologies and know-how for planning and production of goods and services which are supposed to create positive impacts on society and environment without coming at the expense of financial success. ② In order for construction companies to implement successfully overseas strategy of creating shared value in developing countries, the government and relevant official or non-profit agencies for development assistance should share with construction companies their rich information and experinces in international development projects.