Beyond Responsability : companies as useful players ?

Tomorrow’s company will have to demonstrate its usefulness even more than its responsibility. It is through collective work to satisfy essential needs and shared value that a company asserts its usefulness for society. To build and affirm this usefulness, the company must definitely see itself as a political player. In fact, the question addressed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is not only the measurement of everyone’s contribution to the objectives, but the ability of all players to build the necessary cooperation to meet the needs of society.

The concept of usefulness is both a philosophical and economic one. It originates from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which links usefulness to the satisfaction of a certain number of hierarchized needs. When adapted to the company, it leads to the integration of different types of needs from those traditionally accepted to define usefulness.

Maslow’s theory is a starting point for the notion of usefulness in the company and is intended to take a special place in the face of the emergence of other types of needs in our societies beyond material/primary needs, such as:

• The immaterial needs;
• The concept of social usefulness;
• The individual and collective impact of business activity.

The concept of usefulness is now emerging even more strongly given the multiple expectations placed on the company and the climate crisis. It aligns with the concept of “stakeholder capitalism” or “stakeholder companies,” which strongly raises the question of the social usefulness of the company.

“It is through global cooperation to satisfy essential needs and through shared value that the company will assert its usefulness for society.”

For a company that decides to bring to life the concept of “social usefulness,” priorities should be directed toward understanding the expectations of society, recognizing the legitimacy of civil society and communities, and promoting dialogue to meet their demands. The concept of usefulness aligns with the philosophy of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The question adressed by the SDGs is not only the measurement of everyone’s contribution to the objectives but the ability of all actors to build cooperation in order to meet the needs of society.

It is through global cooperation to satisfy essential needs and through shared value that the company will assert its usefulness for society. For a social and inclusive company, it is not responsibility that takes priority but social usefulness, plural performance, and shared wealth. The company must prosper for everyone, not just for a few. This is not only about the fair distribution of created wealth but also about the concept of plural performance (which implies the necessary “impact measurement” to evaluate and demonstrate the usefulness of the company and its contribution to society and communities).

Taking society into account in the company’s purpose is the condition for its future legitimacy. And the concept of usefulness is firmly rooted in the logic of expected evolutions towards sustainable models.