Mehera, Asoke Kumar (2019) Sustainable Value and Shared Value Creation: Case Studies on Australian Banking and Property Organisations. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

The stakeholder management framework of the 1980s and the triple bottom line framework of the 1990s strengthened corporate social responsibility but these frameworks could not bring about fundamental change in the role of businesses in society in relation to value creation. Hence, by the beginning of the present century, drawing on the ‘Sustainable Value’ and ‘Shared Value’ business models, the selected Australian banking and property organisations are striving to leverage on business strategies for generation of social and economic values. However, the Australian academic literature and industry reports demonstrate limited contributions to the sustainable and shared value literature, and hence, failing to support and deliver a comprehensive business model. To fill this conceptual and practical gap in the Australian industrial context, this study is undertaken with a view to recommend an alternative business model to integrate socioenvironmental issues and opportunities into core business strategy. Research objectives of the underlying study are to: a) explore the adoption of components of the applied sustainable value and shared value business models by Australian banking and property organisations for social and economic value creation; and b) empirically develop an alternative business model for the Australian banking and property industries based on emerging thematic components from industry-wide interview responses. Based on the interpretive paradigm, this study has adopted a qualitative multiple case study design to conduct semi-structured open-ended face-to-face interviews. The cases (n=8) in the banking and property industries have been selected through a purposive critical sampling approach. A thematic NVivo analysis was conducted based on four thematic components derived from the applied sustainable and shared value business models, namely clean technology, sustainability vision at the bottom of the pyramid, reconceiving of products/services and redefining of the value chain. This study explores how the selected Australian banking and property organisations are utilising various thematic components for social and economic value creation in addition to other components (i.e. customer/stakeholder engagement, community resilience) not otherwise categorically mentioned within both the above-mentioned models. The major findings show a number of industry-wide differences, which include a) banking organisations predominantly leverage sustainability based on product/service innovation at the bottom of the pyramid level, and b) property organisations predominantly leverage environmental sustainability based on the application of clean technology through redefining the value chain. The primary interview data findings suggest that the selected Australian sustainable and shared value organisations also emphasise the co-creation of value based on their engagement with customers, stakeholders, and communities. The secondary data findings suggest that the selected Australian property organisations have ensured a higher increase in net profit after tax and return on equity compared to the banking organisations. The secondary data further suggest that organisations (i.e. Suncorp, Charter Hall, Company X, Stockland) which used the combination of the elements of sustainable and shared value business models performed better in terms of profitability (i.e. economic value) than the organisations which only used either the sustainable value (ANZ, Lendlease) or the shared value (Bendigo, NAB) model. The only exception being Stockland, which experienced a slight decrease in the return on equity during the 2014- 18 period inspite of almost triple digit increase in net profit during the above-mentioned period. In terms of social value, the secondary data further suggest that the selected banking and property organisations have undertaken quite considerable social and community investments while leveraging on the components of various business models. The main recommendation of this study is an empirically developed alternative business model for value co-creation based on two new thematic components, which are customer/stakeholder engagement and community resilience that emerged from the industry case interviews. The significance of the study lies in the fact that all future academic researchers and practice managers should be able to implement the recommended business model for value co-creation to enhance social and economic value. One of the other major implications of the study lies in its application of a stakeholder-centric (i.e. customers, communities) value creation model by Australian banking organisations which have recently gone through the Financial Services Royal Commission investigation. The future theoretical implications of this study on value cocreation can be considered in terms of a better understanding of stakeholder theory (encompassing customers and communities) and agency theory (encompassing valueseeking organisational agents) with respect to the banking and property industry in Australian context.

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