Read Kate Vitasek’s brief Q&A session with Macmillan.

Q. There is a lot of buzz lately about “shared value.” Can you describe what that is and how it fits into what you are doing with your work on Vested and Vested Outsourcing?

Shared value principles establish economic value in a way that creates value for everyone. Unfortunately most businesses are pressured by short-term thinking. Think of a conventional buyer-supplier relationship. Buyers and suppliers play an unproductive game of cat and mouse as they negotiate to get the best deal for their companies. This is analogous to fighting over how to divide the pie. In the Vested framework shared value principles focus on creating–and then sharing–a bigger pie.