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RE: Steem, corporate governance and value - a new way of thinking?
Very interesting post -- glad to see it got a lot of attention, sorry not to see a robust comment section. Hopefully on one of your follow up posts!
I too am struggling to find a meaningful way to lever Steem in a business world, specifically around the valuation of 'customer capital'.
I had not previously read about the six capitals or integrated reporting and while intrigued I am also confused by 'customers' being conspicuously absent from the diagram. Looking forward to reading more.
I think customers would come into the social and relationship capital. The difficult one for me is the Natural Capital. There are some great advances in valuing large woody debris in rivers for meeting water temperature standards, for example, in the Pacific Northwest. I can even see putting a value on the snow being stored in the mountains for water supply in our rivers and groundwater. But, wow, trying to put a value on the Arctic ice cap is something else.
On valuing the Arctic ice cap, when building its strategy, the business should ask itself what impact their activities will have on Natural Capital. Often this questioning forms part of a much larger conversation with their stakeholders. They will find they have degrees of impact and ability to influence for better or worse e.g. protection of Natural Capital.
"Should" is the operative word there, lol. There are externalities, short vs. long-term thinking and rewards, perverse discounting of the future to present values, perverse incentives of executives vs. other stakeholders, and lack of accountability structures that all get in the way. It's a tough business, assessing, valuing, and then protecting that natural capital. More power to everyone working on it!
As we delve more into Integrated Reporting, we'll explore the importance of stakeholders, stakeholder mapping and materiality. Customers are a critical (but not the only) stakeholder. I appreciate your comment about the comments, as I was looking forward to a robust discussion...but since I'm looking forward to a long Steemit association, I'm happy with the first few steps on this journey. Also, with the launch of King IV coming up next week, I'm looking forward to a richness of perspectives from many sectors.
Indeed, companies do generally account for the value they create with their customers under Social and Relationship Capital. However, as I mentioned in the series of posts, it's important to look at value created holistically rather than in silos, so an Integrated Report typically doesn't have a table of contents showing "our Capitals". The journey of Integrated Reporting is a massive turnaround from looking at the past at the end of the year to the entire organisation looking forward continuously throughout the year, asking itself how it's creating sustainable value in support of achieving the strategy. Typically the journey takes a few years; most tell stories of confusion the first couple of years as the strategic vision filters through the organisation and the conversation shifts from one of inputs consumed (how many hours? How much money spent?) to one of outcomes being achieved (how do our customers feel about us? Have we achieved a state of harmony with the local community?).