Does the concept of “creating shared value” hold water?

Purpose – This paper aims to challenge corporate theories such as creating shared value (CSV) as to how they account for company water use given that water risk is ultimately not an efficiency challenge. In exploring CSV and the management of shared resources, there are limitations to the value of CSV (as currently framed) as a response strategy to water risks. For almost all businesses, water challenges involve complex social and environmental considerations “beyond efficiency”. Water stewardship is also an evolving framework, yet at its core implies an awareness and willingness to seek collaboration on business water-related risk across the value chain and to go beyond efficiency. Design/methodology/approach – How does CSV stack-up against the experiences of companies at the leading edge of water risk and engagement in real-world contexts? Can CSV theory provide companies with enough guidance to navigate water management challenges and address complex risks to create shared outcomes, given that CSV does not engage the personal values or responses that are crucial to long-term water management? Especially considering that the boundaries between personal values, collective societal values and societal needs are all blurred. To fully address these questions, it is necessary to assess the extent to which CSV has internalized water stewardship initiatives or understood and drawn from water resource challenges and responses. Recent research states that the corporate sustainability is currently disconnected from the wider debate of pressing issues such as climate change and resource depletion. This research suggests that the business sustainability literature is entrenched in debates that draw very little from the ecology or environmental sciences literature, producing little in the way of interdisciplinary rigor (Linnenluecke and Griffiths, 2013). They conclude that business theory almost always focuses on understanding variables that can be subjected to direct managerial and shareholder concern, omitting challenging policy environments, with the net result that theoretical models can appear to serve more effectively than is the actual case. Findings – In its entirety, the sentiment of CSV is sensible – if society fails, so does business. The financial crisis provides an example of the symbiosis between corporate performance and social well-being: and of the obligations faced by businesses and the government to confirm that business behaves in ways which advance the public and private good. The objective is not to look at CSV in its entirety, but rather to focus on its representation of water use, delving deeper into what CSV means for this specific and unique resource. Originality/value – A unique view of the intersection of CSV and water stewardship with recommendations for alignment.