ABSTRACT
Developing and communicating a social mission offers businesses multiple benefits and opportunities to create a more sustainable business model. The best social missions are found, not created. They exist already in the company's history or founding principles, in the product design or brand essence, in customer relationships or consumer insights. All businesses interact with society, impact the environment and affect the economic value chain. There are a myriad of issues they could address and therefore many potential areas for a social mission. In identifying the greatest opportunity, a useful exercise is to frame each area as a sword or a shield. Most companies need to address all the issues, but 'swords and shields' framing helps identify a social mission that can help drive competitive advantage, compared to actions that are required to mitigate risk and will potentially become industry norms or required by regulation.
