How one business is putting purpose into practice

For companies such as the family-owned Everards brewery, a deep reflection on their corporate purpose – why they exist rather than simply what they do – can generate innovative and inspiring new products and strategies, strengthened relationships with all of their stakeholders, and improved and sustainable performance.

Essentially, the social purpose of any company is to make products and provide services that benefit us as customers and communities. It should do this while looking after its employees and the environment, and enhancing the wellbeing of its local communities and the wider society in which it operates. If it does this well, profits will ensue – but profits come at the end of a long process which is driven by a strong sense of purpose and values, not just shareholder value.

Most successful companies know this instinctively, but the past 50 years of shareholder primacy may have affected this balance. It can take courage to make purpose-driven decisions that could have a negative impact on sales or profitability, such as when US pharmacy chain CVS made the decision to stop selling cigarettes in its stores or when Mars Food advised customers to consume some of their ready-made sauces only once a week.

Purpose is not a vague and hyperbolic promise to save the world, nor just a bolt-on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity, run by the PR department or a philanthropic foundation: it is core to the business and should be at the heart of strategic decision-making.