According to author and professor Gerard George, change is possible if "value-capturing" private organisations collaborate with “parties which have access to the ground-level”. “These parties can be NGOs, or government entities,” he adds, “and a product can be then built with given opportunities to provide clear solutions.”
In their book, Venture Meets Mission: Aligning People, Purpose, and Profit to Innovate and Transform Society, authors Gerard George, Arun Gupta and Thomas J. Fewer discuss how the public and private sector can team up to create societal impact.
While academics present the legitimacy of this “mission-driven capitalism” movement, and executives mobilise attention and resources, it is the startups and growth ventures that lead this charge. As small enterprises they have the capability to quickly mobilise resources and adapt to their capabilities to deal with uncertainty. As consumers and end-users increasingly pressure businesses to consider a broader range of stakeholders in the pursuit of financial returns, growth ventures are often the “first responders” to call for purposeful business.
The writers explain that “embracing technology” is crucial to coming up with impactful results. However, it is also noted that the rising innovations and artificial intelligence point to an “increasingly uncertain future”.
George recalls that it was while working on a research related to public-private partnership that he met Arun Gupta. At a lunch meeting, conversation suddenly hit discussing the consequences of combining the “venture capital ecosystem” with public-private partnerships. According to George, the process will center on collaboration between the private and public sectors. Additionally, these projects will not follow the traditional models of 10 to 20-year-long tenders or contracts. Instead, this approach promises better opportunities and greater value. He pulls out examples of the American space technology company SpaceX and private vaccine manufacturers.
The book also highlights a 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study in which nearly half of all new ventures had social underpinnings—its highest percentage in the past century. “The Moreover,” it reads, “the sheer number of ventures has exploded since COVID-19, highlighting people’s concentrated shift to entrepreneurial endeavours”.
George says that NGOs struggle to "capture value," the public sector can do so to some extent, but private organisations are the most effective at it. Hence, public-private partnership can effectively bring societal change.
Book - Venture Meets Mission: Aligning People, Purpose, and Profit to Innovate and Transform Society
Authors - Arun Gupta, Gerard George, Thomas J. Fewer
Publisher - Stanford University Press
Pages - 280
Price - Rs. 2,179 (On Kindle)
