APAC sees much purpose-talk but little purpose-action

The notion of purpose is different from sustainability or responsibility, as Alastair Colin-Jones and and Yassine El Ouarzazi, of Economics of Mutuality Solutions,  discuss in a new WARC series.

Why it matters

Putting purpose into practice is not easy due to the persistent confusion between responsibility and purpose, which prevents focusing on the right activities and strategies.

Takeaways

• The pandemic has clarified and intensified the choice for businesses and their leaders: defend the status quo of business or drive a transition.
• Purpose is different from sustainability or responsibility because a purposeful business seeks to solve an external meaningful challenge profitably.
• Delivering a meaningful purpose usually involves some kind of systems change, which is hard although there are ways to make it more tractable.

This is part of WARC’s Purpose Incorporated: A primer for brands in APAC series tackling the complexities and nuances of how brands can go beyond profit to do good and do better in the Asia-Pacific region.