A communitarian definition of shared value rooted in local development studies and in the Olivettian experience

This paper aims at introducing a variation on the concept of shared value originally proposed by Porter and Kramer (2011). The variation is based on a couple of suggestions provided by Becattini (2011) commenting on that concept: the first concerns the rooting of shared value in processes of local development, as those exemplified by successful industrial districts, where the business sphere and the local community are strictly integrated within place-based relations. The second suggestions is the mention of the experience of the Olivetti company and the Canavese area (Ivrea, Italy) in the first decades after WWII. Becattini described this experience as an uncommon situation of reconciliation between a corporate function of profit and the function of social utility of a place. Hence, our study entails two main steps. Firstly, a conceptual discussion will focus on 1. the relation between shared value and local development; 2. the underlying connection with the Olivettian experience and the theorization of the concept of "community" included in the writings of Adriano Olivetti; 3. some implicit relations between the communitarian views of Olivetti and Becattini. Secondly, the reassessment of the concept of shared value, and in particular the reference to the Olivettian experience seen as a paradigmatic and forerunning case, brings to the proposal of our variation. This is the definition of what we call a "communitarian shared value", taking its roots to logics that combine business strategies of shared value, communitarian relations and culture, and processes and policies of local development.