Building purpose

: the strategic value of developing a purpose-driven business

Abstract

Organizations are presently facing unparalleled change and disruption on the global market. To endure and succeed in this volatile business context, many have witnessed the need to adopt a purpose-driven approach, which goes beyond profit. As the concept of purpose becomes more relevant in the corporate world and more organizations thrive to develop a purpose-driven strategy, it is essential for them to effectively comprehend what is purpose, what it implies and how companies can implement and structure themselves around it.This research aims to provide an analysis on the strategic relevance of developing a purposedriven business, by examining the concept of corporate purpose, its impact on financial performance and the influence it has on the behavior of two key stakeholders - customers and employees. This study, additionally, identifies ten key steps that enable the implementation of purpose at the core of a firm. Furthermore, two surveys were designed to further analyze the effects of purpose on the behavior of customers and employees. Findings, as well as results, indicate that purpose-driven businesses outperform the market, in financial terms. They also reveal that consumers are becoming more attracted, trustful, loyal and forgiving of businesses that have a purpose-driven orientation. Moreover, employees who work for firms with a well-established purpose, show high levels of motivation, engagement, satisfaction and even, productivity. The attained conclusions reveal consistency between the secondary and primary gathered data.

Date of Award	30 Jun 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Vera Herédia Colaço (Supervisor) & Nuno Moreira da Cruz (Co-Supervisor)