Elevating Business through Social Values – The Companies’ Perspective and Future Challenges

By Jürg Meierhofer, ZHAW

Workshop by the Expert Group Smart Services at the Swiss Conference on Data Science 2024, May 30

In this workshop, participants explored the critical role of social values in shaping corporate practices. The session kicked off with an introduction, emphasizing the impact of social values on today’s business landscape. The subsequent input presentation delved into defining social values and their relevance to business strategies. Attendees gained insights from an ongoing qualitative study conducted by students at ZHAW and HSLU, which showcased successful integration of social values into corporate practices. Additionally, results from a previous Expert Group meeting on Smart Services were shared, highlighting the benefits of aligning business objectives with social values.

Social value creation by companies can be fostered through specific design of business processes and services. A current master project at ZHAW investigates how these processes and services should be designed to achieve a desired social value outcome. Following a presentation of intermediate results of this study, the interactive dialogue allowed participants to discuss challenges and opportunities related to implementing social values within businesses. Insights and experiences were exchanged, and potential hurdles were identified.