Need
In 2021, a well-established, defense and industrial mid-market PE firm faced significant pressure from two key constituents. Firstly, in the wake of the George Floyd protests in New York City, the firm's younger employees began asking for the company's response to the social issues of the day. Secondly, long-time institutional investors demanded transparency as to the company's internal, Social ESG profile. While the firm's top priority was investor returns, they needed to develop a point of view on their own ESG, which was a growing concern for both employees and investors.
Approach
To develop their competitive ESG posture, the firm hired SocialMarks to assess the company's relative Social ESG position among its competitors and provide a framework for their own Social ESG narrative. SocialMarks analyzed 19 competitive firms chosen by the firm, ranking them across three key areas: People, Brand, and Community. Leadership learned that their baseline ranking was better than most firms in their space. However, the report revealed that if the firm provided basic transparency as to their current community efforts, their relative position would immediately improve.
Impact
The firm was able to articulate an operating narrative for their social impact work. The resulting framework provided a strong foundation for the creation of a new ESG page on the website, allowing the company to showcase its culture to current and prospective employees. Further, it provided the transparency necessary for current and future LPs to invest in their funds with confidence. Their Managing Partner said, “This work has been instrumental in conversations with our LPs as well as communicating a refined sense of purpose to our people.”
Let’s Talk
Book a meeting with our team to see how we can help you put your company’s purpose in motion.