The report is written by Marieke Huysentruyt, Associate Professor of Strategy and Business Policy, and Nil Aydin, a graduate of the HEC Paris Master in Sustainability and Social Innovation and its central contribution is to move the discussion beyond value creation alone and towards the question of how value is distributed across the business ecosystem. For scholars and students alike, this creates a useful shift in mindset, from seeing business simply as a mechanism for profit generation to understanding it as a system of relationships, responsibilities and long-term strategic choices.
The report begins from a clear and pressing problem: in many OECD economies, workers are receiving a smaller share of income while wealth and market power have become increasingly concentrated. Inflation, weak bargaining power and widening inequality have sharpened concerns about fair pay, economic justice and social cohesion, placing firms under growing pressure from employees, investors, regulators and wider society. What makes the issue especially important is that the report does not frame value sharing as a moral add-on alone, but as a response to real strategic risks. Companies that overlook employee welfare, fair compensation and safe conditions may face reputational damage, unrest, turnover and regulatory scrutiny, all of which can weaken performance over time.
Its most useful insight is that value sharing should be treated as a serious managerial and governance question, not a symbolic gesture. The report distinguishes clearly between value creation, value capture and value sharing, then shows how firms can act through practical mechanisms such as profit-sharing, employee ownership, training, wellbeing support, collaborative decision-making, long-term compensation and broader stakeholder arrangements involving suppliers, communities and customers. Importantly, it suggests that these mechanisms can improve motivation, resilience, loyalty and productivity when they are designed well, while also acknowledging that not every mechanism works equally well in every context. That balanced approach makes the report especially valuable for students, because it encourages analytical thinking: sustainable business is not about idealism alone, but about designing institutions that align fairness, performance and accountability.
In this sense, the report is highly relevant to understanding sustainable business models, because it shows that sustainability depends not only on what value a firm creates, but on who benefits from it and under what rules. A sustainable business model is more robust when it builds trust with employees, strengthens supply chains, supports communities and develops governance structures that can balance short-term returns with longer-term resilience. The report therefore helps reframe competitiveness in contemporary terms: as regulation makes many ESG practices standard, value sharing may become one of the more meaningful ways firms differentiate themselves. For scholars and students, that is an important lesson, because it positions sustainability not as a constraint on business, but as an opportunity to rethink how durable advantage is built in a more unequal and demanding economic landscape.
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