The Katara – the Cultural Village and its strategic partner Palladium Group opened the ‘Sixth Strategic Leadership Forum’ in Doha yesterday which was attended by representatives from the private and governmental entities in Saudi Arabia, the US, Italy and Qatar.
Katara general manager Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti said that the event comes in response to the success of the previous forums in terms of representation from both private and government sectors in Qatar and abroad.
“The Sixth Forum turned into an umbrella where senior officials, executives and workers in the strategies field meet,” he said. “They attend to participate, learn, discuss, and adopt the best practices in the field of strategic planning related to their industries.”
Dr al-Sulaiti welcomed Professor Robert S Kaplan who is co-founder of Palladium Group and one of the 25th economic thinkers in the world.
Speaking at a press conference, the Katara official said the professor is co-innovator of the Balanced Scorecard which has been classified by Harvard Business of School as the most important thought in management during the past 75 years.
“Our five-year strategic plan, together with forums and exchange of expertise, helped us to support Katara’s cultural movement according to standard performance indicators,” he noted.
Dr al-Sulaiti added that Katara has become a home for creative people and a place to disseminate cultural awareness through festivals, exhibitions, seminars, and other cultural activities.
“This is in addition to its orientation towards conducting research and studies related to the objectives and activities of the foundation,” he said.
Sharing about his view on the world economy , Prof Kaplan pointed out that the world economy underwent huge transitions from the agricultural to the industrial economy, passing through the knowledge and information economy that is now paving the way towards a new era of the impact economy.  
He added that businesses do not function apart from the society since business and society have reciprocal effects.  
“The mutual influences between business and society have increased significantly, so what was known recently as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was not enough because it was a reaction to social pressure rather than creating real shared value,” Kaplan noted.
While CSR was useful and contributed to some positive changes, the real need now is to Create Shared Value (CSV) which brings lasting impact to the society”, he explained.
Citing the difference between CSR and CSV, Kaplan said social responsibility is part of side activities of the former carried out by the company for the benefit of the society. CSV is based on the principle of shared value which becomes an integral part of the company’s structure, operation and philosophy.
“Thus both parties, the company and the society, benefit side by side,” he added.