A systems approach to understanding the perspectives in the changing landscape of responsible business in Scotland

The purpose of this paper is to present an application of Community OR (COR), using Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), to help a fund manager to understand how to unlock and release more resources into communities. The problem area under investigation is a perceived lack of connectivity and alignment between and within public, for-profit, and the third sectors in Scotland. We argue that as the for-profit sector controls the majority of resources in most economies, they need to be part of any solution. However, we propose an approach that offers an alternative to the neoliberal business paradigm that has become prevalent in society and suggest that this must involve the inclusion of people and communities, in part represented by third sector organisations. We collected and analysed data from 145 participants and the outcome from this research was the 'Connect model', which was proposed to achieve the client's goal and to address a range of stakeholder challenges. In the SSM study, the 'investing in social capital' system was deemed a necessary early intervention, to bring together actors in an 'open system' that addresses the 'whole problem' area (launched as the 'Responsible Business Forum'). Three additional concepts emerged from the study that helped refine the 'Connect model' and have implications for theory and practice: 1) the co-creation of business-community value, 2) facilitated by a conduit, 3) that unlocks a 'shared space' based on a match of shared aspirations and values.