Timothy Keiningham, St. John’s University – Social Profit Orientation

The Academic Minute

What if businesses could make a profit while also doing good for society?

Timothy Keiningham, professor of marketing at the Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University, examines how to do so.

Timothy Keiningham, Ph.D., is the J. Donald Kennedy Endowed Chair in E-Commerce at St. John’s University’s Tobin College of Business. He is a recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Christopher Lovelock Career Contributions Award, the highest honor in service marketing. A prolific author, Dr. Keiningham has written or edited nine books, including the New York Times bestseller The Wallet Allocation Rule. His research, published in top-tier journals across marketing, strategy, and service management, has earned multiple accolades, including awards from the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Service Research, and Journal of Service Management. Dr. Keiningham’s work bridges the gap between leading scientific research and management best practices, making significant contributions to both academia and industry.

Social Profit Orientation

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As businesses face growing pressures to address societal challenges such as climate change and inequality, our research reveals a strategy that can lead to both social impact and business success. We call this approach “social profit orientation.”

Unlike traditional corporate social responsibility, social profit orientation embeds social goals into the very core of an organization’s mission.

Our study shows that companies embracing social profit orientation are thriving. They’re not only driving innovation and attracting top talent, but they’re also paving the way for long-term sustainable growth.

Consider the story of a utility company that serves the Madeira and Porto Santo islands of Portugal. Engineers there championed a radical solution by digging a 4-kilometer-long reservoir inside a mountain. This innovative project uses wind power to recycle water used in a hydroelectric plant, pumping it to the reservoir during low-demand periods and utilizing it for hydroelectric power during high-demand periods. This approach not only stores wind power for future use but also significantly reduces reliance on fossil fuels, aligning with the company’s sustainability goals.

Similarly, a health care provider recognized that hospitals are major polluters and committed to becoming the first U.S. health system to offset 100% of its fossil-fuel use with self-produced energy. It achieved this by erecting solar and wind farms and transforming waste biogas from a landfill into electricity and heat. Its holistic approach to sustainability, focusing on energy conservation and waste management, not only protected the environment but also proved to be financially beneficial.

These examples show that by aligning their strategies with social goals, companies can create a win-win scenario—achieving profit with purpose and contributing to a better world. Whether it’s through environmental sustainability or social responsibility, businesses that integrate social profit orientation into their core mission are they’re thriving and leading the charge toward a more sustainable and just future.

For more information on Social Profit Orientation, please visit:
www.SocialProfitOrientation.com

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