Resolving to make a difference? Whether you love or loathe New Year’s resolutions, many of us are turning our minds to the things we want to achieve in business over the course of a new year.

As part of the mission to achieve sustainable business growth, we are also considering how businesses can ‘make a difference’, or ‘give something back’. Social purpose and motivation are becoming a fundamental part of many businesses, large and small. It is a mindset that is becoming more and more prevalent, and is embedded within the core values and business models of an increasing number of business start-ups.

The sense of being corporately responsible is not just about business owners and staff giving time to support people or projects within the communities in which they are based; it’s a decision about how the affairs of that business will be managed – in respect of ethical and fair trading as well as how employees are valued.

Research has shown that authentic social purpose is increasingly important when it comes to buying decisions, too. A lot of people are drawn to organisations that have a social conscience, but – more importantly – demonstrate it in their everyday actions. This shift towards business with a social purpose or conscience makes it increasingly important for tomorrow’s workforce to understand the nature, origins and practice of people-centred business and the social economy system.

2015 marks the end of a three-year project at York St John to understand the social economy and enterprises that give priority to people over capital, aim to serve their local community rather than striving purely for financial profit, act as catalysts for employment and use profits to further the social aims of the enterprise for the common good.

Harnessing this knowledge and combining it with the university’s track record of delivering ground-breaking social innovation projects – such as the award-winning Converge enterprise – has the potential to influence government policy, curriculum design and service delivery in the public and private sectors.

This summer, the project will culminate in a conference to share best practices about how the public and private sectors and social enterprise are working together to prepare tomorrow’s workforce for new ways of doing business. We are looking for representatives from these sectors to come and share their experiences of making a difference in the way business is done. If your 2015 business resolutions involve social goals, we’d like to hear from you.

Contact Margaret Meredith (m.meredith@yorksj.ac.uk).