How creating shared value drives competitive advantage to government savings Bank in terms of marketing and economics

Abstract

This study investigates how Creating Shared Value (CSV) drives sustainable competitive advantage for the Government Savings Bank (GSB) of Thailand, focusing on both economic and marketing perspectives. While traditional banking strategies have often prioritized profit maximization, GSB has repositioned itself as a “Social Bank,” embedding social objectives into its core operations through a four-pillar framework: financial inclusion, debt relief solutions, community development, and government policy alignment. Adopting a qualitative case study approach, the research draws on semi-structured interviews with senior GSB executives and documentary analysis of official reports and industry data. The findings reveal that CSV initiatives have enabled GSB to expand financial access to over 18.8 million individuals, restructure debt for 2.33 million borrowers, and invest THB 2.082 billion in community development programs. These efforts not only reinforce Thailand’s achievement of 96% financial inclusion—the highest rate in East Asia & Pacific—but also enhance GSB’s differentiation as a purpose-driven bank competing on social impact rather than price or product features. The analysis demonstrates that CSV creates competitive advantage through market differentiation, risk mitigation, community-based ecosystem development, and unique institutional positioning enabled by state ownership. The study also contributes to CSV literature by validating theoretical frameworks such as Porter and Kramer’s CSV model, New Institutional Economics, and the Triple Bottom Line in an emerging economy and state-owned banking context. Nevertheless, limitations remain, including reliance on internal perspectives, challenges in establishing causality, and restricted generalizability beyond Thailand’s institutional context. Future research should incorporate customer and competitor perspectives, apply comparative analysis across different banking models, and assess long-term financial viability of CSV strategies. Overall, the research underscores that authentic integration of CSV enables banks like GSB to align profit with purpose, strengthening both economic resilience and market legitimacy in a rapidly evolving financial sector.