Corporate museums: a new frontier in sustainability

January 6, 2023

Although we often think of companies as abstract structures, they are in fact composed of people -- people that are involved in overseeing not only the company's financial resources, but also looking after its natural, historical and cultural assets.

Following the pandemic, many companies are looking to rediscover their purpose in a changing economy, all while staying true to the company's first founders and employees. This is particularly true for family-owned companies, which may face decisions as to whether to restructure, close or evolve into a new activity, particularly as a younger generation takes the lead. How can companies ensure that their people and culture continue to thrive into the next generation?

Corporate museums are industrial spaces that offer a unique opportunity for companies to showcase their ways of doing business and educate visitors on their industrial and sustainability practices. Corporate museums can also provide employees, particularly those with the longest tenure, with an opportunity to share the values, history and culture of the company with different stakeholders. What sort of benefits do these projects provide?

• An educational and engaging industrial experience. First, corporate museums provide an interactive learning environment that helps visitors understand the company’s production process, values, practices and industrial heritage in a more meaningful way. In the automobile industry, Lamborghini and Michelin are the perfect examples of a corporate museums that create an industrial experience for visitors to discover the automobile value chain and industrial heritage.

• A way to prove commitment to sustainability. By transporting customers and partners to the company's operational value chain, companies can demonstrate exactly how they are putting their sustainability strategy in place as opposed to simply describing it through data and reports. Allowing direct access to real-time operations is also a way to support accountability, transparency and corporate social responsibility. In the fashion industry, companies such as Hugo Boss and Prada have created corporate museums that not only show the industrial process but also highlight sustainability initiatives.

• A focused way to value employees. Corporate museums allow companies to offer recognition to their employees by giving them the opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences, all while supporting staff retention and fostering loyalty. This can be particularly fulfilling for employees who have spent many years with the company and are looking to add value in a different way, and can also be a useful training tool for new employees to quickly understand how their team contributes to the company's overall success. In the aerospace industry, Airbus’ industrial museum in Toulouse has been an effective way to recognize the expertise of their employees and inspire future generations.

• A way to build meaningful engagement with customers, partners and their families. Corporate museums provide a space in which customers, partners and their families can learn more about the industrial process while engaging with the company on an intimate level. By walking through the company's history and practices, stakeholders can make their own assessment of the brand in a way that is much more valuable than targeted ads and social media campaigns. The H&M industrial museum in Stockholm has sought to connect with customers and give them an opportunity to understand the craftsmanship behind their garments.

Building a museum is a complex undertaking, requiring not only an exercise in collecting stories, photographs, records, artifacts and art, but also designing and realizing a physical space to receive visitors. Certain companies have opted for interactive guided experiences of day-to-day operations, whereas others have focused on simply displaying objects, with written explanations to chart the company's history.

In any case, a museum project can be a way to extend a company's ecosystem to stakeholders outside the company while creating a meaningful connection between the industrial process and its social and environmental impact. Corporate museums offer a unique experience that educates future generations on industrial heritage while helping them understand the importance of sustainability. This can in turn help a company successfully chart its evolution into a new era of doing business, while taking along key stakeholders in the journey.

CPM