If we want to incentivize private-sector partners to act in the best interests of the partnership, we must first ask ourselves: why does the private sector do what they do? What motivates a company to make the choices it makes?
The answer would seem obvious at first glance: a return on investment. While we could point to situations in which the private sector chose to delay profits-perhaps for strategic benefit-it seems fairly obvious to say that returns-whether in the form of direct profits or strategic benefits-are what drive the majority of private-sector actions. But what does the pursuit of private-sector value mean for public-sector health goals?
Within the private sector, there are many industries that directly and indirectly influence NCD outcomes. But of course, not all of these industries influence NCD outcomes for the better. Value alignment, then, is a metric for determining the relative alignment of a given company's values with public-sector health goals. We can categorize these differences on a spectrum we call the "Value Alignment Scale."