Make your business sustainable
Awareness of social and environmental issues is increasing and organisations around the world are facing increasing pressure to be more “sustainable”.
What does it really mean to be sustainable, and is it actually a realistic ambition for a profit-driven corporation?
In a nutshell, sustainability is just about doing things carefully so that we can enjoy our own lives without bringing about problems in the lives of others, present or future.
Sustainability is often referred to as being measured on the triple bottom line, instead of the conventional corporate bottom line focusing purely on monetary profit.
The three elements for sustainability are as follows:
- Financial: Developing sustainable business models and stable, affluent economies.
- Social: Creating a a just society free from exploitation.
- Environmental: Reducing damage to the natural environment to a level that it can be digested by nature’s own mechanisms.
Far too often, though, sustainability is viewed as a negative problem focused on informing people what they just cannot do. However, if we are going to be successful in developing a more sustainable world, we must look at sustainability as an opportunity to move ahead and explore new, better ways of doing things.
For organisations that choose to pursue sustainability, the main advantages are:
Greater brand value
In an increasingly crowded global business environment, customers require a good reason to buy from you instead of your rivals. With awareness of environmental and social issues among consumers growing rapidly, a genuine commitment to sustainability is a valuable point of difference for your business.
Similarly, the decreased liabilities and increased consumer demand resulting from responsible practices add long-term value to your organisation. Therefore, as long as your corporate social responsibility policies are financially realistic, they will increase the value of your share price.
It’s important to note however, that achieving this greater value requires integrity and transparency, aswell as effective communication of your corporate social responsibility policies.
Make sure that you are not greenwashing, or just paying lip service to sustainability values in your advertising and brand design. Consumers and the media are more informed than you think, and you will soon get found out, harming your reputation and eroding faith in your brand.
Lower costs
Although some sustainability plans may cost more or require a significant initial investment, most of the basic elements of sustainability focus around reducing waste.
Wasted energy and wasted materials are not just bad for the environment but also a waste of money. A lot of companies have found that massive money savings can be made simply through better management of resources.
Improved Staff Motivation
Staff who believe that they are contributing to something of true value are much more motivated in their work than people who feel that they have no purpose other than to financially benefit managers and shareholders.
Enthusiastic employees produce better quality work and work harder. In addition, it makes your corporation a more appealing employer, making it easier to attract and retain high-calibre staff without having to compete purely on salaries and benefits.
A catalyst for innovation
Last but not least is the opportunity to use sustainability as an chance to produce creative solutions.
Meeting your social and environmental responsibilities by incremental improvement can be slow and costly, as in many cases, it involves trying to fix business models that are at their core, fundamentally unsustainable.
The opportunity therefore exists to experiment with radical new products, service and business concepts. By using sustainable design as an opportunity to stimulate innovation, you can create solutions that are not just socially and environmentally responsible, but which meet the needs of the target market more effectively, possess higher perceived value and yet are more efficient to deliver.
If embraced positively, sustainability need not be the nemesis of business, as it is so often perceived. Instead, it presents a massive opportunity to create a strong competitive advantage and build long-term value in your brands.
Whether we like it or not, the world is changing, and those taking the big steps today will emerge as the market leaders of tomorrow.