Corporate commitments to sustainability-driven management are strengthening, with approaches far more active than the other. A gap has emerged between sustainability strategy leaders, called ‘embracers’, and laggards, called ‘cautious adopters’. While embracers treat sustainability as a business core, cautious adopters attend to it as a layer on top of their business strategy.
Companies increasingly believe sustainability will become a source of advantage, should be incorporated strategically in all aspects of business operations and eventually will require a change in competitive behavior. Santiago Gowland, vp of brand and global corporate responsibility at Unilever, says: “The only way to continue growing and continue being a successful business is to treat sustainability as a key business lever in the same way that you treat marketing, finance, culture, HR or supply chain. So really it’s core to the ability of the business to grow.”
“So really it’s core to the ability of the business to grow.”
One important finding of the study reveals that cautious adopters see the sustainability business case in terms of risk management and efficiency gains, while embracers see the payoff mostly in intangible advantages, process improvements, the ability to innovate and, most importantly, in the opportunity to grow. And the embracers, are the highest performing businesses in the study.
Embracers say that one way they outperform competitors is by providing new products valued by customers who care about issues such as energy efficiency and ethical supply chains which leads to sales increase. As Peter White, P&G director of global sustainability, points out: “products that allow consumers to save energy and save money, products that have clear social sustainability benefits in terms of saving people, time, empowering women and so on.” Developing these products, he argues, is a way “to actually build your business.”
“..a way to actually build your business.”
Another focus point of embracers are intangible benefits. Many companies understand that resource efficiency is a benefit and measuring resource use and waste efficiency is a good way to start. But what is equally, if not more, important to business success is acting on the more intangible rewards of embracing sustainability, such as employee engagement or the ability to innovate.
Scarcities of natural resources, the effects of carbon dioxide on global warming, and the external pressures of activists groups, consumers and investors put sustainability on the agenda. When viewing their business through a sustainability frame, companies find out that opportunities emerge that might not have otherwise been identified. This relates to the readiness of embracers to start while accepting they did not have all the answers in place, but pushed ahead regardless. Companies are learning by doing in this journey and experiencing new insights along the way.
The embracing companies are already finding out the advantages of more sustainability-driven practices and approaches. Please use the checklist below to see to what extent you have the embracer-mindset or how you can become one!
How do I become an embracer-checklist:
1. Move early - even if information is incomplete
2. Balance a long term vision with short term goals
3. Drive sustainability top-down and bottom-up
4. Integrate sustainability in all business processes
5. Measure, measure, measure
6. Value intangible benefits seriously
7. Be authentic and transparent
by Fleur Embrechts
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