January 28, 2014
In 2013, our Advisory Team conducted in-depth confidential management assessments and provided detailed recommendations for improvement with supporting SR Inc Guidebooks, Tools and vendor-neutral Solution Assessments to relevant leaders at more than 50 global companies and large real estate owners. SR Inc’s 2013 Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable’s (SBER) annual assessments reflected three clear directional trends:
First, those leading sustainability efforts have recognized that developing a comprehensive “sustainability strategy” enables them to be better recognized and resourced by senior management. Business case supported, multi-year, milestone-based Sustainability Strategies are proving to be a no capital cost “force multiplier” that enables enterprises to translate the noise of disparate efficiency and engagement programs into a signal senior management, top talent, top customers, top investors and regulators can recognize and reward.
Second, high performing enterprises have recognized that a systematized commitment to greater Corporate Sustainability better organizes and animates their existing continuous optimization and innovation efforts. Corporate Sustainability is becoming less a discrete additional activity and instead a more strategic framework and catalyst to better understand and drive existing commitments to continuous optimization and innovation. Sustainability is turbo-charging conventional continuous optimization and innovation with the energy of broader social and environmental relevance.
Third, high performing enterprises are increasingly focusing on the strategic and technical innovations that a commitment to greater corporate sustainability can best drive. High performers recognize that resource constraints are rising world-wide and they are leveraging external and internal multi-stakeholder engagement processes organized around the need for greater sustainability to identify opportunities for system change and “transformative efficiencies” for their companies and customers.
These trends were underscored by broader industry research. In 2013, Accenture and the UN surveyed more than 1,000 global CEOs across 27 industries and found 93% believe “sustainability” will be key to their future business success, 63% believed related issues would transform their industry within 5 years but only 33% felt “business was doing enough” Consequently, in 2014 the best in business will accelerate their embrace of innovating for sustainability like everything depended on it.
Jim Boyle is the President and CEO of Sustainability Roundtable, Inc. and is responsible for building sustainable value for SR Inc Member enterprises, employees and investors. For the last five years, Jim has led a full-time team of diverse experts officed across the U.S. assisting world-leading corporations and federal agencies in the move to greater sustainability. Follow Jim on Twitter.
