Strategy for Corporate Sustainability

Business Case for Sustainability

The challenge for many businesses in this new field is to quantify the positive impacts of sustainability. Sustainability can increase revenue, reduce energy expenses, reduce waste expenses, reduce materials and water expenses, increase employee productivity, reduce hiring and attrition expenses, and reduce strategic and operational risks (Blewitt 2014). Furthermore, sustainable business practices may attract talent and generate tax breaks (Kahle and Gurel‐Atay 2013; Welford 1997).

Transparency

Transparency deals with the idea that by having an engaging and open environment in the company as well as the community will improve performance and increase profits. It is an open culture that promotes employee involvement in the innovation and creative processes. Reaching out to the community creates a much bigger team, is extremely cheap, and provides evaluation from all angles. Companies are looking inward and realizing changes must be made to fulfill environment needs such as energy efficiency, limiting product waste and toxicity, and designing innovative products. One way for companies to accomplish this is through open communications with stakeholders characterized by high levels of information disclosure, clarity, and accuracy (Finn 2009).

Stakeholder Engagement

Sustainability requires a company to look internally and externally to understand their environmental and social impacts. This requires the engagement of stakeholders to understand impacts and concerns. A business can address sustainability internally by educating employees and seeking to reduce impacts through waste reduction, energy efficiency, etc. Employee engagement can be a powerful motivator by having a philanthropy committee or a green team. As a company looks externally, stakeholders include customers, suppliers, community, and nongovernment organizations.