More on sustainability and strategy
Two solid pieces on strategy implications from sustainability. The Business of Sustainability report from BCG reviews the impact the issue is having on companies and how it is affecting their strategic management. Most now see it as far more than just the latest fad and potentially a big factor in their future success – or failure. Sloan Mgmt Review summarises this report, 5 mini-cases on Nike, Rio Tinto, GE, Better Place and Wal-Mart, and articles on implications for competitive conditions and for talent-management.
Great piece on sustainability and business
Great video with Adam Werbach, author of Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto, shares an adaptation from his book and talks with the McKinsey Quarterly about trading in green fashion for more enduring business solutions. Practial and commercial.
Business case for sustainability
Michael Olson of Pleiades Technology Futures just pointed me to what looks some solid materials on how to make the business case for investing in sustainability from Bob Willard at Sustainability Advantage. This contrasts strongly with much of the well-meaning but mostly futile aspirations of many sustainability advocates.
Bob’s approach is extremely clear and expressed in terms that would likely grab exec attention – pointing out in particular that many substantial investments in sustainability offer a perfectly good financial return in conventional terms, even before adding the intangible value of external benefits. Read more
Sustainability and strategy
Good to see a serious management journal – MIT’s Sloan Management Review – regularly featuring items on this issue. John Sterman’s ‘Sober optimist’s guide to sustainability‘ and an interview with Rebecca Henderson are both good. Read more
Sustainability MBA
Following a couple of posts on sustainability, it’s interesting to find at least one dedicated MBA in the topic, at Presidio School of Management [who also offer shorter executive classes]. I don’t have any information on its quality, so would be interested to hear feedback on this or any other such program.
Strategy and sustainability
Had a couple of interesting contacts on this last week. Seems senior executives in general certainly ‘want to do what’s right’, but face two difficulties. First, it’s not as obvious as it seems to know what the right thing is to do [think of the debates about exploiting cheap labour vs. destitution and poverty]. Secondly, it’s hard for CEOs to make the business case for doing things that seem to be just costly. We can help on both issues. Read more
Socio-political issues – lead or follow?
I’m sceptical of the value from surveys of executive opinion – why should I care e.g. whether X% of CEOs think that getting the talent they need is a problem? This one on attitudes to socio-political issues is interesting, but Read more
Wal-Mart = ‘Environmental Protection Agency’?
Sloan Mgmt Review highlights a New York Times article on Walmart’s toughening stance on environmental sustainability. It also points out the inherent conflict in this – that W. relies on selling ’stuff’ in vast quantities. Yet even so, their leverage over suppliers may make them a very effective ‘Environmental Protection Agency’. Read more