Responsible and sustainable business has become, and will continue to be, a competitive advantage for business. When you start looking into the topic more deeply, you will come across a jungle of terms, regulations and certifications, which is difficult to get a hold of. Responsibility affects all areas of the organization in one way or another, and therefore it would be useful to find a structured way to start a conversation with different stakeholders, increase awareness of the topic and implement the strategy in the organization so that the business can benefit from it.
Good intentions are no longer enough in today’s world. Sustainable development is a huge challenge that transcends the boundaries of individual companies. Therefore, today, sustainability is seen as a business approach that creates long-term value by taking into account how a given organization functions in the ecological, social and economic environment. Due to emerging social, legal and constitutional concerns and pressures, accountability has arguably become the biggest business revolution since the e-commerce boom. Sustainability researchers and managers tend not to talk about timelines when talking about the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit), where organizations must manage their social, environmental and financial performance to create shared value for business and society, because there are hardly any quick wins.
However, the key thing is to understand that a sustainable approach in the long term means building a more flexible organization that can manage risks and anticipate hazards that would affect its financial performance. Sustainable companies are better able to retain the important resources needed for growth, such as loyal and motivated employees, who, based on research, also care the most about the employer’s social responsibility. Employees of sustainable companies are strongly committed to the organizational changes that are needed to ensure positive effects.
A framework to a responsibility work
The ESG reference framework plan below was created as part of the Management in Sustainable Business final project for an international organization, but it serves as a good guideline for various companies and a tool for mapping out responsibility work. It helps to find an easy way to incorporate sustainability goals into an already existing strategy and provides a framework for strengthening communication, making the plan easier to implement.
Including the essential objects of the organization in question, the model serves as an understandable framework for management, employees and other stakeholders. It can also be considered a way to increase awareness of the topic by adding a responsibility communication plan that focuses on the communication of essential issues internally and externally, including key performance indicators and project plans, thereby avoiding the possibility of greenwashing. The most important thing is to start the responsibility work with the current status analysis and transparently communicate the goals and how to get there. As mentioned at the beginning, there are no quick wins.
Sources
Brocke, J. v., Seidel, S., & Recker, J. (2012). Green business process management: Towards the sustainable enterprise. Springer.
Haanaes, K. (2016). Why all businesses should embrace sustainability. IMD. https://imd.widen.net/view/pdf/bzgbueu7ap/tc082-16_why-all-businesses-should-embrace-sustainability_haanaes-2022-update-version.pdf
Ortiz-de-Mandojana, N., & Bansal, P. (2016). The long-term benefits of organizational resilience through sustainable business practices. Strategic management journal, 37(8), 1615-1631. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2410
