From Guest Blogger Rose Denholm: Achieving a Sustainable Business

It has long been reported that sustainable business companies create economic value, but they must overcome obstacles to reach their goal. The real challenges they face are related to the government, consumer perceptions and employees or their own organization.

Companies that invest in sustainability are not worse off financially than those which decide against it. Usually sustainable business tend to have employees, customers and investors that are more engaged and satisfied, however, these companies must face a series of obstacles.

Companies should not look for excuses to avoid sustainability; in fact sustainability brings benefits for companies, as the issue goes beyond the responsibility for social and environmental impact. The importance of sustainability goes far beyond environmental issues, as the need to behave responsibly becomes a key aspect for strategy, and maintenance of brand reputation. This is true irrespective of the industry in which a company operates.

However, there are challenges that a company has to face when they decide to be sustainable:

Educate the Consumer

It is vital to educate the consumer in their purchasing decisions. Businesses should understand that consumers do not consider sustainability consistently enough when deciding to purchase a product. More and more companies are changing the way they engage with consumers, as they now recognize corporate responsibility practices, and include them into their purchasing decisions. However, companies will have to educate their customers about the attributes of their products; so as to they can achieve more informed purchasing decisions.

Government Commitment to Sustainability

Governments have tools that encourage companies to be sustainable, but in most cases they work poorly. It’s clear that behaving in a responsible way is imperative, not only for single organizations, but also for economies and societies. That’s why many companies are working hand in hand with governments to tackle risks like climate change, and secure the natural resources they need  to responsibly promote a good growth, that’s not only sustainable financially but also real, inclusive, and will stand the test of time.

Governments should pursue policies that encourage all organizations to have better sustainability.

Engagement with the community

Better guidelines for involving stakeholders are needed, in order to gain a better understanding of the local perspective on sustainability. This way a business can be build a relationship with the community based on respect and trust.

Sustainable businesses are solid; create economic value, healthy ecosystems and strong communities, to the point that sustainability has to be seen as a driver for business innovation. In this sense, sustainable businesses are those that have been implementing, for example, energy saving programs, measuring their carbon footprint, recycling among others, but without forgetting the other pillars of corporate social responsibility, such as the welfare of their workers, or the quality of their products and services.

Sustainability and Profit
Sustainability is not yet seen as a source of profit. Managers must learn to assess the short and long term profits the business can achieve. Until sustainability is not seen as a legitimate activity, preference will be given to other projects.
For companies, sustainability goes hand in hand with the vision of CSR in an organization, since it is part of the work to the benefit – or – without harming the environment in which it operates. In simple terms: the firms that are identified with this concept have a vision of business should seek to meet the needs of stakeholders today, but without compromising the needs of future generations.

In the same way as a company takes care of not using their financial capital , also requires overseeing natural resources used in their production processes , in order to ensure that will not be exhausted , together with fairly distribution of the economic benefits generated. That’s social, economic and environmental sustainability, not an easy balance to achieve, but in which progress is needed

Educate the Employee

Companies need to learn how to motivate their employees to assume sustainability initiatives. Research shows that employees prefer to work in sustainable companies, and some even sacrifice a higher salary for doing so. When discussing the term social sustainability we are considering the welfare and working conditions of employees, or the company’s commitment to social development of the community in which it operates.

The concept of sustainable development, linked to sustainable consumption, should become a basic principle for each of us, directing our purchase options to those products and services that are based on sustainability.