Sustainability in business is about the impact that companies have on the environment or society. To ensure that your business strategy is effective and sustainable, it is essential to understand the complexities of sustainability and identify opportunities. A successful business strategy should have a positive effect on one or both areas, thus helping to address some of the world's most pressing issues. Business leaders should clearly articulate quantified business objectives and send them cascading increasingly detailed objectives to the succeeding levels of their subordinates.
This creates a framework that aligns decisions and actions with the achievement of higher-level business objectives. It is also important to consider a value-based approach when developing business strategies, as this can be vital to long-term success. To make your business more sustainable and effective, there are several strategies you can implement. These strategies require organization, data, communication, resources and technology:
- Connect with the need.
Sustainable strategies represent a way of changing the overall risk profile of an organization by mitigating, minimizing and designing potential defects that may act as obstacles to long-term business success.
- Incorporate sustainability into business strategy. Many companies have established CSR, environmental management and sustainability programs, but these should be implemented in parallel with the development of the conventional business strategy.
- Justify why sustainability is important with a business argument. As Rebecca Henderson, professor at Harvard Business School, points out in the online course Sustainable Business Strategy, you can't use business to do good in the world if you're not doing well financially.
- Develop strategic resilience through sustainable business practice. This begins with understanding the risks and dependencies of the company in the context of a changing world.
Thirteen entrepreneurs from the Forbes Business Development Council explore elements that will ensure sustainable business growth with a specific focus on factors that start working almost immediately. By following these tips, businesses can create an effective and sustainable strategy that will help them succeed in today's constantly evolving world. With an organized approach, data-driven decisions, communication strategies, resources and technology, businesses can create a sustainable strategy that will help them reach their goals.
