Especially now: accelerate, don’t downsize your sustainability efforts
29 september 2008
The economic reflex in such times often includes cutting the budget for sustainable development. However, such measure would only make things worse for the company. Penny wise, Pound foolish!
Societal trust in the financial industry -and probably in business community in general- is likely to be at a historic low. Joe Six-pack already has a hard time. On top of that his tax burden is going to increase because he has to compensate for the failings over-paid investment bankers. Politicians are getting ready to step up regulation. Anti-capitalists feel that they are right after all. “Business can not be successful in a society that fails” is an often quoted statement. However, currently many in society feel that their life is getting difficult because of failing business people.
Therefore business has to step up its efforts to strengthen its licence to operate. Not through charity, but by taking sustainability to the core of strategic and operational management lines. No company can afford to cut sustainability budgets today. We have often stated that sustainability is about “survival of the best fitting”. The survivors will only be those companies that continue invest in their relationships with stakeholders and society in general. Don’t let financial people scale back sustainability initiatives: financial engineering has already done enough damage. Especially now you should assess how to increase your value potential through levering on sustainability initiatives. For the good of your relations with society and for the good of your company. Wouldn’t such bonus be good news for your financial department?
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