Do you have the skills for success in sustainable business?

Green economy is here to stay

 

Switzerland is expected to create 53,000 jobs by 2020 in the green economy according to the Swiss newspaper LeMatin.ch. The green economy sector, generating a turnover of 29 billion Swiss francs (23 billion Euros), has enjoyed "an annual growth of 6.3% since 2001, double the overall growth in Switzerland" during this period (3.2%), according to a study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

At this rate, "in 2020, we can count on 53,000 additional jobs related to the environment (...) for a turnover could reach 57 billion Swiss francs," said the study, entitled "Environmental Markets in Switzerland, prospects for the economy and employment." Some environmental markets have actually "experienced a boom in recent years," the statement said, citing in particular the area of green building. The records show an annual growth of 47%. The renewable energy sector for its part, increased annually by 13% and the organic food industry by 6%. 

Are you ready?

This growth in the green economy will require the rapid development of sustainable business skills in all professional fields. We know from our research that many companies are not ready for this and that there is a search for talent and experienced professionals in the market.

That is why Business School Lausanne (BSL) and the Institute for Economy and the Environment at the University of St. Gallen have created a joint executive program leading to a Diploma in Advanced Studies in Sustainable Business, which is officially endorsed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led, global association of some 200 companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development.

Specifically, the aim is to prepare future leaders in business for success in developing sustainability, with training in the best current knowledge in the global and business sustainability fields. This includes developing change management skills and offering project experience with corporate sustainability projects. The program approaches the topic of sustainability from its impact across business functions and, at a broader level, the strategic implications on business in general and the global challenges facing our planet today and in the coming decades.

The English-language program is a project-based, one-year, part-time program that runs over 13 weekends. The program starts coming September, with two intakes per year in September and February. Enrollment for the September 2011 sessions is now underway. 

The program welcomes professionals with a university degree or equivalent and at least three years of professional experience at a management level or a minimum of six years of work experience.

The program is designed in a unique format, with projects being brought in directly from business and dealing with multi-stakeholder environments and learning in action, in the field. More than 50% of the program taught outside the classroom, involving multiple stakeholders in addition to the program faculty. Locations include the University of St. Gallen and the Business School of Lausanne (Chavannes-près-Renens), as well as at off-site locations out-of-doors, in nature, in companies, with project teams on site as well as working with NGOs.

The Program Director, Dr. Madelon Evers, leads the academic direction of the joint program. “At the core of the learning is everything about sustainability as well as developing management skills to actually succeed in leading change. When people become competent in sustainable management and confident that they can depend on other’s strengths to transform their companies, good things can start to happen” Madelon Evers says. “The challenge will be to develop leaders that can change the rules, adapt strategy and operations to embrace sustainability in a responsible way.”

This new program in Sustainable Business has been launched by two of the co-founders of the World Business School Council for Sustainable Business (WBSCSB) and complements the aims of this global business school council. The WBSCSB gathers concerned thought leaders from the international business community, academia, international organizations and NGOs, and works with existing organizations and networks to make change happen.

For more information, contact 

Business School Lausanne

Route de la Maladière 21 – PO Box 73

1022 Chavannes - Switzerland 
T +41 21 619 0606

www.bsl-lausanne.ch

Colpac: SME aiming for sustainability

Colpac is a SME specialising in the design and  manufacturing/production of paperboard foodservice disposables, and the distribution of specialised, complementary sealing and forming machinery, exporting to some 40 countries world-wide. We spoke with Neil Goldman, Managing Director/CEO, about how his company is making packaging a sustainable business.

Q: How has Colpac been building a sustainable business, 
particularly in relation to CSR guidelines but other ways?

A: The company has targeted its growth and CSR goals towards two markets: a) foodservice distribution of disposable packaging and b) the food production supply chain into supermarkets. The company itself is part of the paperboard industry supply chain which of itself is inherently self-sustaining. Trees are harvested and replenished in much the same way as crops are. Self-interest dictates that the supply chain is in healthy order and sustainable.

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about how you target specifically the green/CSR side?
 
A: Our products have always been at the higher end of the price range with regard to other food service packaging and disposables materials, such as plastics or foil. In the past, such a price factor meant that the cheaper, less environmentally friendly products dominated most of the global foodservice markets. Around the year 2000, there was a remarkable sea-change , brought about predominantly by British supermarkets and food retailers, such as Marks and Spencer, who announced their own CSR strategies and their intention to rid themselves, as far as possible, of environmentally unfriendly products, plastics in particular, in favour of biodegradable packaging options, ideally with a lower carbon footprint (not necessarily the same thing!)

The standards sets by the British supermarkets have gradually cascaded down not only to their own smaller competitors and suppliers in the UK market, but have also set bench marks in other major global markets, such as France, USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Germany, where the UK’s  best practices and innovation  have been noted and replicated.

Colpac has taken up the challenge with gusto. We have been working with our raw material suppliers, the paper and board mills, as well as polymer and film producers, inks and glues suppliers, to develop ever more sophisticated materials to conserve and preserve food contents within packaging, whilst maintaining biodegradability and eco- credentials. Although we have not yet won award for CSR issues/sustainability, we have won awards for product innovation.
In terms of the product itself, we have concentrated on providing a product range in its own right, ie. food containers, rather than secondary packaging, the need for which is often questioned. We try to build novelty and innovation into the design and construction of our product range.

We complement our product development strategy with a philosophy which is geared towards ensuring that our employees understand the bigger corporate and environmental issues, through regular in-house briefings and presentations. We also support a local woodlands charity and a school –building project in Nepal which hopefully underlines our belief in education leading to self-help for all. 
We are in a fortunate position. Unlike large multinationals like BP or MacDonalds who perhaps have to work hard at their social responsibility and green credentials, (in order, cynics might say, to divert attention away from their core activities), we at Colpac are in a naturally ‘green’ business environment, well- supported by our major customers, with a product range that is both necessary and demanded on a world-wide basis.

Q: What are the main challenges you see in the next 5-10 years in terms of ethical, 
social, and especially ecological aspects of sustainability?

A: The challenge for the next 5-10 years will be the supply of raw materials to cater for an increasing global population. Socially, will people continue to buy into such a green philosophy if times are hard? If food prices continue to rise, downward pressure on packaging prices will put huge pressure on green products ability to compete profitably. Ethically, and ecologically, will people still want packaging that puts such demand on renewable resources? The answer will depend on how the supply chain reacts, and what resources individual countries put towards such targets, perhaps in conflict with other demands for land to grow food, for example.

 Q: What is the opportunity you see for companies like yours to go beyond CSR to become an "no footprint" ecologically minded business? What kind of actions would you recommend following?

A: To go beyond CSR to a ‘no footprint’ status is going to be extremely hard. The paperboard industry, whilst sustainable, self-sustaining and green, is a big user of energy. Producer/converters like Colpac would have to be re-sited next to the forests ( impractical, politically doubtful) in order to try to reduce carbon footprint, but then, extra energy would be consumed in getting the products to market. The products themselves are recyclable as well as biodegradable, so there is some wastage in new production that can be cut out. I doubt however that the industry can ever be carbon neutral. This is an extremely specialised area in which I cannot claim expert knowledge.

Q: Which company (international or UK) is your 'role model' in terms of doing greener business?
 
A: Given my previous comments, it is not easy to answer this question. I don’t think there is a ‘green’ idol! We just continue to improve our methods and products and processes, and see how far we can go!

Q: If you could say one inspiring thing to the world (clients, manufacturers, suppliers, innovators) 
about your vision of the future of packaging, what would you say?
 
A: ‘The medium is the message. So don’t shoot the messenger!’   The industry knows what has to be done. The key for a successful future in packaging is to be able to do the most with the least’.
-maximise product features and benefits
-maximise product efficiency
-maximise material utilisation
-maximise waste utilisation
-maximise personnel creative and technical expertise via training
-maximise personnel awareness of global issues such as the environment, and raw materials scarcity, as well as application, and how they affect long term sustainability.
-maximise appreciation of such issues in schools.




For more inspiration we recommend the book  Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston (2009).

Trends to watch in sustainability

Welcome to BSL's news and updates on sustainable business. 

Everyone affects the sustainability of the marketplace and the planet in some way. The reason we created a blog dedicated to the topic of building sustainable business, is that BSL wishes to support students, sponsors and relations as much as possible to make the future sustainable. A sustainable business can create value for customers, investors, and the environment. A sustainable business meets customer needs while, at the same time, treating the environment well.

According to wikipedia, a sustainable business is an enterprise that has no negative impact on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy—a business that strives to meet the "triple bottom line"  of benefiting people and the planet, not just going for profit. 

Often, sustainable businesses have progressive environmental and human rights policies. In general, a business is described as "green" (more than just sustainable) if it matches the following four criteria:
    1.    It incorporates principles of sustainability into each of its business decisions.
    2.    It supplies environmentally friendly products or services that replaces demand for nongreen products and/or services.
    3.    It is greener than traditional competition.
    4.    It has made an enduring commitment to environmental principles in its business operations.

Building a sustainable business involves a process of assessing how to design products that will take advantage of the current environmental situation and how well a company’s products perform with renewable resources. Sustainable businesses with a supply chain try to hit the triple-bottom line by using sustainable development and sustainable distribution to impact the environment, business growth, and the society.

Over the past years, a few pioneers have led the way in the design of sustainable business. 

One of the most important companies to know about in this arena is MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, LLC), a global consultancy helping clients create a positive footprint on the planet by implementing the so-called Cradle to Cradle® framework. This framework has been formalised as an internationally acclaimed Cradle to Cradle sustainability certification for business, which shows the global industry’s deepening commitment to re-think and re-design products and processes for human health, environmental health and recyclability. MBDC’s international client base includes companies in Spain, Germany, Italy and Japan, Chinese urban developers, and clients like Nestle Waters North America, Method Products, Kiehl’s Since 1851, Aveda Corporation and Van Houtum Papier BV.

Last year, MBDC certified more than 100 products, bringing the total number of products certified to more 300 since the program launched in late 2005. Lauded by governments and industry around the world, more and more companies are going for Gold-level certification, Cradle to Cradle’s second highest level of achievement, which implies that product manufacturers have eliminated chemicals assessed by MBDC to be a high hazard to human and environmental health, and final assembly processes are powered by 50 percent renewable energy. 

“Over the past year, we’ve noticed more companies coming to MBDC because they see an opportunity to be recognized as leaders in sustainability from governments and NGOs, but also by consumers,” said Jay Bolus, VP of Technical Operations at MBDC. “Even in challenging economic times, sustainability is becoming more central to their way of doing business, and they’re willing to put in the work.” 

An organization pursuing sustainability as a growth opportunity engenders a focus on enhancing benefits (not only reducing costs) through its decision-making and actions -- taking an approach of optimization rather than minimization. The organization can understand the perspective of “people, planet and profit," as expansionist and enabling leadership through the achievement of advanced success metrics. For example, the concept of ‘good design’ of products and services should move beyond typical measures of quality -- cost, performance and aesthetics -- to integrate and apply additional objectives addressing the environment and social responsibility.

Co-founder of MBCD, the reknowned architect William McDonough, was named by Vanity Fair magazine as one of the Top 100 Influential People in 2010, and named by Design Intelligence the No. 1 “role model” for sustainability in the world. McDonough has crusaded since the 1970s with an uncompromising environmental credo—he believes in re-using just about everything—and has inspired some of the highest-profile green projects of our time, including his big cool buddy Brad Pitt’s Make It Right houses in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward.

He developed the Cradle to Cradle® framework to move beyond the traditional goal of reducing the negative impacts of commerce (‘eco-efficiency’), to a new paradigm of increasing its positive impacts (‘eco-effectiveness’). MBDC has developed a white paper that compares the approach of eco-efficiency (or minimization) and a more comprehensive, sustaining approach that integrates eco-efficiency within the larger eco-effective goal of optimization.

Upcoming blog posts in 2011

This space is for all those who wish to contribute to business & management by embracing our responsibility to become a positive force in solving the burning issues of the 21st century. 

We aim to inspire business practitioners to apply their experience to cutting edge business research, and to share breakthrough thinking with the world. 

We will focus on topics that contribute to the well-being of the business community and of the planet. Themes include:

1. Business sustainability and ethics

• Embedding sustainability into the core strategies
• Clarifying requirements and examples of truly sustainable products and services
• Developing tools, solutions and measurements to make business sustainable

2. Entrepreneurship and strategic thinking

• Developing entrepreneurial approaches to strategic development (e.g. blue ocean strategies)
• Organizing objectives, resources and decision-making effectively and sustainably
• Improving approaches to ensure effective implementation of ideas and goals

3. Leadership and management effectiveness

• New approaches to develop reflective and courageous leaders (e.g. coaching)
• Developing new solutions for managerial, personal and operational effectiveness
• Exploring effective ways for team and communication effectiveness

4. Alternative business models and new ideas

• Integrating business profitability with sustainability
• New models to ensure effective corporate governance
• Applying emerging ideas (e.g. brand aesthetics, understanding customer satisfaction)

5. Higher business education

• Explore new ways to create powerful and safe learning environments
• Clarify requirements for business schools to prepare future leaders
• Explore and integrate new ideas and concepts to address and deal with future challenges