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

Sustainable Brands

This blog post profiles a fascinating company in the USA called Sustainable Life Media, a leading producer of sustainable business conferences and educational events, with supporting products and services that include targeted e-newsletters, an online learning resource and community and more.

SLM says, "we are here to inspire and support innovation for sustainability by linking people with ideas and solutions that are creating positive change in the global business marketplace." The company aspires to be an example of the kind of business they hope to encourage, seeing business basics like customer focus and quality to be just that -- basic. 

They believe that the bar is being raised for tomorrow's business leaders, and want to be at the front of the train -- not the back. This means extending commitments beyond the basics, to things like a pursuit of both purpose AND profit. To being transparent, to collaboration, and to being more environmentally aware. 

SLM notes "We're serious about reducing our impact on the environment, and as a company whose business will result in air travel and congregation of thousands of people each year, we realize we have a responsibilty to be part of the solution. For this reason, we're eliminating hand outs in conference sessions, offsetting our carbon emissions, and in other ways, will continually look for ways to improve our environmental performance."

SLM knows that their preferred Suppliers can help drive business-to-business demand for more "sustainable" (environmentally or socially beneficial) products and services. For this reason, they give preference when possible, to partners and service providers who are also on the path to sustainability.

One of SLM's main events, Sustainable Brands ’11, which runs from June 7-10th, in Monterey California. This is where the sustainability, brand & design communities come together for the 5th year to discuss how better brands can succeed by helping shape a brighter future.  Reawaken your sense of the possible as you learn how sustainable brand leaders are making smarter strategic moves, developing new problem-solving skills, and inspiring others to help them bring healthier, smarter brands to market.

They will have 750+ Attendees, 120+ Speaker and  80+ Sessions on issues like

• Business Drivers and Innovation Strategy     
• Sustainable Design & Packaging              
• Brand Communication, PR and Marketing Best Practices              
• Supply Chain, Sourcing, & Community Partnerships              
• Culture & Brand.

See the interactive program guide here.

Download the Green Event Guide to learn more about how SLM tries to consider the environment when planning their events, as inspiration for your own!

Sustainable business? It's all about you.

Many companies are searching for a new business models for sustainable development. Business models for sustainable development aim to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits – the three pillars of sustainable development – through core business activities. In these models, the value proposition includes social, environmental and economic values, while value distribution within the whole market chain is a key feature.

According to the International Institute for Environment and Development, the center of any business model is the company’s ‘value proposition’ — the products and services that yield tangible results for the company’s target customers. A company’s value proposition distinguishes it from its competitors. The two main areas in which adaptation and innovation of a business model are talked about, are production and marketing. The production side comprises the set of activities, mechanisms and relationships for providing a good or service — in other words, ‘creating value’. The marketing side comprises the activities, mechanisms and relationships for selling that good or service — in other words, ‘capturing value’.

A company can use a new business model to pull a local farming community out of poverty, tackle climate change, protect a forest’s biodiversity -- and the IIED's ‘business models for sustainable development’ series (http://pubs.iied.org/17056IIED.html) shows you step by step how this can help to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals.

But there is one little yet essential element missing in all this talk about sustainable business models, marketing and production. And that is the human element, more precisely the leadership, the mindset, the me and the you who will take up a model and make the change. So how do you and I  change our internal orientation, ramping up our own leadership so that any sustainable business model we use will work out well? Here are a few inspiring New Rules of Work for leadership:

1. You are not just paid to work. You are paid to be uncomfortable - and to pursue projects that scare you.

2. Take care of your relationships and the money will take care of itself.

3. Lead yourself first. You can't help others reach for their highest potential until you're in the process of reaching for yours.

4. To double your income, triple your rate of learning.

5. While victims condemn change, leaders grow inspired by change.

6. Small daily improvements over time create stunning results.

7. Surround yourself with people courageous enough to speak truthfully about what's best for sustainable business, for your organization and the customers you serve.

8. Don't fall in love with the media. Greenwashing is the new Agent Orange.

9. Every moment listening to your customers is a moment of truth (to either show you live by the values you profess - or you don't).

10. Copying what your competition is doing just leads to being second best.

11. Become obsessed with sustainability such that every touch-point of doing business with you leaves people in awe of the integrity of your company.

12. Read sources of information you don't usually read. Talk to people who you don't usually speak to. Go to places you don't usually visit. Disrupt your thinking so it stays fresh and free.

These point were inspired by http://www.robinsharma.com/blog/03/the-50-new-rules-of-work

Grown Skis: a sustainable business walking their talk

Grown Skis

Munich, Germany
http://www.grownskis.com

Products: high tech eco freeride skis - light, durable, aesthetic, eco and beautiful.

 

As a mountain and snow and ski lover I wondered, is there really a company out there that is changing the face of a distinctly environmentally unfriendly, unsustainable outdoor sport? I found one that is head and shoulders above the rest. This is what the team at Grown have to say about their company:

Grown is a young innovative eco-entrepreneurial company that was founded in 2007. Visions are at the beginning of change - the necessary change of our current way to do business which exceeds the biocapacity of our planet by far. Visions need to be put into practice though in order to foster change, and we are developing our vision of more sustainable production and consumption. We use our business to inspire and implement solutions to interrelated ecological and social concerns.

We develop and design products of premium quality that are high tech and eco – high performing products on the cutting edge of technology that cause no unnessecary harm to the environment with the lowest possible ecological footprint. We currently offer allmountain freeride skis – eco-rrect skis and other models.

Grown is pioneering alternative materials and concepts in the ski industry. It has been the first ski company introducing an eco-efficient ski at the most important international sports industry fair, the ISPO in Munich, Germany.
 

In 2008 our efforts were awarded with the ISPO Volvo sports design award ECODESIGN. This event triggered the ski industry to develop their own sustainability efforts. We offer the most eco-efficient skis on the market, emitting at least 40% less CO2eq emissions than skis of comparable high quality produced in Europe. The skis are the first on the market to be climate offset or climate neutral, as is our company.

As the leader in sustainable ski design, we are proud that major ski companies took our design ideas and our results as a benchmark for their further development in this direction. Unfortunately, many of our competitors remain in greenwashing their conventional business with a single 'eco' ski.
Still, sustainability is a process, and the path to walk is a long and difficult one of entrepreneurial risks and investments. We admit that our business and our products are far from being perfectly sustainable as any kind of production and consumption has negative impacts on the environment. 

We strive to constantly improve our practices and believe that one should not leave the good for the better. If you want to be dedicated to growing a sustainable business, you must build up a community of like-minded people who contribute with their creative ideas and experiences to an open innovation process. So our Alpine or Telemark ski were just the first products - other ideas will follow.

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).

Towards a Green Economy: groudbreaking report 2011 out today!

Towards a Green Economy: are we really headed that way?

Derek Eaton, an economist and programme officer at the United Nations Environmental Programme is in Brussels today presenting his answers to this question. In a long awaited, groundbreaking report, he is setting out new "Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication" that every entrepreneur and aspiring sustainable business should take note of.

As I watched the stress and saw care Derek has taken with his team to put this monumental project together over the past year, and I'd like to honor UNEP in this blog by sharing with our community about the report -- a must if you want to be ahead of the game on how to build a sustainable business!

As Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director writes,
"Nearly 20 years after the Earth Summit, nations are again on the Road to Rio, but in a world very different and very changed from that of 1992.
Then we were just glimpsing some of the challenges emerging across the planet from climate change and the loss of species to desertification and land degradation. Today many of those seemingly far off concerns are becoming a reality with sobering implications for not only achieving the
UN’s Millennium Development Goals, but challenging the very opportunity for close to seven billion people − rising to nine billion by 2050 − to be able to thrive, let alone survive."

The report points out that a sustainable future "will only be possible if the environmental and social pillars of sustainable development are given equal footing with the economic one: where the often invisible engines of sustainability, from forests to freshwaters, are also given equal if not
greater weight in development and economic planning."

The report makes the "economic and social case for investing two per cent of global GDP in greening ten central sectors of the economy in order to shift development and unleash public and private capital flows onto a low-carbon, resource-efficient path."

The outcome could "catalyze economic activity of at least a comparable size to business as usual, but with a reduced risk of the crises and shocks increasingly inherent in the existing model. New ideas are by their very nature disruptive, but far less disruptive than a world running low on drinking water and productive land, set against the backdrop of climate change, extreme weather events and rising natural resource scarcities."

The concept of a green economy is powerful because, according to the authors, "one political perspective over another. It is relevant to all economies, be they state or more market-led. Neither is it a replacement for sustainable development. Rather, it is a way of realizing that development at the national, regional and global levels and in ways that resonate with and amplify the implementation of Agenda 21."

Looking at the world today, we can see that a transition to a green economy is already underway, but that there are many challenges to keep going on this path. If we beyond 2012, we will desperately need a far more intelligent management of the natural and human capital of this planet, as this is what, according to Steiner, "finally shapes the wealth creation and direction of this world."

You can read the full report online or download parts of the report on the Green Economy site:

http://www.unep.org/GreenEconomy/Default.aspx?alias=www.unep.org/greeneconomy/v2

The Green Economy Report was produced in close partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Seeking Talent: Sustainability in business and Cosmopolitanization.

There is a new wave of change impacting the world of business: cosmopolitanization. 

Cosmopolitanization is a change process that is transforming how people think and act, as well as social structures, balances of power and influence. It is the result of the far-reaching international integration of economic activity, beyond globalization, which includes the decreased importance of the nation state, and the changing importance of nationality and ethnicity. According to researcher Jonathan Friedman, whereas in 1968 the focus in many societies was on the national, local, collective, Social(ist), homogeneous and monocultural life, where people were striving for equality (sameness), since 1998 a shift towards the post national, global, individual, Liberal, heterogeneous, multicultural society has occurred, with more hierarchy (difference) rather than less.

In his book ‘The Cosmopolitan Vision’, Professor Dr. Ulrich Beck, a sociologist at Munich University and at the London School of Economics, also points to a growing awareness of global risks and crises that are transcending boundaries, including national, cultural, industry, sector, company and personal demarcation lines. This is creating a kind of ‘Cosmopolitan empathy’, a feeling of transnational connection which opens up room for understanding and sympathy on the one side, and disgust and antipathy on the other side for suffering caused by increasing famine, global warming, terrorism, and peak oil prices. There is a sense of an international ‘community of fate’, where we recognize our global interdependencies and respond more strongly to international problems such as the South East Asian tsunami disaster, the suppression of human rights, the fall-out from the financial crises in 2007 and 2008.

What does cosmopolitanization mean for sustainable talent development and HRM?

It is becoming clear how the sociological, or the people side of doing business, is also changing worldwide as a result of cosmopolitanization. Rolf Illum-Engsig, a Doctorate in Business Administration candidate at Business School Lausanne and with many years of experience in international business, sees a clash between what "millenials" or "Gen Y" employees in the 25-35 age group need and what multinationals actually have to offer.

When pay scale doesn't cut it anymore

One aspect he describes of the cosmopolitan generation (people with about 3-5 years of work experience) is that they are not likely to be attracted to or wanting to adhere to hierarchical career paths. Even when embarking on a hierarchical career, often the motivation to do so is related to another more altruistic purpose than the career in itself. In this sense, organizations need to rethink careers as means to an end, rather than as motivational in and of themselves. In many large companies, management and HR still believe they can motivate young talent by offering an attractive pay scale and career ladder. However, the new generation has a totally different experience and set of criteria for work, and perks like pay scale and time scale do not cut it anymore.

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

According to Engsig, the discrepancy occurs because multinationals tend to be hiring according to an image of a middle class American business school graduate, which is an out of date model. Recent research by the Economist Intelligence Unit on the composition of Global Fortune-500 boards indeed shows that fully 85% are men and 70% are Caucasian. Malcolm Gladwell in Blink notes that the majority of US Fortune 500 CEOs are over 6ft tall (compared with a mere 15% in the US population) and a third are over 6" 2 (ten times more than in the general population). Most of these are educated at a top university or business school, forming a homogeneous elite. According to Engsig, managers in large multinationals tend to look for examples of what young talent 'are like' by searching inside the box; that is, staying with a comparison of what slightly older employees in other multinationals are doing, and reading business sources about other successful managers who are like themselves in order to give a role model. In this kind of corporate culture, the Economist report quips, "perhaps the greatest talent of all then is to look the part and be able to climb the greasy pole."

Diversity, sustainability and opportunity

Another problem in multinationals is that despite all the talk about on getting women on board, there's no real diversity. By contrast, many more entrepreneurs in western societies are now women rather than men. And there is a large gap between what women with commercial talent are achieving, and what corporations who stick to the traditional line, are offering them. According to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report 2010, the gap between women and men on economic participation and political empowerment remains wide, because there is strong salary discrimination against women, and a lack of opportunities for women to rise to positions of leadership. In most countries -- and in many multinationals -- highly talented young women who began making careers in corporations are leaving before they get to the top, in order to find their own way in business on their own terms. This includes better pay; more shared participation in childcare, more equitable distribution of labor at home, and better work-life balance for both women and men. Only in Nordic countries have new laws made it possible for parents to combine work and family, resulting in high female participation rates. Policies applied in these countries include mandatory paternal leave in combination with maternity leave, generous federally mandated parental leave benefits provided by a combination of social insurance funds and employers, tax incentives and post-maternity re-entry programs.

Cosmopolitans and competence

A third aspect that Engsig points to, is that the new cosmopolitan generation has a view on learning and personal growth that is embedded in an extrovert context (“I learn together with others for the world and me”, connected to what is happening in the world) rather than an introvert context (“I learn for me and my job”, serving only the organization). Organizations have to design learning and personal development that goes beyond the narrow milieu of a job/the organization, and enable the development of competencies beyond simple knowledge transfer or learning from specialized training or books. Want to know more? Engsig is presenting his research on this topic at the 60th annual conference of the British Sociological Association in April 2011.

Conclusions

The impact of the 'cosmopolitan' generation on HR and recruiting in large companies is becoming clearer, and needs to be addressed. Although many large companies are focusing on business as usual, all but ignoring big social movements and crises worldwide, the young generation (highly concerned about immigration, refugees, famine, water wars, distribution of power, human rights and financial collapse) has very different ideas. Their need and expectation is that the companies they work for will do something about these crises, are accountable for their actions and will help prevent problems.

Currently, not enough international companies are looking at what the young generation is looking for in an employer: environmental responsibility, social responsibility, instant feedback and gratification, freedom of action, flexibility, and transparency in how the company acts in the marketplace.  Consequence: companies are finding it harder and harder to find and keep key talent on board. If global companies continue to hire people who are like them out of sync with the rest of world, then they will keep missing opportunities to benefit from the knowledge and talent of a cosmopolitan generation, and to build a sustainable future for their business.