This is perhaps one of the most commonly held misconceptions and it is the result of partial and incomplete benefits assessment. Majority of businesses take into account only direct costs and direct benefits (short term profits) associated with sustainability initiatives but sustainability initiatives are a long term strategy yielding long term benefits. There are two fallacies businesses make:

First is evaluating sustainability initiatives and projects under a short term profitability lens. If that is the case, majority of sustainable initiatives will yield low or negative returns.

Second is not monetizing intangible benefits in the long run resulting from sustainable practices but this is where it ‘strikes gold.’

To learn more on the actual benefits resulting from business sustainability practices and to learn how to monetize the intangibles to make a business case, review our business case for sustainability guide.

The root of this fallacy is lack of research and erroneous assumption on your part. Think for a minute! If this were the case, all the big corporations and government agencies and non profit organizations and the whole sustainability sector are operating in doldrums. Climate change than presumably is a hoax and social justice a myth! Well, it is not. These are mega trends that are here to stay, influencing our very lifestyle, morals and societal values and cultures. Such changes are very much having an impact on your target customers (current and future). I could cite a plethora of research conducted by top consulting firms and renowned international NGOs clearly indicating a shift towards sustainable lifestyles, values and principles amongst the general populace.

But I find the best case study and argument is our own selves. When was the last time you went on a shopping binge? Didn’t you worry you were buying excessively – debating whether an item is needed or un-needed? Didn’t the profligacy of packaging of items bother you? Did you denote ₹10 to charity at the checkout and did that offset some of the guilt you were feeling? Didn’t you wish there was some convenient way you could recycle all the packaging material once you arrived at home? Didn’t you wonder how wasteful (quite unnecessary) some of the packaging were? If you decided to reuse some of the packaging material, didn’t that elevate your sense of ….caring for the environment? These emotions and feelings are telling signs of our time and going into the future, these emotions and feelings will only get louder and stronger perhaps strong enough to influence purchase decisions even amongst the general populace. Already many consumers have become ‘conscious consumers’ seeking a more sustainable lifestyle. In summary, more and more people are caring about the environment and society. Businesses that are able to address and elevate their concerns will likely win them as customers…..even loyal customers.

These are heavy terminologies for simple concepts. There is a learning curve but it is not rocket science. The challenge lies in planning and organizing the effort and that is our core focus. We have developed a process model to get you started on the sustainability journey. Our process model includes many of the concepts from these models and many others. Our focus has been on ease of implementation and we have gone to great lengths to make our processes user friendly and easy to grasp. Template and tools are provided to assist in simple yet very informative assessments to identify impact areas and how to prioritize these areas. To get an overview of the process model click here.

Ask yourself as a business owner- what are your dreams and aspirations? Probably growth and business success. If we dig a little deeper why? It is probably because you want to leave a lasting legacy but more importantly it is part of your inheritance to your children. Leaving an inheritance for our children is good as it helps them through life, eases their financial burden and represents our love and care for them.

Let us endeavor then to truly leave behind a lasting inheritance for our children by embracing sustainable business practices that does not deplete, pollute, contaminate our natural resources but rather sustains, renews and rejuvenates them. Let us aspire to create a more just and equitable society that champions human rights, education and development for all.

At its core, it is about business strategy. Many businesses (specially small and micro businesses) operate without a clear business vision, mission, strategy and targets. Yet, it is strategy that dictates what resources to acquire, how to deploy existing resources, what activities to perform, what activities to prioritize, what capabilities are crucial for business success, what capabilities to build upon and more. Business strategy is fundamentally about creating value for its customers and organization and sustainable business practices is a means to all of it.

If your business has a well developed strategy, our process model provides you with a step by step guide on how to align your business strategy with your sustainability strategy. To learn more on how to achieve such alignment, click here. If on the other hand, your business does not have a clear strategy, this is an opportunity to craft one. A business will face immense challenges growing without a clear strategy. What we offer is an opportunity to develop a strong well aligned, well conceived, business and social responsibility strategy focused on creating value at multiple levels – customer, organization, employees, suppliers and society at large.

Does this not merit a token of your time and energy? The returns from such an investment is multi-fold.

This is not about changing the world through unilateral action. Rather, it is about operating within our ‘sphere of influence.’ This requires that we understand our sphere of influence. Our process model provides a composite of tools that help you identify and engage with relevant stakeholders. What is important is that you are taking proactive steps towards an inevitable end. The future is all about sustainability and this will eventually be enforced by the state through policies and regulations. Already we are witness to various such regulations concerning protection of the environment, labor rights, human rights and such. This is an opportunity to stay ahead of the curve…….an opportunity to even set the curve.