Research finds Sustainability is a winner

I recently found a great green blog that identified that there is research out there to suggest that if businesses invest some time on finding sustainability solutions, this can become their competitive advantage.

Research says that organisations are able to gain a real competitive advantage from practising sustainability management, but research also states that executives do not fully understand their customers concerns around sustainability issues. This leads us to believe that businesses really need the help of sustainability consultants to help them take the steps towards utilising this possible competitive advantage.

What are the world’s leading business research companies finding?

In 2008 IBM undertook a worldwide survey of senior executives which found that:

• 68% of business leaders were implementing sustainability “as an opportunity and platform for growth”, while 50% said that their companies sustainability activities were giving them an advantage over their top competitors

Despite these positive findings:

• Nearly two thirds of the executives didn’t fully understand their customers concerns around sustainability, while only 27% engaged their employees on sustainability initiatives.

In 2008, KPMG interviewed the 100 largest companies by revenue in 22 countries around the world in regards to their corporate social responsibility reporting. In total, 2200 companies were surveyed.

KPMG found that 80% of the world’s largest companies now publish CSR reports. Furthermore they identified that CSR reporting is now becoming the norm instead of the exception within the world’s largest companies.

In 2008, Unilever Australia commissioned AMR Interactive Research and Newspoll to look at Australians’ attitudes towards corporations and sustainability. It found:

• 90% wanted Australian business to invest more in sustainable practices

• 72% thought companies had a broad responsibility to act responsibly

• 81% thought companies could still make a profit while being environmentally responsible and taking the welfare of their workers into consideration

• 64% thought companies need to focus on sustainability to maintain their future profits

• 69% believed that businesses needed to prove their sustainability credentials in order to maintain future profits

• 75% believed there was a need for more sustainable products

• 37% said they were sceptical about the sustainability claims found on products

There is a wealth of research to suggest that sustainability is becoming deeply embedded in the fabric of modern business and that it makes sence to seek help from a sustainability consulting firm.