New Sustainability Research by MIT Sloan Management Review, The Boston Consulting Group, and the UN Global Compact Sees Collaboration and Board Engagement as Critical to Sustainability Success
Ninety Percent of Executives Agree That Businesses Need to Collaborate to Address the Sustainability Challenges They Face. Eighty-Six Percent Say That the Board Should Play a Strong Role in a Company's Sustainability Efforts
(firmenpresse) - CAMBRIDGE, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/13/15 -- The practice of corporate sustainability is
moving beyond ad hoc, opportunistic efforts to embrace a more holistic,
strategic approach that pursues transformational goals, frequently through
partnerships that engage multiple entities, including competitors,
suppliers, governments, and NGOs. So says a (MIT SMR), The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the UN Global
Compact. The study results are being released today in a report titled .
On the basis of a survey of more than 3,795 executives and managers from
113 countries, the study found that 61 percent of executives whose
companies participated in sustainability-related partnerships view these
collaborations as quite or very successful. But collaboration is not yet
common practice. While 90 percent of respondents recognize the importance
of sustainability collaboration--only 47 percent of respondents reported
that their companies are actively collaborating.
"While collaboration is not yet the norm, among those who are doing it, we
are increasingly seeing a focus on transformational, strategic results,"
said coauthor David Kiron, executive editor of MIT SMR. "More than half of
reported collaborations aspire to fundamentally change the market in which
the business operates, so sustainability efforts are much less likely to be
discrete projects and much more likely to engage a company's entire
ecosystem--from suppliers and customers to governments and academic
institutions."
Sustainability collaborations often bring together diverse stakeholders,
and the research suggests that there is a learning curve for companies: the
more collaborations a respondent's company has engaged in, the more likely
respondents are to rate their collaborations as successful. For example,
among respondents whose organizations currently have one to three
sustainability collaborations, 43 percent say that these collaborative
ventures are very or quite successful. Of those that have engaged in more
than 50, 95 percent report the same degree of success.
The study also looked at board engagement as a driver of sustainability
success. Overall, 86 percent of respondents believe that the board of
directors should play a strong role in driving their company's
sustainability efforts. But only 42 percent of respondents see their boards
as moderately or more engaged with the company's sustainability agenda.
This disconnect affects performance: in companies whose boards are
perceived as active supporters, 67 percent of respondents rate
collaborations as very or quite successful. In companies whose boards are
not engaged, the reported rate of success is less than half that.
"We identified several ways to overcome the barriers to board
participation," said coauthor Knut Haanaes, a Geneva-based senior partner
at BCG. "They include appointing members with sustainability expertise,
creating an external advisory board, integrating sustainability into the
duties of the overall board and established board committees, and
establishing a broader vision of the board as steward of all stakeholders
and managers of risk versus the traditional maximizing only of shareholder
financial value."
As a whole, the study finds progress in companies making the fundamental
shift in how they organize themselves and how their boards of directors act
to address the profound challenges and risks that issues of sustainability
present. But it also indicates that many business leaders have some
distance to go to understand that the path to sustainability success is
best traveled with others.
Coauthor Georg Kell, executive director of the UN Global Compact, aptly
sums it up: "With commercial activities and investments reaching every
corner of the earth, companies increasingly face complex uncertainties and
risks related to social, environmental, and governance issues. Many of
these challenges -- such as corruption, climate change, and discrimination
-- cannot be tackled by a single organization, making it critical for
companies to join together as never before. Companies are starting to see
that when they provide a collective voice, share risks, and pool resources,
they can deliver transformative solutions that benefit both business and
society."
Join the authors of the sustainability research report on January 28 at
11:00am ET for a free, live webinar and Q&A. Register for the free webinar
now at .
For more details on the report's findings and interview transcripts, please
visit the or download a .
To arrange an interview with one of the MIT SMR authors, please contact Deb
Gallagher at +1 617 253 3967 or .
To arrange an interview with one of the BCG authors, please contact Eric
Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or .
To arrange an interview with the UN Global Compact author or contributors,
please contact Kristen Coco at +1 917 367 8566 or .
For the sixth consecutive year, MIT Sloan Management Review, in partnership
with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), conducted a global survey to which
more than 3,795 executives and managers responded. This year, the UN Global
Compact joined the partnership for the first time. The report's analysis is
based on a smaller subsample of 2,587 respondents from commercial
enterprises, with respondents from academic, governmental, and nonprofit
organizations excluded. A wide variety of industries are represented. The
sample was drawn from a number of sources, including BCG and MIT Sloan
School of Management alumni, MIT Sloan Management Review readers, BCG
clients, UN Global Compact members, and other interested parties. To
illustrate the study findings, the report cites numerous company examples,
including Intel, BASF, Asia Pulp & Paper, Stonyfield Farm, Netafim, Sprint,
Timberland, WWF Switzerland, Unilever, Yara International, and Kimberly
-Clark.
MIT SMR's is an exploration, in partnership with BCG, of how
sustainability pressures are transforming the ways we all work, live, and
compete. S&I's research, reporting, and community help managers to better
understand the new forces that will affect their organizations, to navigate
through the overwhelming mass of information about sustainability, and to
fend off the threats and capitalize on the opportunities that
sustainability issues present.
leads
the discourse among academic researchers, business executives, and other
influential thought leaders about advances in management practice that are
transforming how people lead and innovate. MIT SMR disseminates new
management research and innovative ideas so that thoughtful executives can
capitalize on the opportunities generated by rapid organizational,
technological, and societal change.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm
and the world's leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with
clients in all sectors and regions to identify their highest-value
opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their
businesses. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics
of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the
client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable
competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting
results. BCG is a private company with 81 offices in 45 countries. For more
information, please visit .
The UN Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to voluntarily
align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted
principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and
anticorruption, and to take action in support of UN goals and issues.
Endorsed by chief executives, the UN Global Compact is a leadership
platform for the development, implementation, and disclosure of responsible
corporate policies and practices. Launched in 2000, it is the largest
corporate-sustainability initiative in the world--with more than 12,000
signatories from business and key stakeholder groups in 150 countries, and
more than 80 local networks. For more information, visit
.
To arrange an interview with one of the MIT SMR authors, please contact:
Deb Gallagher
+1 617 253 3967
To arrange an interview with one of the BCG authors, please contact:
Eric Gregoire
+1 617 850 3783
To arrange an interview with the UN Global Compact author or contributors,
please contact:
Kristen Coco
+1 917 367 8566
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Datum: 13.01.2015 - 05:01 Uhr
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