Business Sustainability Consulting

Since the introduction of the concept of the triple bottom line, supporters and critics have debated the ability to link business sustainability actions to business profitability.  Without a definitive financial incentive, companies have traditionally not been receptive to the idea of integrating sustainability concepts into core business practices.  Recent trends tends to indicate that the business world may be changing their view, but what are the results saying?

The GreenBiz article, What Puts Companies on Top of the Sustainability Leadership List, explores the criteria that define today’s business sustainability elite.  Originally intended to define the business leaders who excel at integrating sustainability into their business strategies, the post instead brings to light a concerning divergence in economic performance and sustainability action.  Leveraging the results from a 2012 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey, the post finds some gaps between performance and recognition.  

“Some of our clients get excited when they see the results of The Sustainability Leaders Survey. But others may be worried. In this year's survey, GE was one of a number of companies that saw a decline in the proportion of mentions, from 12 percent in 2011 to 7 percent this year. Walmart, the top-rated company in 2010, saw its proportion fall from 11 percent to 7 percent, while mentions of Marks & Spencer declined marginally from 8 percent to 5 percent. What do these falls mean, though -- are these companies standing still or headed backward on sustainability?”

At Taiga Company, we find highly effective organizations are creating business sustainability cultures to drive performance.  Rather than focusing on short-term metrics, our sustainability consulting encourages companies to drive true business sustainability through continuous communication and stakeholder engagement strategies.  In doing so, these organizations are creating a direct link to the company’s business sustainability plan and stable long-term and lasting performance.

More than 500,000 American employees now work at a Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB), thanks to visionary leadership in the private and public sector. Just recently, the League of American Bicyclist announced 67 new Bike Friendly Businesses, who joined the ranks of the 412 local businesses, government agencies and Fortune 500 companies that are transforming the American workplace.

“These leaders are at the forefront of a movement to make American businesses more competitive, sustainable and attractive to the best and brightest employees,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. “An investment in bicycling enhances employee health, increases sustainability and improves the bottom line.”

What are easy ways to become a bike friendly office?  Some business owners might argue that small business resources can be limited towards building a sustainable business; however, our sustainability consulting encourages employers to promote employee bicycling commuting as a great way to attract and retain those eco minded employees.  The post, Top 10 Benefits of Bicycle Commuting Programs for Businesses, explores bike commuting benefits to employers while the post, 10 Reasons to Bike Commute to Work, gives employees ideas and inspiration to ride to work. But what can a business do to promote and maintain a winning bike commuting culture?  Our business sustainability consulting advocates taking the following eco actions to keep bike commuting fun and safe for employees.

Education

• Offer regular safety classes.
• Provide lunch and learn opportunities for current topics and discussion.
• Share information on how to share the road.
• Participate in bike maintenance classes.

Encouragement

• Offer incentives to ride.
• Host a CEO led ride.
• Guarantee a ride home service.
• Create a company bike club.
• Celebrate bike to work day or month or create your own company mile markers and celebrate them.

Foundation

• Make bike parking safe and secure.
• Provide lockers, showers, and changing areas.
• Utilize car sharing programs like ZipCar for off site meetings.
• Provide a repair station with tools, lubrication, and tubes.

Review

• Get to know your employee's commuting habits: what's working/ what isn't and suggestions for improvement.
• Set goals: number of commuting miles/ week/ per employee.
• Appoint a bike coordinator: the go to person for everything bike commuting related.

Wondering how many Bike Friendly Businesses are in your city or state? Check out this helpful map to find out.  Zoom in on your community — and show your bike-friendliness by patronizing your local Bike Friendly Business!  Better yet, get your business on the map: Learn more about the Bicycle Friendly Business program.

“In addition to attracting and retaining talented category managers to identify new savings areas, leading Procurement organizations also unpack complex spend categories into more manageable subcategories. Keep in mind that the highest return opportunities are not necessarily the projects with the highest amount of spend or those that are easiest to implement.”  –CEB Views

Following in these footsteps, a recent Spend Management post chronicles one organization’s efforts to make its procurement more effective.  Rather than focusing on reducing its direct spend, thereby increasing tension in its supply chain, the BBC has instead chose to expand its view of traditional cost control.  The company now works with key suppliers to collaboratively increase efficiencies and reduce process cost.

Our sustainability consulting experiences have revealed that business sustainability mindset shifts have resulted in strategic sourcing and procurement guidelines to align suppliers with defined business sustainability strategies.  We believe that just within the last year the business community at large has seen a monumental shift.

Moving forward in the next few years, our business sustainability consulting subscribes to the idea that the next generation of sustainable category management will continue to evolve.  Focused on a new level of responsibility across all supply chain activities, like those demonstrated by the BBC, will drive deeper into category value by addressing more pointed supply questions.

An emphasis on environmental awareness, social responsibility, and business sustainability actions within the supply chain has incentivized more progressive companies to begin to evaluate more than just their inbound supply.  Our sustainability consulting finds the once limited procurement functions are now expanding their organizational reach to a variety of business sustainability stakeholders.  Visit with us at Taiga Company to learn more.

Did you know? Just one tradeshow can have the same C02 footprint as one year of powering everyday office equipment and supplies? 

We all know that too much C02 in the environment is bad, how do we find out how much carbon dioxide we produce? 

Benchmarking success in green living or business starts with closing the gap between awareness and action.  Here's where the tried and true adage applies: "What gets measured, gets managed." While expressed more frequently in a business setting, it applies to our personal lives as well.  For instance, if you want to lose weight, first you have to know how much you weigh to benchmark your success.  Similarly, in living a sustainable lifestyle, you first need to know the areas of your environmental impacts to measure your success.  

Carbon calculators offer visibility to reduce emissions, but consistently taking eco action to reduce impacts can be overwhelming.  What if there was a quick, easy and long-lasting way to make a difference?  Is offsetting the answer?  From our sustainability consulting perspective, offsetting is not a substitute for reducing or eliminating emissions or other environmental impacts.  However, there is a time and a place for carbon offsetting.  

• Offsetting can be a partial solution that complements other approaches,
• Offsetting can be seen as part of maintaining the balance of life,
• Carbon offsets offers a path to eco action and raises eco awareness,
• Offsetting schemes can be used as an interim measure until other solutions are developed – efficient emission-free fuels and renewable energy sources.

What options are available for offsetting?  Introducing the Green Air Project.  GAP is a social enterprise that helps individuals and businesses offset their carbon footprints in the most sustainable and positive way- by planting trees.  As you know, at Taiga Company, we love trees!  

Why choose Green Air Project? 

• Business Sustainability: Green Air Project's offsetting of carbon dioxide by planting large numbers of trees is a viable option to a businesses' corporate sustainability plan. The program can also aid in increasing employee engagement and retention with employee participation. 
• Transparency:  Clients and other stakeholders have access to a businesses' sustainability strategies with a company-specific website and code to track how many trees have planted.
• Affordable: Businesses, individuals and families can all participate and benefit.  At $10.00/ tree, enough to offset the average American’s CO2 emissions for a month, the trees are professionally cared for including: tree- Lease and preparation of the land, professionally planting the trees, maintenance/weed control, making fire lines and maintaining them on the property, security, boundary maintenance, surveying of land and forestry service to manage the land. 

Green Air Project's offsetting of carbon dioxide by planting large numbers of trees is an easy to grasp sustainability concept for eco curious individuals and stakeholders.  Demonstrate your commitment to sustainability by taking sustainable leadership and eco action.  Visit Green Air Project website today to get started. 

“Sports equipment and clothing retailer Adidas managed rapid improvement among its suppliers in India. In 2010, about 80% of the vendors didn’t meet the company’s social compliance standards; in 2011, more than 80% met those performance goals. The company says the achievement resulted from working directly with the suppliers and setting strong targets.”

Taken from the Supply Management article, Adidas Turns Indian Supplier Performance Around, our sustainability consulting gathers valuable insight from the company’s success.  Turning the performance of supply chain around in a very short time, Adidas realized an almost unbelievable improvement in their corporate social responsibility in just one year.  The company monitored and realized significant improvement in the following six areas of improvement:

• Management Commitment and Responsiveness
• Management Systems
• Worker-Management Communication and Industrial Relations
• Compliance Training for Workers and Management
• Transparency in Communication and Reporting
• Compliance Performance

The above example along with our sustainability consulting experiences reveal that today’s sustainable supply chain organizations are focused on integrating sustainability concepts directly into their purchasing processes.  These efforts are designed to not only improve supply chain performance but to establish the next-generation sustainable supply chain management. 

Further research reveals that success relies heavily on the effective stakeholder engagement with the company’s internal and external business resource.  Taiga Company  offers social media engagement strategies to improve performance through optimized communication within the supply chain.

Business implementations over the last few years has revealed that many executives and their procurement organizations now view environmental and social responsibility actions within in the supply chain to be both a risk mitigating strategy and a business opportunity. These corporate actions are taking strategic sourcing and supplier relations to another level of supply chain sustainability. Our sustainability consulting asks: What is the next step in Sustainable Supply Chain Management? 

The CSR Digest recently released a post  which examines today’s value drivers of sustainable supply chain collaboration.  The article describes how long term supplier partnerships at Unilever have become critical to the company’s sustainable growth. 

“Unilever has a bold ambition to double the size of its business whilst halving the environmental impact of its products…t is vital that we work in closer partnership with our strategic suppliers to ensure faster innovations and invest sustainably throughout our value chain.”  -Pier Luigi Sigismondi, Chief Supply Chain Officer Unilever.

Having worked within some of the world’s leading supply chains, our sustainability consulting supports the direction of Unilever.  Similar to the company’s efforts, we recall the comments of the Procurement Strategy Council when enabling suppliers.  To effectively capture supplier innovation, PSC advises companies to focus on three priorities: 

• Provide suppliers with the right amount of direction
• Involve business partners in the ideation process 
• Enable effective IP sharing

By engaging  the knowledge of key supply stakeholders, your business can make significant gains over the competition, which may be unwilling to share information. Our sustainability consulting stresses the importance of a sustainable supply chain management philosophy as part of a larger business sustainability plan.  Visit with us at Taiga Company for more information and business resources to unlock the strategic value of a sustainable supply chain.

Most business leaders would probably agree that achieving real bottom line improvements, whether in cost savings or improved revenues, is critical to business sustainability.  These same executives might further comment that the concept of business sustainability is not new, and in fact, has been around for a long time.  As sustainability consultant, we agree that maintaining business operations has always been the goal of business. 

Business sustainability concepts today that are required for continued operations into the future are quite different than they were just 10years ago.  Our sustainability consulting would contend that business sustainability is now a more encompassing and continuous improvement process enabled by other business improvement efforts.  But what are others saying?

The Harvard Business Review post, It's Time to Rethink Continuous Improvement, questions the effectiveness of traditional efficiently driven strategies.  Arguing that innovation is much larger driver of business today, HBR encourages a collaborative balance between creativity and efficiency.

• Customize how and where continuous improvement is applied.

• Question whether processes should be improved, eliminated, or disrupted

• Assess the impact on company culture.

The implementation of efforts to improve business operations that are aligned with sustainability concepts is part of the larger continuous pursuit of business sustainability.  Our experience has revealed that business sustainability leaders today are looking to the triple bottom line  and the importance of continuous economic, social and environmental progress to be the mark progress.  Our sustainability consulting works with businesses to understand the value of having an evolved understanding of continuous improvement within all aspects of a company’s operations.

A recent Forbes article, Why Great Ideas Fail, attempts to answer this question and offer guidance towards improved business innovation success.  Drilling to the heart of the issue, the post explains that it is not the idea but more often the culture that fails.  Instead of confining creativity to a closed-off lab, the concept of an open innovation model is being recognized and implemented within leading companies.

“Executives recognize that innovation is an essential component of organizational success, and may require shifts in mindset and culture. Create space for innovators to escape the daily grind. Help them unlock their creative potential by forgetting about the limitations of the existing business.” –CEB Views

Our professional consulting supports the belief that an open innovation approach  to business sustainability offers stakeholders the opportunity to become engaged in the future of a business. By recognizing that key stakeholders have a vested interest the success of the company, sustainable leadership can create openness to new ideas that promote business success and innovative ideas.

• Promote innovation as a competency:  Innovative companies treat it as just another core skill.

• Promote innovation as a competitive weapon: Innovative companies use innovation to differentiate themselves. 

• Promote innovation as a process:  Innovative companies don’t treat innovation as special, unique activity. They see it instead as an ongoing “stream of effort” along with quality, leadership, productivity, and other imperatives.

• Promote innovation as both systematic and opportunistic:  The most innovative companies flex between different styles of creating opportunity.

The business world too often approaches sustainable development with traditional structured implementation processes.  In contrast, our professional consulting has observed that those who excel are those who step outside the traditional business structures to add and spontaneity to their long-term business sustainability plans.  At Taiga Company, we maintain an open culture as part of our core values, and our sustainability consulting encourages clients to include active engagement as part of an overarching business sustainability plan.  

According to The New York Times article, Trapped in the Middle Seat , corporate travel is on the rise.  Companies are emerging from the economic downturn by taking to the air to rebuild and grow their businesses.  However, this activity is not completely free from the restraint.  The all-seeing and watchful eye of corporate cost control is always present!

“More businesspeople are traveling, but companies are being tighter with their budgets. Travelers increasingly have to justify their trips, and trips have to be approved by more managers. They have to perform the equivalent of a return-on-investment analysis before they book.”  - Henry H. Harteveldt, Atmosphere Research Group.

With the rising cost of travel, our sustainability consulting sees an opportunity to leverage technology and sustainability concepts to address travel needs.  In fact, a Market Research Media report reveals that the virtual conference marketplace will grow over the next five years. Why?  Because, sustainable businesses looking to cut costs, increase productivity, and reduce their environmental impacts are turning to virtual conferencing and webinar technology. 

"The need for face-to-face meetings is always going to exist -however you will see a lot more virtual interactions.  Businesses are getting more and more comfortable with the virtual world. Their customers, employees and partners are already living in that environment thanks to social networks and even email.” -Sharat Sharan, founder ON24

While the traditional discussion around virtual meetings often centers on carbon output from commercial air travel, a larger and more sustainable business perspective introduces business savings as an aligned incentive to the environmental benefits.  At Taiga Company, we seek out opportunities to leverage the array of technologies and social media engagement tools that are connecting the global business world.

“Incentive-based pay isn’t new; it’s been around for centuries.  But unless companies begin to connect compensation to sustainable environmental and social performance, they will continue to sacrifice long-term value creation and competitiveness for short-term, unsustainable gains.”  -Why It's Time to Link Compensation with Sustainability 

Traditionally the underlying objective any of compensation structure has been to attract, motivate and retain good staff.  However, choosing the right compensation structure to achieve a specific goal can be difficult.  Our business sustainability consulting believes that an essential component to any program is the link between incentives and desired behavior.

Performance pay structures involve setting base pay with incentives to obtain additional compensation for a demonstration of certain behavior. This concept is widely used in particular industries, based on the simple idea that pay can motivate job performance, increase employee effectiveness, and align business goals. This model offers several potential advantages:

• It aligns compensation to desired performance
• It rewards the right behaviors and builds unity
• It encourages self-management
• It encourages innovation

The critical drivers of performance, accountability and commitment have traditionally been thought to be the measures of a sustainable workforce.  However, top business sustainability cultures now realize there is a ‘required’ balance in individual  talent management.  By linking compensation to specific sustainability concepts, businesses have the potential to align the sustainability goals of the organization and motivate behavior.

At Taiga Company, we recognize a key to business sustainability is attracting, motivating, and retaining top talent.  We realize that there is not a single incentive structure right for all business.  Our professional consulting works with clients to define a structure that best fits the organizational needs.  We simply ask clients: Is your current pay structure driving the desired performance?

How do you connect with nature?   Does it matter?  Actually it does.  According to Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, paying attention to the natural world not only makes you feel better, it makes you behave better. As sustainability consultants, we can't see a better connection between the natural world and eco inspiration.  Inspiration is a source of life.   What fuels our souls and calls us to become more in our lives differs from person to person in as much as how one chooses to fulfill these needs. At Taiga Company, green cycling is what inspires us to ride our bikes outdoors in nature.  

When people ride bikes, good things happen.  Why?  Because bike riding is a win-win for both businesses and individuals looking to reduce costs, embrace eco awareness, and adhere to business and personal sustainability programs.   But wait! There’s yet another reason to use your pedal power for good!  May is National Bike Month.  Kicking off National Bike Month, we share pictures from our recent 60+ mile mountain bike race in Castle Rock, Colorado.   

Enjoy! 

Over the last few years, our sustainability consulting has probed the broad question: can social media save  the world?   Today, we narrow that inquiry and ask: How could social interactions make or break your business.  Social media success is no longer defined by how well your company communicates its message to the external world.  It is rapidly becoming a critical business sustainability skill and a business sustainability catalyst.  

To aid in this discussion, we leverage the Harvard Business Review post, Collaboration Will Drive the Next Wave of Productivity Gains.  This article discusses the basic building blocks of business success and progression.  Focusing on technology, the author demonstrates how companies must move beyond abortion and implement sustainable business change with their technological advancement.

“Ineffective capture and transfer mechanisms hinder most companies' ability to capitalize on creative concepts and solutions. Deploy knowledge-management metrics to effectively measure the capture of innovative ideas and build systems to disseminate these ideas broadly across the enterprise.”  -Corporate Executive Board Views

In addition to the tradition business value drivers of out-bound communication, our sustainability consulting also encourages the equally viable social avenues to value.  An effective should communicated and align with the organization’s business objectives and resources, specifically the interests of its key stakeholders.  We find the leading “socially-geared” companies are responding and creating sustainability advocates by:

• Cascading business sustainability strategies down through organizational and individual performance goals.

• Informing, motivating, and actively engaging employees in the company’s business sustainability programs. 

• Integrating Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) into the business processes, corporate performance, and employee recognition.

• Actively engaged with key stakeholders on sustainability issues, including employees to understand how sustainability issues are affecting the business. 

• Performing transparent reporting on sustainability concepts and sensitive issues, with both positive and negative results.

Sustainability and social media together offer a refreshing and innovative approach to business.  Our sustainability consulting offers information and access to resources that can help your business discover the value of social media for sustainability.  Visit with us at Taiga Company  to learn more.

April showers bring May flowers and…National Bike Month!  May is recognized as National Bike Month and as sustainability consultants, we couldn't be happier!  Bike commuting, or green cycling as we call it at Taiga Company, is part of a sustainable lifestyle, alternative transportation, helps the environment, and also raises eco awareness.   It seems that most people think of bikes as recreation but in our sustainability consulting with business and individuals, we encourage employers and workers to consider cycling as alternative transportation as well as part of a sustainable business strategy.  Cycling to work is an easy way to integrate sustainability concepts into the workplace.  

Kicking off National Bike Month we will be posting educational resources on bikes, cycling, and gear as well as sharing mountain bike race photos from our Taiga Cycling team exploring the great outdoors in Colorado.  

Here’s how you can participate in National Bike Month. 

Begin by marking your calendar:

• Bike-to-Work Week 2012 from May 14-18
• Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 18.
• Do you want to know how many people ride bikes in America , who's riding, and how many miles of bike lanes there are? The Census Bureau collects American Community Survey (ACS) data from a sample of the population in the United States and gives us this insight. Find out who's riding bikes  in the largest 244 cities in the U.S.

Resources and worthwhile reading: For Business/ employees:

• Bike Commuting Trends are UP: Here's Why
• 10 Reasons to Bike Commute to Work
• Easy Ways to Become a Bike Friendly Office
• Top 10 Benefits of Bicycle Commuting Programs for Businesses

For Commuters:

• The Bike Commuter's Guide to Stay Fresh and Clean at Work
• Get Paid to Bike to Work
• Green Resources for Bike to Work Week
• Live Green! Ride a bike!

Want to get more involved?  Get Up & Ride- Take the National Bike Challenge!  Launched  by a powerful alliance between Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the League of American Bicyclists, Bikes Belong and Endomondo, the National Bike Challenge aims to inspire and empower millions of Americans to ride their bikes for transportation, recreation and better health.  The Challenge is simple: Sign up as an individual or as a team, log your miles, share your stories and encourage others to join you. Riders will compete for prizes and awards on the local and national level, including a Grand Prize trip through California wine country from Trek Travel.  

What are you waiting for?  Pump up your tires, lube your chain, and put your pedal power to good use!  Ride ON! 

With the shift in consumer preferences over the past few years, companies have been aggressive to respond to the growing ‘green’ value opportunity.  However, lifecycle questions remain on company responsibilities once the products are in the hands of the consumer.   Does a sustainable business need to market and sell to a responsible consumer to be sustainable?  Do customers respond to a product or should products arise from the needs of the customer?  Our sustainability consulting explores.

As a professional consultant and an advocate for sustainable change in business, I express to clients, peers, and friends that everything we buy is an expression of consumer preference.  This purchase choice tells the business world that we approve of the product and service they are providing.  On the flip-side, businesses also have a responsibility to position their products and services in a way to attract the right consumers.

“Companies struggle to create products that consistently satisfy customer needs. Focus insight generation on the ultimate benefits that customers derive from a product or service. This helps guide technology project selection towards the highest-value opportunities.”  -CEB Views

The good news for business is there seems to be a general trend towards increasing eco awareness and a decreasing resistance for more sustainable products.  In fact, a 2009 consumer survey  indicated that 34 percent of American consumers are more likely to buy environmentally responsible products today, and another 44 percent indicate their environmental shopping habits have not changed as a result of the economy.  For this reason, we ask: How can a company effectively engage the shifting dynamics of the market and the ever changing expectations of the consumer.

“Progressive companies focus on understanding customer needs at the earliest stages. They continuously integrate knowledge outside the gate review process to execute faster without wasting resources.” –Procurement Strategy Council

Our sustainability consulting is mindful of the voice of the consumer as a key business sustainability influencer.  In fact, we view the expanding eco awareness of the global consumer to be a driving change in business.  For the companies sensitive to this change, there is a tremendous opportunity in managing the many voices of business sustainability.  Visit us at Taiga Company to learn more about this concept and how social media engagement strategies for key business sustainability stakeholders can transform your organization.

Super powers are cool.  They  invoke the imagination of superhuman qualities capable of tacking any challenge and succeeding. In many ways, the call for sustainability invokes the better qualities of us as humans.  If we were to have sustainability superpowers, what would they be?  How would we use them? How could we invoke sustainability superpowers to not only change the world at large, but also our personal worlds?

Most of us recognize that change can be unsettling.  It can be scary, and too often it is just easier to slip back into a traditional and comfortable way of doing things.  However, implementing effective sustainable change does not have to be a laboring process.  How so?  All too often, we turn our attention to the barriers and roadblocks to the incorporating sustainability concepts into our businesses and personal lives.  There is a tendency to take too broad of a view of the concept of sustainability and become overwhelmed by its magnitude and our ability to make change.  Instead, we need to focus on the benefits we are individually trying to achieve from a specific change.  What are the baby steps we can take that make change easier? 

To help you do just that, following are ways to go green each day of the week.  As a sustainability consultant, I suggest starting off with ideas in each area that are of most interest to you and build from there.  Each week can be a new platform to launch new eco actions.  Have fun with it and know that every eco action you take adds up and makes a difference.

Paperless Mondays:  Within our business sustainability consulting, we explain that when it comes to paper, producing paper from virgin fiber is both energy and water intensive.  It releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.  By choosing to use less paper and paper with recycled content you are making the choice to save wood, water and energy, and cut pollution and solid waste.   The costs savings add up and the environmental impact goes down.   Need ideas?  Check out 19 Tips to go Paperless at Home.

Turn Tuesdays Green at Work:  Keep in mind, every job is a green job: it's all in how you do it.  One approach is to increase your participation in the sustainability programs offered within your organization.  This offers a broader perspective of potential green projects and areas of improvement.  Another approach is to green your physical environment.  If you work at home, check out Green your Home Office 101 for ideas or 10 Ways to Green Your Cubicle.  Both offer ideas to embrace sustainability concepts in your work environment.  

Water Wednesdays:  Clean, fresh water is no longer just an issue for developing countries.  It has become more and more a global issue.   Water is linked to every facet of life on our planet and directly interacts with a myriad of other sustainability concepts.  Learn water wise habits to Reduce your Water Footprint.

Adventurous Thursdays:  Explore different modes of transportation .  The benefits of alternative transportation include conserving energy, preserving resources, reduced commuter traffic, cost savings (gas and parking), and reduced carbon emissions.  Fun ideas include: carpool, bus, train, cycling or telecommuting/ coworking options for work environments.  

 Friday Fun: Slay Energy Vampires with energy efficiency practices: The U.S. Department of Energy tells us that not only do appliances continue to draw electricity while the products are turned off, but in the average home nearly 75% of all electricity used to power electronics is consumed by products that are switched off.  Explore energy efficiency eco actions to use less energy.  

Saturday Waste Management/ Recycling:  When you avoid making garbage in the first place, you eliminate the disposing of waste or recycling it later.  It's the first component of the sustainability concept of the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Clues to how to reduce waste can be found by visiting what's in your garbage.  

Sparkle Sunday with Green Cleaning:  Conventional cleaning supplies contain ingredients that are toxic or hazardous. By replacing them with eco-friendly products, you're providing improved indoor air quality, as well as reducing the 5 billion pounds of chemicals consumed by cleaning industry each year.  Get started using non toxic products and breathe easier. 

Developing a comprehensive business sustainability plan includes incorporating sustainability concepts across the entire supply chain.  A major part of this strategy is the need to facilitate an open two-way dialog with key business sustainability stakeholders to ensure alignment.  Armed with direction, our sustainability consulting asks: What are the likely next steps to initiate action?

“As Procurement's opportunity set fluctuates, periodic reviews are necessary to ensure that resources are allocated appropriately. To preserve enough time for staff to work on the most important projects, leading procurement organizations regularly and transparently assess the relative value of their activity mix, and reset priorities accordingly.” –Procurement Strategy Council

A sustainable supply chain management plan is viewed as an all encompassing analysis and management profile of spend with several major components.  Our sustainability consulting considers risk along with other evaluation methodologies, including spend classification and functional categorization, to be a framework from which an organization can create sustainable value deep within the supply chain.  

• Bring down costs whilst delivering sustainability  
• Develop an effective sustainable procurement strategy aligned to your organizational goals  
• Align your procurement processes to ensure engagement from your suppliers  
• Effectively monitor the sustainability progress and competence of your supply chain  
• Understand how much you can expect from your suppliers and ensure it works for them too 
• Create a team of sustainability champions from your procurement team

Our sustainability consulting research and experiences show that today’s sustainable supply chain organizations are focused on integrating sustainability concepts directly into their purchasing processes.  These efforts are designed to not only improve supply chain performance but to establish the next-generation sustainable supply chain management. This success relies heavily on the effective stakeholder engagement with the company’s internal and external business resource.  Taiga Company  offers social media engagement strategies to businesses seeking to optimize this communication gateway within the supply chain.

The American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) describes knowledge management as a mindset that extends beyond the flow of traditional business process.  It focuses on the dissemination of information, engagement of key resources, and ultimately the adoption rate of best practices across the entire value chain.  As a sustainability consultants, we believe knowledge management and sustainability concepts to be intricately aligned.  In fact, we find knowledge management to be a critical aspect of business sustainability.   

Social media has an emerging role in knowledge management.  Creating bridges between the corporate world and its stakeholders, social media closes the gap on knowledge management and business intelligence. Specifically so if sustainable communications and performance is valued by your stakeholders.  Social media for sustainability communications has become a risk or an opportunity. Monitoring, listening, and dialoguing with key stakeholder in the social space not only offers a competitive advantage but also provides other key ingredients for successful social media engagement:

• Information or Data Collection
• Crowdsourcing
• Brand and Reputation Management
• Public Relations
• Media Management
• Crisis Management

Further exploring social media's role in knowledge management and sustainability communications, we look at two recent posts, Business Blogging for a Sustainable Purpose and Who are the Tweeps Tweeting for A Better Green Brand? to demostrate the value of social media for sustainability communications.  Additionally, our friend Fabian Pattberg asks,  Facebook – A useful Sustainability and CSR platform? Finally, mirroring thoughts on the subject include those found in the post, Sustainability Professionals + Facebook = Worth It?

Because social media intelligence  incorporates a thorough 360-degree assessment of stakeholder engagement, there are a number of ways you can use information to your advantage. The right kind of information can be used for a whole range of processes in the business that can ultimately lead to your business' success.  Need help with your social media for sustainability?  We're here to help! 

“Many companies suffer from disproportionately high breakthrough project failure rates because they find it hard to balance execution discipline with flexibility to respond to changing technical and market realities. When executing on breakthrough projects, use detailed maturity checklists to establish flexible yet guard-railed execution paths.”  -CEB Views

The Harvard Business Review post, Innovators, Are You Applying the Wrong Lessons from Manufacturing?, examines two often diverging processes in product development.  The article distinguishes between product development and product delivery.

• Manufacturing produces physical objects; product developers produce information.
• Manufacturing produces things; product developers produce the recipes for making things.
• Manufacturing deals with stationary targets; product developers deal with moving targets.

Clients in our sustainability consulting practice often ask, “What circumstances, frameworks or parameters need to be in place to spark creativity, ideas, and innovation in my business?".  For the most part, markets tend to respond much more quickly to meet desires than respond to resistance.  We believe that sustainability concepts are brining many diverging forces into alignment. 

An open innovation approach fosters an environment for creative ideas and inspired actions from both internal and external stakeholders.   Our sustainability consulting promotes social media engagement strategies as an avenue to align creativity and efficiency across the value chain.

Do you fall prey to routine habits out of convenience or do you take extra steps to embrace sustainability concepts in your daily life?   It seems in recent years being busy has become the rule rather than the exception.  With busy comes conveniences and sometimes conveniences means having to compromise on values.  Fortunately, that's no longer the case.  With growing eco awareness sprouting more and more environmentally friendly options, those living a busy and sustainable lifestyle can take their green on the go.  

At its essence, personal sustainability is about addressing the environmental concerns of carbon, water, and energy on a smaller scale: your life.  Committing to sustainability in your personal life is holding yourself accountable for the very commitments and eco actions we are asking our leaders to make.    Additionally, it's about leveraging your financial dollar to support credible and sustainable businesses.  Vote with your financial dollar; as a shareholder, uphold reporting, transparency, compensation related to business sustainability.

Looking to make your green life more convenient?  Enjoy some of the iPhone apps shared in our eco friendly consulting practice.

• Carbon Tracker: This GPS-enabled carbon footprint application allows users to calculate their carbon footprint from daily commuting, business trips or vacations. Users can also create goals for maximum emissions in a month, then monitors progress. Great for expanding eco awareness in your daily life.
• iRecycle, makes it easy to find recycling locations anywhere in the U.S. Find places to drop-off your old cell phone or other items, get directions and find out what else they accept.
• GoodGuide:  Use this app to find out what’s in 75,000 common household products.  Reviewers praise the level of detail in the GoodGuide database as well as its ease of use.
• Green Gas Saver: This app tracks your driving habits and warns you through gauges and sounds if you accelerate too quickly or take a turn too hard. The app saves your score from each trip to help you improve over time. It’s a good way to become a better driver overall, in addition to saving on fuel costs. 
• Greenpeace Tissue Guide: Research brands of consumer paper products to find the greenest tissues, paper towels, and toilet paper.
• GreenGenie:  If you need ideas for how to be more green, try this app as it suggests more than 100 eco action to tackle.  It also includes a glossary on green terms and educational sustainability sources.  
• Green Outlet  tries to predict your electric bill and carbon footprint based on what appliances you use.
• Farmers Market Finder:  This app is similar to the Locavore app, which helps you find local farmers markets. However, this app does a little extra legwork and not only tells you where farmers markets are, but also tells you where you can find CSAs, pick-your-own gardens/orchards, and open markets. It also provides up-to-date information on weather cancellations and parking information.  
• EcoCharge: Wonderful app designed to help you stop doing overcharging your mobile device by alerting you when your phone’s battery is completely charged. 
• Green Square: Foursquare for Greenies You've heard of Foursquare, now there is Green Square!  If you recall, Foursquare is a combination of micro-blogging (like Twitter), and GPS geocaching (finding places) and by using your smartphone, you 'check in' with the Foursquare website, publish your physical location, and write a quick review about the restaurant or pub or coffee shop you are visiting.  Well Foursquare just got a little greener with Green Square.   For those living a sustainable lifestyle, it's natural to want to spread the good word of local green businesses, non profits, and green events.  By checking in at sustainable businesses offering green products and services, you are putting those businesses on the map, introducing those businesses to friends, as well as supporting for these businesses with your financial dollar. 
• Have an iPad? Check out 13 Awesome Green-Themed Apps For Your New iPad

The economic challenges over the past few years resulted in a ‘business detour’ from progressive corporate practices, particularly advancements in sustainable supply chain management.  Moving beyond early post-recovery actions focused on cost control and business maintenance, today’s leading business sustainability efforts have their eyes on a much larger prize.  Once again corporate attention is focused on the role strategic supplier relationships play in the immediate return to profitability and long-term business sustainability.  

Leveraging the Environmental Leader article, Survey: Sustainability an ‘Important Factor’ in Supply Chain Choices, our sustainability consulting examines the state of sustainability in supply chain decision making.  Citing the results from a 2012 survey, the post describes how sustainability concepts are becoming increasingly relevant and are showing up consistently across the value chain.  The following statistics represent a snapshot view of sustainable action in the supply chain from those surveyed. 

• 26 percent of respondents said cost considerations outweighed environmental factors when purchasing products and services

• 54 percent of companies said when two purchasing choices are equal (including cost), the greener product or service is better

• 20 percent said when two purchasing choices are not equal, greener is better

• 17 percent of companies said sustainability is a standard part of their request for information, proposal or quote system

• 59 percent of companies said they consider sustainability periodically for specific types of purchases.

Consistent with our own experiences, these results point towards a renewed sustainability-driven focus in business and the supply chain.  We firmly believe that by embracing the merging principals  of business sustainability, a company can better position itself in the increasingly positive economy.  Visit with us at Taiga Company to learn more.