Accelerating Creativity through Sustainable Business Partnering

Global trends and resulting business sustainability action support the concept that innovation will be essential for business growth over the next decade as companies seek new opportunities, improve their competitive positions and provide more sustainable value to their customers. We ask: How can aligned business sustainability objectives enable both internal and external innovation? Which of your many business sustainability stakeholders will play the most critical roles?

The recent article, P&G Adapts R&D Model, discusses the innovation strategies of one the world’s largest companies. Despite its enormous resources, Procter & Gamble is taking a different and some would argue, a more sustainable approach to build its business. Leveraging collaborative research, the company has already witnessed success through its innovation committees with key business stakeholders.

"In fact, today, over 80% of our innovations have some kind of external partner. We even have joint development laboratories with our suppliers," Bob McDonald, Procter & Gamble's CEO

As a strong advocate for such collaborative efforts, our sustainability consulting practice encourages companies to explore the circumstances, frameworks and parameters necessary to spark creativity, idea generation, and true innovation within the supply chain. We find innovation partnerships tend to excel on several fronts:

Providing suppliers with the right level of guidance to drive ideation.

Providing internal business partners with a clear framework that defines their responsibilities.

Making the IP sharing process easier.

At Taiga Company, our sustainability consulting practice believes that business sustainability is the vehicle which enables a business to meet your goals of profit, growth, and revenue while positively impacting the environment and social realms of your business. By capturing creative ideas and inspired actions of both internal and external business stakeholders, a company can create an innovative environment that promotes long-term success. P&G offers an interesting approach from which to build your own innovation strategies and programs.