Business Sustainability: Bigger Not Always Better

As any small business owner will tell you, the challenges they face can be very different than larger companies.   Small businesses are often resource constrained and in some cases financially limited. However when it comes to realizing immediate benefits from business sustainability implementation, small business may actually have an advantage over these large corporations.

Many small businesses are now subscribing to the idea that they can save money, increase sales, and improve brand and company value by implementing social and environmental business sustainability practices. As a sustainability consultant working directly with small business leaders, I have personally observed the ability of smaller organizations to quickly respond to changing market conditions to capitalize on opportunities and lower their risk.

In a recent conversation with a prospective client whose objective was to dramatically change the way their company had been conducting business over the past few years, we discussed the distinct advantages present within a small business setting:

•    Greater flexibility to respond to market changes.
•    Reduced decision chains to accelerate approvals and business action.
•    Closer relations with business stakeholders to capture feedback and address concerns.
•    Greater speed to transform business sustainability resistance into organizational action.

In many cases, small businesses are taking the lead away from larger corporations. These progressive organizations are creating their own business case for sustainability and defining specific opportunities for improvement. By leveraging multifunctional resources and close working relationships as a distinct advantage, small businesses are quickly adapting and capitalizing on business sustainability value.

Our small business resources interact with small businesses seeking to build business sustainability plans and strategies to promote stability and growth. We engage with key stakeholders through a variety of mediums to guide businesses to their unique links between defined sustainability concepts and their business value drivers to positively affect change in the workplace.