Sustainability Concepts

Creating a sustainable business involves more than defining a vision, building a consumer forecast, and bringing a green product or service to market. Business sustainability is a commitment to the social, environmental, and economic impacts of your business.  It includes a commitment to improving business process that challenges the internal capabilities of a company towards business innovation as it strives to meet the changing needs of the external business environment.

That sounds great. But so frequently, within our business sustainability consulting, we are asked, “How do you make that happen?"  Answer: Innovation, Leadership, and stakeholder engagement.

A common misconception is that innovative ideas generate from a select few; however, innovative ideas can spring up from multiple sources.  They can generate from within the company at the ground level, from the customers you service, or your suppliers.  

While management is ultimately responsible for creating corporate direction, business sustainability minded executives now realize that their stakeholders have an equally important leadership role to play.  Recognizing this shift, many companies are seeking to refine their business sustainability strategies, improve internal and external communication, and bring cohesiveness to their organization by promoting greater stakeholder engagement.

Within business sustainability programs, engagement is a critical focus.  What is engagement really?  Ultimately, it is value alignment.  Alignment of the corporate sustainability plan with key stakeholders.   The GreenBiz article, Why Corporate Boards Should Listen to Investors on Sustainability, explores the numerous factors affecting today’s bottom lines.  Leveraging a recent Ernst and Young whitepaper on the topic, the post highlights the influence investors have on critical business sustainability decision making.

“In 2012, investors will continue to spotlight sustainability issues in connection with corporate growth opportunities and risk management efforts.  A confluence of factors – investors seeking greater corporate accountability, particularly at the board level; growing attention paid by regulators to environmental and social topics; and heightened public scrutiny of corporation following recent financial, economic, political and environmental-related developments – are working to sharpen attention on the ‘triple bottom line’ of environmental, social and economic performance.” - Ernst and Young

Our sustainability consulting works with business leaders to define the unique links between sustainability concepts and business value drivers.  We provide information and professional consulting services which assist companies in building a strong platform for sustainable stakeholder engagement.  What form is sustainability taking in your business?

“In today's economic environment, companies are continuously pressured to reduce costs in order to combat slower growth and offset commodity price increases, rising costs of energy and transportation, and various other pressures. Despite these issues and the economic instability worldwide, companies must continue to find growth opportunities to compete in the global marketplace. The question I keep returning to is, why don't more CFOs turn to indirect procurement as a significant source of savings to create a competitive advantage and fuel this growth?”  - Robert Brust former CFO for Sprint

Following on this same line of thinking the Huffington Post article, The New Procurement, examines the characteristics of an evolving and strategic function within today’s business.  Leveraging the advancements in manufacturing as a foretelling for change in other industries, the post highlights the opportunities for comprehensive sustainable supply chain reform.  Areas of note include:

• Raising revenues
• Improving margins and reducing costs
• Expanding globally through export and foreign country platforms
• Product and process innovation
• Raising productivity
• Better training and use of human capital 

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

• Commercial Strategy 
• Supplier/Contract Management Plans 
• Demand Management Plan 
• Communication/Change Management Plan 
• Continuous Improvement Process

Building a strong business sustainability plan usually requires a company to incorporate sustainability concepts across the entire supply chain.  Our sustainability consulting provides information and tools to clients seeking to develop successful business sustainability strategies to drive sustainable value beyond their direct spend.  We leverage social media engagement strategies and tools to communicate across the entire value chain.

What is Karma?   Karma is a Sanskrit word that means "action." Karma has commonly been considered a punishment for past bad actions, but karma is neither judge nor jury. Rather, it is simply the universal law of cause and effect that says every thought, word and act carries energy into the world and affects our present reality. From a sustainability viewpoint, how does karma apply?  Many argue that business is best used as a vehicle to not only aid in solving today's environmental challenges, but also to help create a better world.

If so, then How do business leaders walk the delicate art of transitioning to more sustainable business strategies?  When you think about it, the requirements to maintain a sustainable business today are quite different than they were just ten years ago.   Companies on the leading edge are evaluating the economic, social and environmental impacts that will ultimately affect profitability.  Green business practices are becoming more and more the norm, as companies both large and small realize the value of integrating eco awareness and sustainability concepts into their operations and business strategies.   

For example, many organizations are developing strategies to reduce emissions.  These organizations are proactively implementing process improvements and new technologies to add value and reduce risk.  By focusing on and applying resources to a broad concept, a company can drill-down to more detailed sustainable actions to address:

•    Office Building Energy Consumption – evaluating the average energy use per square foot of office space and implementing best practices to reduce: energy consumption studies, efficiency practices, equipment modifications, etc.

•    Operations Efficiency – incorporating energy efficient process into their daily operations, evaluating peak hour consumption, and decreasing off-hour usage.

•    Supply Chain Efficiency: creating integrated processes with suppliers to improve communication, ensure common sustainable processes, and increase energy efficiency.

Masterful companies recognize that business sustainability is a mind-set change that should be consistent and in alignment with organizational commitment and continuous improvement efforts already in place within the company.  The critical elements to affective implementation include: executive leadership, consistent action, clear communication, and stakeholder engagement.

While eco awareness is important, demonstrating sustainability values through eco action is key.  "Like a beautiful flower that is colorful but has no fragrance, even well spoken words bear no fruit in one who does not put them into practice."  ~ Dhammapada, Sayings of the Buddha, Pali Cannon

Experience and recent business results demonstrate that innovation will be essential to success over the next decade as companies continue to recover from recent economic downturn.  Our sustainability consulting has worked with companies who are seeking to seize new opportunities and improve competitive positions through refined evolved business plans and innovative solutions.  But these efforts are not always tuned-in through the traditional channels.

Our sustainability consulting recognizes the innovative ideas do not have to come from any one, single source.  They can generate from within the company at the ground level, from the customers you service, or your suppliers.  In fact, a definable key to success is to create a corporate culture that encourages and rewards innovation at all levels internal to the organization as well as external to the company.

Leveraging this concept, we turn our attention to the Innovation Excellence post, Follow the Leaders of Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing – Part Two.  This article offers insight into the characteristics of today’s leading business sustainability and open innovation cultures.

• They build a solid foundation: Seek to understand where the challenges will lie in the transformation.

• They get strategic: Communicate the goals of the strategy and measure goal achievement.

• They focus on communications and ownership: Create guidelines for when and how to use different external talent sources.

• They continuously reinforce their efforts: Weave external focus into internal systems

An open innovation approach to business sustainability offers stakeholders the opportunity to become engaged in the future of a business.  Recognizing that key stakeholders have a vested interest the success of the company, creates openness to new ideas that promote business success and innovative ideas. 

“The creation of a thousand forest in one acorn.”  Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Climb a tree - it gets you closer to heaven. ~Author Unknown 

"He who plants a tree, Plants a hope. ~Lucy Larcom  

Inspired yet?  We are! At Taiga Company, it's hard to contain enthusiasm in celebrating Arbor Day.  Why? Inspired by the taiga, that's where our sustainability consulting practice got our name!  

Taiga, pronounced, tahy-guh is a biome that stretches across a large portion of Canada, Europe, and Asia.  The taiga is truly vast in extent; in fact, it makes up 27 percent of the world's total forest and occupies 11 percent of the land area of the Northern Hemisphere.  What is most impressive is the taiga's immense oxygen production literally changes the atmosphere and refreshes the plant.  It is this inspiration that I founded and named Taiga Company.  The continuous renewal that the taiga offers our planet has shaped our company vision to drive similar change in the business world.  

Celebrating Arbor Day offers an opportunity to share our appreciation for what our trees do for us.  Trees are the earth’s oldest living organisms. They improve air and water quality; reduce heating and cooling costs; provide a cool and beautiful place to live, work and play; are a renewable source of fuel, shelter, food and other products and provide benefits that directly affect the economic, environmental and social health of people and the communities where they live.   "Trees outstrip most people in the extent and depth of their work for the public good."  Sara Ebenreck, American Forests  

Celebrated on the last Friday in April, Arbor Day was founded by J. Sterling Morton in 1872 and is a United States national celebration that encourages the planting and care of trees.  Founded with the same sustainable mindset many of us share today, J. Sterling Morton saw a greater value in planting a tree than from its removal in the farm lands of Nebraska.  Arbor Day is a nationally-celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care and there are several ways to get involved and take eco actions.  

• Plant a tree! Learn which trees are best in your area and techniques to plant
• Make a donation to the American Forest
• Spread eco awareness by sending a customized e-card to your friends and family for your local Arbor Day
• Discover what kind of tree you are! Take the fun quick, "Take Your Hortiscope Quiz" from Timberland to find out. 
• Download the Celebrate Arbor Day Guidebook 
• Save a tree and go paperless for the entire day or weekend. 
• Share with a friend what inspires you most about green living. 

Not only as sustainability consultants but also as avid nature enthusiasts, we are always inspired by sustainability concepts, personal action, and business direction that support the world’s forest.  So on this very special day of the year, we are overjoyed as our love of trees is celebrated across the United States in the observance of Arbor Day.

In today’s global business environment, it is rare for a company to own an entire product or service value chain.  Business operations rely heavily on external sources exposing the supply chain as a critical component of business success.   Leading organizations are using the procurement function as a means to move towards a more sustainable business by forming "strategic relationships" with companies, large and small, who demonstrate leadership.  

With that being said,misconceptions of business sustainability as a passing trend are quickly falling by the wayside.  Larger organizations, traditionally mistaken as burdened with a primary responsibility as change agents in the water, carbon, environment and climate change solutions are now shifting the burden to include suppliers.  Walmart is one example.

Recently, Walmart announced that it will broaden its initial 15-question scorecard to 100 major categories, with category-specific questions, by the end of this year.   As the post, Why Walmart's better supplier scorecard is a big deal states, " When Walmart introduced its initial scorecard, tens of thousands of suppliers increased their investments in sustainability. This expanded scorecard promises to have an even bigger impact. Not only will it shift the landscape for Walmart suppliers, but it also could greatly influence supplier scorecard programs at many other companies.'  

To unprepared organizations, the business risks of carbon, water, and climate change disclosure takes many forms:

•    Potential increase in operating cost

•    Potential increase in supply costs

•    Potential disruptions to supply or loss of supplier relationships

•    Potential loss of revenue or market share

•    Potential to business reputation 

•    Potential inability to secure investment dollars or capital

Water, carbon, waste, and energy management is becoming a critical sustainable business strategy to address internal and external supply issues.  Creating supply chain management alignment through increased eco awareness, cooperative business relationships, and applied sustainability concepts can have immediate business impacts and reduce business sustainability risk.  Taiga Company provides professional consulting and business resources to business leaders seeking to make significant and sustainable improvements in their internal and external operations.

As the world continuously adapts to shifting expectations for more sustainable business practices and end products, executives are feeling the need to redirect their resources or sharpen their innovation strategies.  In our professional consulting, we see leading businesses shifting the emphasis of their research and development to include less conventional sources of inspiration.  But from were where will the next breakthrough come? 

The Forbes Magazine post, Reverse Innovation and the Myth of Cannibalization, examines the traditional challenges of low cost idea generation in the corporate world.  Describing how innovation typically trickles down from highly funded sources, new research may now reveal that personal and business sustainability concepts may actually be breaking this top-down mold. 

“We are likely to see the reverse innovation phenomenon in a wide range of industries such as ultra-low-cost transportation, renewable energy, clean water, micro finance, affordable health, low-cost housing, and many others.” -Vijay Govindarajan, Professor of International Business at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business

Through our direct engagement with companies and business leaders seeking to inspire and motivate sustainable action in their organization, we find business stakeholders as a valued source for new ideas. Our professional consulting works with clients to step outside of the confines of the business to leverage employee, supplier, and end consumer thinking. In doing so, sustainability concepts naturally find their way into the new developments within the company.

At Taiga Company, our business sustainability programs are tailored towards the encouragement of business sustainability, innovation, and expanded eco awareness as an asset of the organization - particularly through stakeholder engagement. Contact us to learn how your business can leverage social media engagement to tap into the reverse innovation occurring around the globe.

“Social networks aren’t about Web sites. They’re about experiences.” – Mike DiLorenzo, NHL social media marketing director  

The path of business sustainability is a journey.  And what makes up a journey?  Experiences.  As sustainability consultants, we're aware that high level sustainability concepts are universal and easier to understand.  However, what is compelling is the expression of how an individual or a company embraces those sustainability concepts to deliver results.  We're all captivated by the unique sustainability experiences but equally important is its delivery and expression.  Social media has proven to be an innovative and effective way to address two of the biggest hurdles around sustainability: defining what it is and providing the means and channels for sharing sustainability experiences.   

Why is Twitter great for green and sustainable businesses?

1. Branding:  As mentioned, a major component of any corporate sustainability plan isn’t so much how a company carries out those strategies but also how it communicates it to its many stakeholders.  There is an emerging role of social media for stakeholder engagement and for businesses to communicate their broader corporate responsibility agenda. As illustrated in the post, 5 Sure Fire Ways to Find your Green Social Media Voice on Twitter there are multiple branding opportunities for green businesses.
2. Prospecting: By using the Twitter search function, you can find the people who need what you sell, with whom you can do deals, etc.
3. Networking: Using twitter as a tool to create and foster relationships is among one of its best attributes.  Sustainable businesses looking to reduce cost, increase productivity while simultaneously reduce environmental impacts by minimizing travel are looking to technology to do the trick and twitter as a networking tool aids in this strategy.
4. Engaging:  By building strategic relationships with key influencers of sustainability in the social space, we all create and empower sustainability and its mainstream adoption.  The post, 6 Ways to Build Strategic Relationships With Sustainability Influencers of Social Media explains how best to engage.
5. Competitive intelligence:  Creating bridges between the corporate world and its competitors, social media closes the gap on knowledge management and business intelligence.  Social media for sustainability communications has become a risk or an opportunity. Monitoring, listening, and dialoguing in the social space not only offers a competitive advantage but also provides other key ingredients for successful social media engagement and competitor intelligence. 
6. Green Vendor Selection: Companies evaluating their vendors on mutual sustainability values have the opportunity to leverage twitter in building a relationship that provides transparency, visibility into operations, and creates opportunities for performance oversight.
7. Stakeholder Conversations: Social media provides individuals, communities, businesses, and non-government organizations the ability to connect with business in meaningful discussion from anywhere in the world in real time.  To focus the corporate ear, business sustainability minded organizations are engaging with stakeholders, who have a vested interest in the success of the business and profoundly advance the sustainability conversation.  
8. Reporting: It is becoming more common for businesses to integrate social media in the annual corporate sustainability report.  However, a growing trend is to communications sustainability related KPI's  quarterly. 

The role of social media shares similar values to sustainability: authenticity, transparency, and engagement.  Is your green business on twitter?  If not, with over 28.000 followers and a specialty in building social media engagement for green twitter connections, we are here to help you with your social media for sustainability success.   

“To maintain relevance, Procurement must expand its support of business growth strategies beyond standard cost reduction. Procurement organizations that mix sophistication, impact, and payoff horizon deliver more than three times the yearly savings and four times the annual innovation of their peers.” –Procurement Strategy Council

Building on this thinking, a recent Supply Management post, Nearly Three-Quarters of CFOs Believe Procurement is More Strategic, offers its own insight into the shifting corporate perceptions of sustainable supply chain management.  Leveraging the research of several professional consulting firms specific to the space, the article summarizes the results by identifying an elevate status for procurement in the business world.

Within our own sustainability consulting, we have observed a variety of organizations reevaluating their traditional business process, with some of the most notable in the supply chain.  Further experience has revealed that many leading companies are, in fact, exploring the unique value in elevating sustainable supply chain management as a strategic business sustainability function.  Some common areas which are driving enhanced business value include:

• Strategy Assessment – Evaluate business needs, market conditions, and sustainability value drivers (research / benchmarking) to improve supplier relationships or initiating sourcing.  

• Strategic Sourcing – Improve sustainable material selection and supplier manufacturing processes as part of supplier selection criteria. 

• Supplier Management – Establish key supplier performance metrics to ensure continuous alignment with sustainability targets and assess the overall health of these key business stakeholders. 

• Inventory Management – Integrating key suppliers in business process to optimize inventory levels on critical supply, resulting in lower carrying cost, waste and material obsolescence. 

Building of a comprehensive business sustainability plan includes incorporating sustainability concepts in the supply chain.  Our sustainability consulting and small business resources provide information and tools to clients seeking to develop successful business sustainability strategies that transcend traditional business sustainability strategies, like cost cutting.  Visit us at Taiga Company  to learn more.

Traditionally, the underlying goal of any compensation structure has been to attract, motivate and retain good staff.  However, choosing the right compensation structure to achieve a specific business objective can be difficult, especially when business drivers are not aligned with the desires of the key individual a company is seeking to retain.  The question becomes: how do companies align business and individual interests? 

Could business sustainability provide the answers?

Despite the myriad of compensation options, pay for performance is often the one which receives the most attention.  Performance pay is a combination of base pay with variable compensation based on certain performance criteria. It is a widely used in particular industries, based on the concept that pay can motivate job performance, increase employee effectiveness, and align business goals. The key is the ‘alignment’ of goals. 

• How do you tie staff member's compensation to sustainable business performance?

• How do you reward the right behaviors to build unity?

• How do you encourage self-motivated business sustainability action?

• How do you encourage innovation?

Research suggests that pay can do this when it's linked to actual performance.  A study featured in the World at Work Journal, discusses this concept in what it describes as the “Realities and Myths of Incentive Goals”.  The research reveals that shareholder friendly pay-for-performance compensation packages are in fact alive and well. It further confirms that companies that set more difficult goals achieved a higher level of total shareholder return (TSR) and had higher price-to-earnings ratios.

By pairing compensation to specific sustainability concepts, companies have the potential to align the business sustainability goals of the organization, motivate sustainability action, and incentivize the workforce.  

•    According to a news report, National Grid will tie a portion of its executive compensation to carbon reduction targets.  They will measure staff performance on emissions reductions as well as traditional performance benchmarks.

•    Companies across industries are successfully integrating environmental health & safety criteria into supplier performance metrics.

At , 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 businesses; however, pairing sustainability and performance with the right compensation structure is a formula for business sustainability success.  

Do you know your waste and recycling facts? 

• The average American office worker uses about 500 disposable cups every year. 
• Every year, Americans throw away enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times.
• Every year, Americans use approximately 1 billion shopping bags, creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste.
• Plastic bags do not biodegrade. Light breaks them down into smaller and smaller particles that contaminate the soil and water and are expensive and difficult to remove.
• Less than 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled each year. Recycling one ton of plastic bags costs $4,000. The recycled product can be sold for $32.
• Consumers in North America and Europe waste about 209 to 253 pounds of food per person every year. The USDA says the average person in the U.S. eats 4.7 pounds of food per day. So that means the amount of food we each waste in the U.S. per year would feed us for about one and a half to two months (44 to 54 days to be exact). 

Shocked by the statistics?  As Earth Day approaches, many are looking for eco actions that can be taken not just on Earth Day, but every day.  Living a zero waste lifestyle is one path to consider.  

Within our eco friendly training we share the intention behind a zero waste lifestyle is to maximize recycling, minimizes waste, reduce consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace.

A quick start to set you on your personal sustainability plan on waste reduction will not only reduce waste, but save you money as well.  But what does reducing waste mean?  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.  

Ready to get started but now sure where to begin?  Check out your garbage!  Your garbage gives you clues as to how to reduce waste, save money, and live a more sustainable lifestyle.  

Clue #1: 

This is an easy one.  If you look in your garbage and notice paper, plastic, aluminum, kitchen waste and more all combined together, then your first step towards building a personal sustainability program is to embrace the sustainability concept of recycle.  Separate the paper, plastics, glass, and aluminum into bins and begin a recycling program.  

Clue #2:

Inspect the paper and plastic in your garbage.  Are the paper products you are using made from recycled content?  Do you receive a lot of junk mail? Are you using reusable containers?  What kind of garbage bags do you use?  Take eco action and make a difference.  Address each area and explore ways to reduce your waste as well as make more environmentally friendly choices.  

Following are some suggestions from our eco friendly training classes: 

Reduce Food Waste: 

• Pre plan your meals, buy in bulk, and prepare what you need.
• Compost and turn your old food into healthy soil.

Reduce when you shop and shop with the environment in mind: 

• Purchase products that are returnable, reusable or refillable.  Use reusable and refillable containers in your home instead of disposable items.
• Purchase products with the least amount of packaging.
• Get the most out of what you buy by comparing warranties and cost to repair or replace the item.
• Look for products designed with the environment in mind.  Organic clothing, sustainable furnishings, and solar powered products are just a few examples.
• Rent or borrow instead of purchasing.  Check out the post, Buy or Barter? Best Trading Websites for ideas.

Reduce items at home: 

• Reduce paper consumption- go paperless.  In fact, try using technology to go paperless. 
• Find new life for old furnishings, appliances and clothes.

By evaluating the contents of your garbage, there exist the opportunity to make more sustainable purchase choices, to reduce your waste, and to modify behavior to support the environment - not just for Earth Day, but everyday!      

Today, leading business sustainability minded companies are taking the opportunity to rework traditional practices and business models to position themselves in a more favorable position for the future.  Our sustainability consulting finds these organizations are now including ‘business sustainability’ in the profitability equation.  This has consequently expanded the traditional perception of business risk particularly in the supply chain.

“Leading procurement organizations invest in upfront protection for critical supply in addition to their risk monitoring and response efforts…This will help you understand where to invest in preemptive actions such as dual-sourcing, long-term contracts, proactive supplier shifts, etc.”  -CEB Views

Continuing with this line of thinking, the Corporate Executive board further expands this concept by offering some basic supply questions to consider:

• Where are your biggest vulnerabilities?
• What puts the most revenue at risk? 
• Who are the vendors most closely linked to those supplies?

After years and even decades of outsourcing and offshoring, the business world now realizes that monitoring and surveillance to be essential to today’s sustainable supply chain.  Driven directly by supply disruptions, quality issues, or negative 3rd party business practices affecting the stability of the company, supply chain visibility and control is receiving the needed and long overdue business recognition.  

Our sustainability consulting finds that building risk management monitoring and surveillance into a comprehensive business sustainability plan has become a top priority for more and more business executives. With an ability to identify the indicators of change and proactively respond, your organization can stay one step ahead.  Taiga Company provides information and resource to companies seeking to mitigate risk by increasing stake holder engagement and making proactive changes to traditional business practices.

“New ideas may (and do) spring from any node in the network. That pulling of innovation from the edge to the core is one of the major differences between networked business and traditional value chains. The next step in this evolution will be for network coordinators to reach out to other networks for new ideas they can implement.” -Geoffrey Moore and Philip Lay, Business Network Transformation

Expanding on this concept, the Forbes post, Innovation in Coordinated Business Networks , examines the frameworks of today’s most effective business networks.  With so much discussion now focused on social networks, the article presents a new concept for consideration.  

“Crowdsourcing is the act of reaching out to a large, usually meshed network to solicit members’ ideas that may help us solve a problem or address an opportunity.”

Our sustainability consulting subscribes to the idea that stakeholder engagement 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 that is affecting the bottom line. Together business sustainability and social media offer a refreshing and innovative approach. 

To be effective with its business sustainability communications, an organization must have a defined strategy.  This concept should not only be communicated but aligned with the company’s business objectives and resources, including the interests of its key stakeholders and corporate sustainability plan.  Our sustainability consulting offers information and resources to define social media engagement strategies and right fit tools for your business.  Visit with us at Taiga Company to learn more.

Oftentimes we associate our business sustainability consulting practice to that of a garden.  We plant the seeds of sustainability concepts as we counsel business leaders and employees on the how's and why's of business sustainability.  A combination of factors makes it such that taking eco action is not always a first priority or it may not be "the right time."  As a result, we frequently find our social media engagement and sustainability consulting to be much like a gardener planting and nourishing seeds with intentions of sprouting eco awareness in others.

We believe by giving others the freedom to explore and discover the value of sustainability concepts, it fertilizes the foundation for sustainability concepts to germinate and fosters eco actions to come.   Sustainability and social media together offer a refreshing and innovative approach to business. But, can social media be a catalyst for green businesses?  At Taiga Company, we think so!  By building strategic relationships with key influencers of sustainability in the social space, we all create and empower sustainability and its mainstream adoption.  Here's how you can build strategic relationships for your sustainable business too: 

1. Identify key influencers - select a handful of sustainability professionals for social media or key leaders in the space.  
2. Connect - follow, like, subscribe to their social media streams and platforms.
3. Engage - show your support by retweeting, commenting on blog post, and liking Facebook updates.
4. Social - introduce others to key influencers, share mutual interest whether that be a resource, website, blog, or topic of interest.
5. Promote: offer to interview a key influencer.  Or, review their book, product or event.   
6. Comment - offer feedback, honest opinions, or additional viewpoints.

Because sustainability concepts and definitions are still subject to interpretation and debate, the ‘active’ engagement and dialog with key influencers cannot be overlooked when building effective business sustainability programs and a social media marketing strategy. The propagation of sustainable information to effectively communicate business sustainability successes is becoming a more active dialog.  Find your voice! Connect and engage in the green twitterverse! 

Businesses around the world are feeling the pressures of rising energy and water costs, as well as the potential costs of emissions.  Leading the headlines today are the impacts rising oil prices are having on business costs across the entire value chain.  Thus, our sustainability consulting asks: how is your company hedging these increasing business sustainability pressures?

“The daily debate over the extent of fuel price rises is further complicated by regional supply issues and unpredictable geopolitical events. We advise companies to use scenario planning and broaden the range of strategic thinking among category managers; help them adjust their plans in response to changing external circumstances.”  -Corporate Executive Board

While business risks and costs are often the primary drivers for behavior change, leading businesses are exploring sustainability concepts to identify opportunities.  Many companies are addressing these risks by exploring the value aspects of proactive strategies. In fact, we have observed a recent shift by individuals and businesses towards more sustainable factors to create a completive position over the competition.  These organizations are focused on:

• Energy availability and reliability
• Reevaluation of traditional energy sources
• Availability and access to renewable energy sources
• Continued technology advancements to increase efficiencies 

Energy management is a business sustainability concept that reduces cost and adds competitive value.  Our professional consulting advises clients to focus on solutions that have immediate and long term impact.  Visit us at Taiga Company  for information and resources to get started today in build energy management into your company’s business sustainability plan.

Growing demand in the world’s largest consuming nation, US electric providers are looking to the sustainability concept of energy efficiency to create capacity.  But what are businesses doing to capitalize on these advances?  Is your company aware of the financial advantages in taking proactive action?

A new report from Pike Research, U.S. Industrial Companies Must Embrace Energy Management to Remain Competitive, examines these very questions.  Targeting the most heavily burden industries, the research explores the latest technologies and the true business sustainability opportunities that await progressive business action.

“New technologies are allowing great insight into energy procurement and use, as well as the management of energy as an input to the industrial process.  At the same time, a variety of assistance programs, plus new standards and certifications, are helping to drive energy performance initiatives into the organizational cultures of companies wishing to gain efficiencies in their industrial processes.”

New sources of energy combined with energy conservation, reduction, and management are essential for business sustainability and a brighter future.  Thus, our sustainability consulting advises clients on ways to incorporate energy efficiency and source control as not only a best business practice but as a true financial  advantage.  Visit with us Taiga Company to learn more.

As global expectations for ‘sustainable’ businesses practices continue to intensify, many companies are beginning to view business sustainability as a key component of their long-term business planning process.  In addition, our sustainability consulting finds that executives are embracing a more comprehensive definition of business sustainability.  They are closing the traditional gap between business planning and corporate action through effective stakeholder engagement and business sustainability alignment.  As we follow these actions, we find ourselves asking: What are the keys to effective communication?

Explained in the Strategic Sourceror post, How to Become an Effective Communicator, being able to effectively communicate is a vital aspect for success.  Further offering great insight on the subject, the author offers tips to consider:

• Get personal:  Understanding what is valuable to those you are working will guide you to make better decisions on their behalf or when relating to them.

• Get specific:  Simple and concise is always better than complicated and confusing.

• Focus on the leave-behinds not the take-aways:  While we participate in events to gather information from the other party, we also want to ensure that both parties leave the conversation with a clear concept of what the end goal was at that instance as well as what is next to come. 

• Have an open mind:  Simply put, do not enter into communications guarded or with too many pre-conceived notions..

• Replace ego with empathy:  There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance so tread lightly. 

• Read between the lines:  The most effective communicator can absorb subtle hints of inspiration simply by having a heightened awareness. 

• Speak to groups as individuals:  Tailoring your message to the audience as best you can in any situation involves knowing something about the audience and what they are expecting from you.

Evidence has shown that stakeholder engagement is critical to a company’s ability to capitalize on its eco awareness, product stewardship, reputation, and overall business sustainability.   In addition, the rise of social media has led companies to form new relationships with their stakeholders.  Stakeholders are increasingly looking for authentic, transparent, two-way communication with organizations. Taiga Company’s professional consulting can help your business extract increased value from its stakeholders by enabling your communications with social media strategies.

As today’s business leaders are presented with the unique opportunity to increase profitability through expanded eco awareness and a more proactive response to changing market conditions, these companies are seeking to refine their sustainable business strategies to address a new set of stakeholder expectations.  But how does one distinguish between the many voices of business sustainability?  Our sustainability consulting finds that many organizations begin with the bottom line.

The GreenBiz article, Why Corporate Boards Should Listen to Investors on Sustainability, explores the numerous factors affecting today’s bottom lines.  Leveraging a recent Ernst and Young whitepaper on the topic, the post highlights the influence investors have on critical business sustainability decision making.

“In 2012, investors will continue to spotlight sustainability issues in connection with corporate growth opportunities and risk management efforts.  A confluence of factors – investors seeking greater corporate accountability, particularly at the board level; growing attention paid by regulators to environmental and social topics; and heightened public scrutiny of corporation following recent financial, economic, political and environmental-related developments – are working to sharpen attention on the ‘triple bottom line’ of environmental, social and economic performance.” - Ernst and Young

Our sustainability consulting works with business leaders to define the unique links between sustainability concepts and business value drivers.  We provide information and professional consulting services which assist companies in building a strong platform for sustainable stakeholder engagement.  Visit us at Taiga Company to learn how your company can leverage sustainable business strategies and social media engagement to improve your bottom line.

In our sustainability consulting, we encounter executives searching for business sustainability answers in various forms and fashions.  To often the source of inspiration comes in the action of the competition, as companies view business sustainability as something external and radically different that must be emulated.   While a drastic external-driven change can be one answer, sustainable development better evolves from existing knowledge and driven by the voices closest to the business.  So we ask: where do your customers rank among your company’s key influencers? 

“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

This concept is further explored in a recent Smart Business Network post, Listen, Enrich, Optimize, wherein the author explains that companies must listen to the voice of the customer.  Rather than focusing strictly on internal drivers, leading businesses are engaging with their business sustainability stakeholders to create alignment and promote continuous improvement across the value chain.  

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.   So how can the voice of the customer be ignored?

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 you organization.

Consider the following findings from the Hay Group: Research conducted worldwide shows that leadership contributes to 70% of corporate atmosphere, while corporate atmosphere contributes to 30% of corporate performance. Therefore, leadership can exert direct influence on 21% of corporate performance.   

Sustainable business leaders are evaluating new markets, new products, and going after the most innovative people.  In addition to executive management playing a critical role in the success of a company, business sustainability requires leadership across the entire organization.  While management may ultimately carry the responsibility of sustainable business results, employees have a part to play in the definition and implementation of the company’s business sustainability programs.  Whether led by a sustainability executive or traditional management, a sustainable organization has many teams and key roles for individuals seeking to become leaders.

Enter the role of supply chain professionals. Software Advice's latest blog post, 5 Questions to Start the Sustainable Supply Chain Conversation poses 5 key inquiries: 

1. How can we better measure sustainability?
2. How can we instill sustainability into our suppliers?
3. How can we design more sustainable products?
4. How can we avoid socially-negligent suppliers?
5. Who can we trust to drive sustainability?

The recent emergence of sustainable supply chain management has provided companies with the opportunity to review processes, materials, and operational concepts from a different perspective.  It incorporates the role of the environment in supply chain value creation.  Encouraging you to read the full post here, it explores the five conversations that must occur within supply chain leadership for sustainability to become synonymous with reduced cost, risk mitigation and a socially-responsible business.  How is your organization improving the sustainability of its supply chain?