Sustainability Consultant

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.

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

The GreenBiz article, GE and GM: How to Get the Most Out of Convergence, explores the internal working of technological advancement in large corporations.   Armed with an abundance of resources, these leaders are beginning to realize that size and force do not necessarily drive change.  There are in fact larger forces at work that must be recognized and voices to be engaged. 

“While the technology advances being made via smarter buildings and transportation systems are impressive, their adoption is still driven by market forces. It's not just about the technology. Customers are looking for higher quality, lower cost, greater effectiveness." - Don Reed, director of U.S. Sustainable Business Solutions at PwC

In previous posts, our sustainability consulting has posed the broad question: can social media save the world?  Narrowing this to a more pointed discussion: How is social media engagement changing the face of business?  To answer this question, we cast aside traditional measures and replace them with the growing and tangible value which can no longer be ignored.

• What are the market forces and/or shifting consumer expectations shaping future innovation?

• How are businesses engaging consumers in growth markets?

• How can an aligned sustainable supply chain become a competitive advantage?

• How are these concerns and opportunities driving shareholder value?

Stakeholder engagement is no longer a defined by how well your company communicates its message to the external world.  Social media success is rapidly becoming a critical business sustainability skill and a business sustainability catalyst that is affecting the bottom line.  Our sustainability consulting offers information and tools to assess the market, your competition, and your own efforts in the social space around your business.  Visit with us at Taiga Company to learn more.

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.