26
• Growth – by innovation and the development of new sustainability driven
product/service development; by developing strategies opening the door on new
markets ; and by regularly revisiting the composition of business portfolios to
determine trends and potential risks and improve appeal for investors, as well as
by competing better with existing products/services, as customers and consumers place increasing emphasis on sustainability in their purchasing decisions.
It is very important to remember that sustainability in itself is not necessarily
generating value for an organization, unless it becomes aligned with the company’s
core business strategy.
2.1 Defi ning the Strategy of Sustainable Value Creation
The fi rst step when defi ning a sustainable strategy is to defi ne the expected outcomes. The fi rst and most important question to be answered is about the expected
business value from implementation of the sustainability action plan. In order to
answer this question, one should:
(a) Align with the company strategy : Is the priority of the company to grow and to
develop? To increase its margin? How is this going to be achieved? Sustainability
should be used to support the company’s strategic priorities.
(b) Assess stakeholders expectations : What stakeholders have an interest in sustainability and are to be involved? What is their infl uence on the company and its
value-chain? On what type of value can they act? For example, clients will
infl uence sales, key opinion leaders will infl uence brand reputation and suppliers of strategic materials can infl uence the level of risk.
(c) Perform a risk assessment : A sustainability strategy can be key to support the
risk management plan of a company.
A meaningful strategy to unlock sustainability within an organization remains
the key to link each initiative to one of the key areas of value creation. We can think
at the life cycle management toolbox being at the opposite end of the value creation
path within a company. Often an appropriate LCM tool (or a combination of them)
is fi rst identifi ed, and then implemented by a business unit that is expected to generate tangible or intangible business benefi ts. Proceeding in such a sequence, however, is risky. Organizations might realize that generated business benefi ts are not
aligned with company’s value drivers like two ends of a tunnel being drilled from
both sides that fails to meet in the middle due to poor planning.
There are potentially many good reasons to launch an ecodesign project:
• Starting from consumers expectations and perspective, developing a new packaging that is differentiated by its lower impact on the environment. But the fi rst
questions to tackle are: What does sustainability mean for the consumers? How
do they perceive it? How will they react to a new packaging?
S. Harbi et al.
• Growth – by innovation and the development of new sustainability driven
product/service development; by developing strategies opening the door on new
markets ; and by regularly revisiting the composition of business portfolios to
determine trends and potential risks and improve appeal for investors, as well as
by competing better with existing products/services, as customers and consumers place increasing emphasis on sustainability in their purchasing decisions.
It is very important to remember that sustainability in itself is not necessarily
generating value for an organization, unless it becomes aligned with the company’s
core business strategy.
2.1 Defi ning the Strategy of Sustainable Value Creation
The fi rst step when defi ning a sustainable strategy is to defi ne the expected outcomes. The fi rst and most important question to be answered is about the expected
business value from implementation of the sustainability action plan. In order to
answer this question, one should:
(a) Align with the company strategy : Is the priority of the company to grow and to
develop? To increase its margin? How is this going to be achieved? Sustainability
should be used to support the company’s strategic priorities.
(b) Assess stakeholders expectations : What stakeholders have an interest in sustainability and are to be involved? What is their infl uence on the company and its
value-chain? On what type of value can they act? For example, clients will
infl uence sales, key opinion leaders will infl uence brand reputation and suppliers of strategic materials can infl uence the level of risk.
(c) Perform a risk assessment : A sustainability strategy can be key to support the
risk management plan of a company.
A meaningful strategy to unlock sustainability within an organization remains
the key to link each initiative to one of the key areas of value creation. We can think
at the life cycle management toolbox being at the opposite end of the value creation
path within a company. Often an appropriate LCM tool (or a combination of them)
is fi rst identifi ed, and then implemented by a business unit that is expected to generate tangible or intangible business benefi ts. Proceeding in such a sequence, however, is risky. Organizations might realize that generated business benefi ts are not
aligned with company’s value drivers like two ends of a tunnel being drilled from
both sides that fails to meet in the middle due to poor planning.
There are potentially many good reasons to launch an ecodesign project:
• Starting from consumers expectations and perspective, developing a new packaging that is differentiated by its lower impact on the environment. But the fi rst
questions to tackle are: What does sustainability mean for the consumers? How
do they perceive it? How will they react to a new packaging?
S. Harbi et al.