Sustainability: A Small Business Growth Opportunity

Small businesses are arguably more affected by the financial pressures and resource constraints in responding to dramatic changes in the market.  For many of these organizations, just weathering the storm is often the immediate goal.  For small business taking proactive sustainability actions, the opportunity to grow becomes much more visible. 

In a recent conversation with a prospective small business client, we discussed the expansive opportunity to expand and grow their business as a sustainable business and product supplier.  Drilling past the surface, we discovered some of the common obstacles keeping this organization, like many others, from aggressively pursuing the numerous benefits of a long-term business sustainability plan.  In this case, the value had already been defined and the opportunity rests in how to address some common small business challenges.

•    How much is it going to cost us?
•    Can we get the financing to make capital improvements?
•    Where are we going to find the available resources required?
•    How is this going to affect our current operations?

To address these challenges, well positioned small businesses are creating a business case  for sustainability.  These companies are defining opportunities for improvement, linking them to specific business metrics, and creating scorecards to evaluate success.  With the ability to demonstrate visibility and control, companies open themselves up to financial and business growth opportunities in new markets and with a larger number of customers.  

At Taiga Company, our professional consulting understands the challenges facing resource limited companies.  Our small business resources work directly with clients to create a company specific case for sustainability and seek to leverage resources already available within the organization.  We help companies define specific sustainability concepts that match organizational or individual work group value drivers.

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily

8 Technology Tools for Your Green Business Toolbox

How does a business reduce emissions, increase worker productivity and integrate sustainability concepts into the workplace?   One way is to leverage technology.  As demonstrated as a business sustainability program, leveraging technology has its benefits:

 •    increase organization and productivity
•    eliminate storage space
•    reduce costs
•    improve disaster recovery protection for documents
•    reduces environmental impact

  As many industries continue to recover from the economic slumber, now may be the perfect time to make changes for a new business environment.  Incorporating sustainability concepts into the core company vision and implementing them consistently through all business process, positions a company to be one step ahead on the road to business recovery.  Technology can do just that.  Check out the following post and explore how technology can help your business to further business sustainability within your organization.
 

1. Social Media Advancing the Business Sustainability Conversation
2. Telecommuting: help your Business, help the Environment
3. The Growing Role of Virtual Conferencing and Webinars in the Sustainability Meeting Landscape
4. 5 Ways to a Greener Website
5. A Guide for SME’s: How and Why to go Paperless
6. Intuit’s GreenSnapshot: Do You Have it in Your Green Biz Toolkit?
7. CRM: Golden Nugget for Sustainability in Business
8. Foursquare for Greenies

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily

Ten Top Things Every Business Leader Should Know About Strategic Sustainability

Since the introduction of the concept of the triple bottom line, supporters and critics have debated the ability to link the environmental and social responsibility to business profitability.  Without a definitive financial incentive, companies have historically not been receptive to the idea of integrating sustainability concepts into core business practices.  However, recent trends tend to indicate that the business world may be changing their view.

 Business sustainability is not exclusively environmentally focused. Business sustainability programs offer measures to save money and grow profitable businesses.  Integrating sustainability concepts into core business functions enables businesses to become more nimble in a fast-changing world.   Customers want it, it increases the bottom line, improves employee morale, reduce risks, and… It is good for the environment.

  As evidenced in our business sustainability consulting, sustainable business leaders are evaluating new markets, new products, and are pursuing the most innovative people.  They are rethinking long-held strategic assumptions to challenge decades of conventional wisdom to drive organizational change  and innovation.

 Here’s what they know about business sustainability:

 •    Improve Business Reputation 
•    Create Brand Differentiation
•    Capture Industry Synergies with other Sustainable Businesses 
•    Reduce Business Cost
•    Improve Employee Satisfaction and Retention
•    Lead Your Industry in Best Practices
•    Improved Stakeholder Engagement
•    Respond to Consumer Eco-Preferences 
•    Proactive Measures regarding Environmental Legislation
•    They know to act now, or get left behind…

 At Taiga Company, our sustainability consulting practices assist clients to define business sustainability value drivers and integrate them into existing processes and evolving business models.

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily