How to Build a Competitive Advantage Through Sustainable Operations
Sustainability is a growing concern among consumers, voters, regulators, and business leaders. If you’re looking to run a successful business, and retain a competitive advantage, then making your operations sustainable can be a powerful way to do it. Let’s take a look at how, and why, you might consider this.
Understanding the Shifting Landscape: Why Sustainability Now?
Sustainability is certain to become more, rather than less, important as time goes on. The UK government is dedicated to a long-term reduction in emissions. This is likely to be reflected in future business regulations. Getting ahead of this trend will help businesses avoid the costs of adapting later on.
With consumers and shareholders being increasingly motivated by green concerns, moreover, making your operations more sustainable is a way of protecting your reputation and public image.
Greening Your Processes: Operational Efficiency and Resource Management
There are a number of measures a business might deploy to make its operations greener. The first is to reduce energy expenditure. This can be done by installing the right technologies, like insulated premises and efficient heating and lighting systems. You might also create a cultural shift, optimising your water usage, and getting your entire workforce on board with the principles of a circular economy. This may result in less waste, overall.
If your operations create air pollution, then you might also look for technological means of dealing with it. For many industries, this might make a crucial difference to overall environmental impact.
Supply Chain Resilience and Ethical Sourcing: Building a Robust Foundation
If your supply chains are fragile and vulnerable to shocks and disruption, then your business can’t be said to be sustainable. You might look to assess not just the resilience of your supply chains, but also how ethical they are. If you find that a given supplier is not abiding by your values when it comes to, say, responsible forestry, then you might make the switch to another one. Regular reviews and checks can help you to do this proactively, while avoiding public scandals.
Engaging Stakeholders: Transparency and Building Trust
When your stakeholders can’t see exactly how you’re doing things, then they might begin to suspect that your operations aren’t as sustainable as you claim them to be. This can undermine trust. Make sure that you clearly report your environmental targets, and your success in meeting those targets. Subject your operations to the scrutiny of third parties, and respond promptly to criticism. This will, in the long run, help to establish your business as trustworthy.
Innovation and Future-Proofing: Creating Long-Term Value
The environmental challenges faced by humanity over the coming century will be solved not just by recycling initiatives and tree planting, but by new ideas, principles and technologies. By making sustainability a target, your business might devise new solutions to longstanding problems, and offer value to a world that is increasingly concerned with these matters.
