Challenges
Sustainability is on top of mind of many CEOs, national governments, nongovernmental organizations, and individuals. The question is how to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs—and how to translate this into real business opportunities.
To address this issue strategically, corporate leaders must focus on a number of key questions:
How can we build competitive advantage and create substantial value for an enlarged stakeholder network?
What organizational capabilities will be required to succeed in the new age of business sustainability?
How can we run a transformation process using the lenses of sustainability to identify the need for change?
How do we develop a strategy to become a more sustainable company and also maintain our license to operate?
How can we differentiate ourselves from competitors through sustainable products and production processes?
How can we take advantage of the growth in renewable-energy markets?
If we want to broaden our presence in low-carbon-dioxide energy, where do we invest?
What are the best ways to reduce our environmental footprint and our cost?
How can we offer solutions that are more energy efficient?
How can we leverage our current capabilities to become the preferred player for our customers and suppliers?
BCG Competencies
In our Sustainability Practice team, we have a core group of experienced people working full-time to support ongoing client cases, connect our employees, build new knowledge, and develop our unique point of view on specific topics within sustainability. Our internal knowledge base and network are comparable to those of some of the leading universities, and we are continuously learning by helping clients around the world.
To increase our competence and understanding, we are working actively through several external networks, where one of our most important partners is MIT. BCG and MIT are running a joint research project focusing on how businesses commit to sustainability, the drivers of these commitments, and how companies use sustainability to develop competitive advantages. Through expert workshops, business interviews, and a comprehensive survey of global business executives, we have developed new ideas and created a database of industry- and region-specific data on sustainability.
We also recognize that we need to "walk the talk" in order to be credible to our clients and our employees. Therefore, we have set up an all-inclusive internal effort to reduce our footprint through several "smart initiatives," including travel guidelines, videoconferencing, waste reduction, paper and energy efficiency, and sustainability education. By setting performance-improvement targets for our own company, we aspire to become a role model in the area of sustainability.