Presentation for the AmCham Business Ethics and Sustainability Conference, 12 November 2012, Sofia. Updated

1. Companies integrating sustainability into
business strategy: Case studies and
conclusions
November 2012
Toby Webb, Founder, Ethical Corporation and Stakeholder Intelligence
Lecturer, Corporate Responsibility, Birkbeck College, University of London
Toby.webb@stakeholderintel.com / tobywebb.blogspot.com

2. Marks & Spencer Plan A

3. Marks & Spencer Plan A (2007)
Goal: World's most sustainable major retailer
“Plan A”: 180 environmental/ethical commitments by 2015
Focus: Climate change, Waste, Natural resources, Health and
being a Fair partner
 Cost neutral/positive
 Award winning
 Growing customer trust
 Now launching new products and campaigns: Energy,
customer loyalty (Shwopping)

5. Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (2010)
 Ten year journey towards sustainable growth with 50 targets
 Aim to bring safe drinking water to 500 million people
 2011: Increased the proportion of portfolio that meets highest
nutritional standards from 22% in 2010 to 25% in 2011
 Aim: Halve the greenhouse gas impact of products across the
lifecycle by 2020
 2020 aim: Source 100% of agricultural raw materials
sustainably
 Sustainably sourced raw materials increased from 14% in 2010 to
24% in 2011

6. Timberland and ‘Earthkeepers’

7. Timberland and ‘Earthkeepers’ (2007)
 2007 looking "desperately" to try and grow the business
 Developed successful "Earthkeeper" line of footwear and apparel
 Designed with a core philosophy of environmental stewardship
 Objective: "make our values valuable" : Mike Harrison, Chief
Brand Officer
 Earthkeepers product line is now 10% of sales
 Gone from one boot in 2007 to entire line sold around the world:
 Engaged heavily with customers online and using social media

8. Skanska and greener construction

9. Skanska and greener construction (2009)
 Empire State building: Ambitious $500m renovation plan,
paid for with savings from “deep green retrofit”
 Skanska: 57% reduction in energy consumption.
Reduction of 15-18% employee absenteeism
 Renovation costs recouped in as little as five years
 By 2015: Building’s owners say they are confident they will
save $4.4m a year: A 38% reduction of energy use
 Development business unit focusing on green: 10% of the
company’s overall $17bn annual revenues, 1% deep green

10. Vodafone in Turkey

11. Vodafone and Turkish Farmers (2011)
Vodafone/ Accenture 2011 research: Mobile-based agri services could boost
agricultural income by $34bn by 2020
Vodafone Farmers' Club offers special rates & info to farmers: Mobile tech to
improve incomes & increase efficiency/sustainability
 500,000 signed up to the Farmers' Club so far. Participating farmers have
increased productivity by about €100m
SMS alerts with government information on:
 New regulations and financial support
 Weather forecasts
 Market price quotes linked to location and production
Partnership with Sekerbank: Farmers pay mobile phone bills post-harvest,
annually. Benefits to Vodafone: Customer loyalty, mass revenue streams

13. Siemens and Green Business Strategy
 2011: Products and solutions in Environmental Portfolio
generated revenue of €29.9 billion: 41% of total revenue
 Objective: Grow annual revenue to €40 billion by 2014 –
with new, innovative products and exceptional growth in
fields like renewable energy. These include:
 Combined cycle power plants and intelligent building
technologies: far more energy-efficient than comparable
solutions
 Renewable energy systems and components: wind
turbines, steam turbines for solar-thermal power plants.
Environmental technologies for cleaner water and air

14. Conclusions 1: What does this mean for stakeholder engagement?
 Employee engagement drives innovation
 NGO partnerships bring ideas and credibility
 Communities have increasing power & influence
 Social media means no company escapes scrutiny
 Big business want a long term vision from
Governments: And policies and incentives that
enable investment and longer term planning

15. Conclusions 2: What does this mean for financial returns?
London Business School and Harvard Business School research
finds that:
 Firms with better CSR performance face significantly
lower capital constraints
 Better stakeholder engagement and transparency around
CSR performance, are important in further reducing
capital constraints
 That the relation is driven by both the social and the
environmental dimension of CSR
"CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCESS TO FINANCE" Available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1847085

16. Conclusions 3: The takeaways…
 CSR/Sustainability/Responsible business = Smarter business
 Consumers want to trust brands, not products
 Leading companies turning sustainability into opportunity
all over the world: New products / motivated people / cost
savings
 It is early days! But 9 billion people means less resources and
innovation will be essential: Sustainability = risk reduction
 Corporate roles in changing inefficient systems will be vital:
The winning companies recognise CSR is systems change

17. Further resources
The Smarter Business Blog: tobywebb.blogspot.com
Ethical Corporation: www.ethicalcorp.com
Eabis.org / Caseplace.org / Harvard Kennedy School CSR Initiative:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/CSRI/
Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility:
http://doughtycentre.info
MIT/Sloan Management Review:
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/innovation-hubs/sustainability/
Stakeholder Intelligence: Training and Research:
www.stakeholderintel.com