How to drive Sustainable Business through Partnerships? Here are 10 rules/recommendation on how to get beyond half-hearted CSR-initiatives, three cases on sustainability partnerships and a bit of models and research. This presentations was given at the The Danish Governments High Level Meeting on Driving Sustainable Growth held at The Confederation of Danish Industries 2014.

1. DRIVING
SUSTAINABLE
GROWTH THROUGH
PARTNERSHIPS

2. SOFUS MIDTGAARD
MANAGING PARTNER, LEADERLAB
!
SOFUS@LEADERLAB.COM

3. PARTNERSHIPS
!
1. INTRODUCTION, THREE CASES & SOME
GENERAL LEARNINGS
2. IDEA GENERATION AND DISCUSSION AT
THE TABLES
3. WRAP-UP: FIVE RECOMMENDATIONS
TO CEOS, BOARDS AND OTHER
STAKEHOLDERS

4. ”THE ISSUES WE FACE ARE SO BIG
AND THE TARGETS ARE SO
CHALLENGING THAT WE CANNOT
DO IT ALONE. WHEN YOU LOOK AT
ANY ISSUE, SUCH AS FOOD OR
WATER SCARCITY, IT IS VERY
CLEAR THAT NO INDIVIDUAL
INSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT OR
COMPANY CAN PROVIDE THE
SOLUTION.“
!
PAUL POLMAN, CEO, UNILEVER

5. COMPETITIVE
INNOVATION
SYSTEMS
INNOVATION
COLLABORATIVE
INNOVATION
LEADERLAB.COM

6. PARTNERSHIPS
ARE NOT A
SILVER BULLET!

7. AROUND 50% ARE
NOT SUCCESSFUL

8. TYPES OF PARTNERSHIPS
!
1. COMPANY/NGO COLLABORATION (BRANDING)
- COKE+WWF
2. COMPANY/COMPANY COLLABORATION
- DYECOO - NIKE + IKEA
3. SINGLE INDUSTRY COLLABORATION
- Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) or Better Cotton Initiative
(BCI)
4. CROSS INDUSTRY COLLABORATION
- Forrest Stewardship Council (FSC)
5. MULTI STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS
- LAUNCH + LAUNCH Nordic

9. !
Source: NBS 2014

10. THREE CASES

11. 1. DYECOO
STRATEGIC COLLABORATION & CO-INVESTMENT
BETWEEN NIKE, IKEA, ADIDAS TO SCALE
WATERLESS DYEING TECHNOLOGY

14. 2. BCI: BETTER
COTTON
INITIATIVE
INDUSTRY COLLABORATION TO SCALE THE USE OF
MORE SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
COTTON.

15. COTTON IS ARGUABLY THE WORLD’S MOST
IMPORTANT NATURAL FIBRE
250M PEOPLE WORLD WIDE DEPEND ON COTTON PRODUCTION

16. 300,000 FARMERS IN 8 COUNTRIES RECEIVED
TRAINING
!
810,000 METRIC TONNES OF BETTER COTTON
WERE LICENSED (3% OF GLOBAL PRODUCTION)
!
313 PARTNERS, AMONG OTHERS LEVI’S, IKEA -
REPRESENTING ABOUT 10% OF GLOBAL COTTON
CONSUMPTION.
!
5 MILLION FARMERS AND 30% OF GLOBAL
PRODUCTION BY 2020

17. 3. PTC
PLANT PET TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATIVE
PTC: STRATEGIC COLLABORATION BETWEEN COKE,
HEINZ, P&G, NIKE AND FORD TO SCALE THE USE OF
PLANT BASED PET

18. Coke is the largest bio-plastic end
user in the world and is focused on
having all new PET plastic it uses
contain PlantBottle technology by
2020. Since its initial launch in 2009,
more than 20 billion PlantBottle
packages have been distributed in 31
countries resulting in more than
445,000 barrels of oil saved.

19. LEARNINGS

20. 1. PARTNER WITH
PURPOSE
Partnerships should make you able
to achieve something you can’t
achieve on your own. Partnerships
should never be the parking slot for
difficult CSR-agendas better solved
alone.

21. 2. GET BEYOND
THE USUAL
SUSPECTS
!
Unconventional partners will bring
new perspectives and spur
innovation. Watch out for the usual
suspects.

22. 3. PASSION IS KEY
!
It is important to have a core of totally
committed, knowledgeable people
who would die in a ditch for what the
partnership is trying to achieve.

23. 4. MAKE SURE
EVERYBODY WINS
!
To shape a valuable partnership
everybody has to win. Make sure that
the partnership goals are linked
directly to strategic priorities/goals of
all partners.

24. 5. SET SIMPLE
CREDIBLE GOALS
Many stakeholders often result in
cluttered goals and reporting. Set
simple, credible goals that you can
communicate and will make you
stand out.

25. 6. CONTRIBUTE
WITH MORE THAN
MONEY
No partnership can run on money
alone. Only by leaning in you will
harvest the real benefits of a
partnership.

26. 7. DEDICATE
GREAT PEOPLE
!
If a partnerships is strategic, staff it
like it like it is strategic - with great
people! If not don’t make the
partnership!

27. 8. GET
PROFESSIONAL
HELP
!
50% of all partnerships are
unsuccessful. It is important to have
a structured, neutral facilitator who
can keep people moving along at a
brutal pace.

28. 9. BE FLEXIBLE
IN DEFINING
SUCCES
!
Even a partnership with few and clear
goal will produce unexpected value
for partners. Be open for surprises
and calibrate your measures of
success.

29. 10. SHARE THE
LOVE
!
You can achieve amazing things
together if you are able to step back
and let other people step into the
limelight.

30. SUSTAINABILITY
IS MOVING UP ON
THE CEO AGENDA
!
Source: McKinsey Global Survey 2014

31. WHAT TO LOOK
OUT FOR WHEN
PARTNERING
WITH ANOTHER
COMPANY?
!
Source: McKinsey 2014

32. !
Source: NBS 2014

33. THANK YOU!

34. L
L E A D E R L A B
WE HELP ORGANIZATIONS DRIVE TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE