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CSR Research Digest – February 2012

Summary

WBCSD has launched a step-by-step guide to help businesses accelerate sustainable growth in their value chains. The report features case studies from 10 leading companies demonstrating how sustainable value chains can create competitive advantage for business.

Key Findings

• Over the next few decades, businesses will face many challenges related to the environmental sustainability of their value chains (i.e. the full life cycle of a product or service).
• These challenges will be faced whether it’s meeting new environmental regulations, securing enough water, energy or other resources for their daily operations, or managing the needs and expectations of their stakeholders.
• The report explores five critical success factors to implementing a sustainable value chain:
• (1) leveraging the power of collaboration;
• (2) understanding customer and consumer needs, and proactively encouraging them to make new choices;
• (3) identifying “hot spots” to focus on the changes that will have the greatest impact;
• (4) ensuring healthy supply/demand in order to reach economies of scale; and
• (5) committing to the initiative.
• The report was developed under the leadership of WBCSD member companies Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company.
• Featured case studies are from Solvay, Umicore, AkzoNobel, Philips, Henkel, Procter & Gamble, TNT, The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, Sompo Japan Insurance and SABIC.

Author(s)

WBCSD

Source

PDF report

Tags: collaboration, innovation, sustainable growth, sustainable value chains, transformation, value chain, WBCSD