- 1.1 Environmental Stewardship Presents New Growth Opportunity
- 1.2 Leaders Are Already Taking Action
- 1.3 Driving Forces Are Aligned Like Never Before
- 1.4 Develop Green Strategy with Rigor
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
1.4 Develop Green Strategy with Rigor
The movement toward doing better green business is not solely the result of grassroots efforts that develop inside companies from individual initiatives and grow in an ad-hoc way into larger programs. According to one cross-industry study on how large, multinational corporations are addressing their carbon footprints, more than 77 percent of the companies surveyed had either already developed or were in the process of developing a carbon-offset strategy.[58] This isn't surprising, considering the level of strategy-formulation capability many enterprises already possess. During the past two decades, both large multinational companies and nimble, smaller organizations have made strategy formulation a core competence to compete in the marketplace. Using this competence, companies can refocus from traditional business strategy to green strategy for environmental stewardship.
Businesses are not alone as they develop enterprise-level green strategies for environmental stewardship and take steps toward achieving environmental sustainability. The academic community, business-strategy practitioners, and industry peers are creating and sharing their methods and points of view to help others develop their own visions for the future, and to construct practical roadmaps that achieve those visions. For example, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change provides a report that guides companies on how to integrate climate-related concerns into their corporate strategies.[59] In 2007, Deloitte's U.S. Manufacturing Industry Practice published a "practical guide to driving shareholder value through enterprise sustainability" that defines and describes strategic issues for businesses to consider.[60] The Harvard Business Review has also consolidated a collection of its articles into the Harvard Business Review on Green Business Strategy.[61] With businesses of all sizes and across all industry sectors embracing the green movement, it's clear that benefits are attainable. This is especially true when investment decisions are aligned with a well-developed green strategy that complements and strengthens traditional business strategy.