“ Business cannot succeed on a planet that fails ”

Author : Andrew Winston
Source : HBR, April 2014

“Companies in the vanguard are beginning to make “the big pivot”. This represents a profound change in strategy, operations, and business philosophy that will make organizations more resilient and help them create new value in a hotter, resource-scarce world. Pivoting requires companies to take radically different approaches to how they craft their vision, define value, and form partnerships.”
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“The big pivot is not about philanthropy or citizenship. There’s a deep self-interest in recognizing that, as many have said, business cannot succeed on a planet that fails. And it’s simply good business to fill market needs by addressing the risks humanity faces.”
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“Because governments are often frozen, companies must lead the change. One relatively new approach is to create standards for suppliers that go beyond government requirements, a kind of “de facto” regulation.”
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“A powerful idea is “precompetitive” cooperation – that is, working together on issues of common concern while competing elsewhere. To succeed at this, companies must ask, “What are we really competing on ? What truly differentiates our product of competitors?” “
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“By committing to build the market for environmental quests and technologies and take on some investments with longer payback periods, the members of a coalition could reap the hard-to-measure benefits of a public, well-marketed move to renewable: very low and predictable energy costs, resilience to weather and grid outages, employee engagement and inspiration, and customer loyalty and increased sales, among others.”
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“Companies need to work with partners up and down their value chains, from suppliers to customers, to solve systemic problems. For most firms, the majority of their environmental footprint and social impact is not within their direct control but lies upstream with suppliers and downstream with customers using the product”
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“In a volatile world, developing real resiliency – an ability not just to recover from hits but to avoid problems altogether – requires a concerted, focused effort. Companies that embrace building longer-lasting, more-sustainable enterprises will find themselves in some unusual, seemingly paradoxical, territory.”