Key Takeaway from Director’s Briefing 7/2022: When profitability meets sustainability... How business makes a positive impact
𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙪𝙨?
👤 Chompan Kulnides
• At the company level, sustainability is to have a balance between the business benefits and the societal & environmental benefits. The company needs to mindful not only to shareholders but also to all stakeholders who are impacted by its operation.
• At an individual level, the person can only live once, so he/she should make the world a better place for the next generation.
𝙄𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮?
👤 Bruce Bromley:
• When it comes to the choices between sustainable and non-sustainable options, the former is always shown to be the most profitable option, in both short-term and long-term, which totally drives the bottom line.
• At Soneva, something that is not necessarily sustainable will not be accepted as a business, each option must be sustainable and either profitable or cheaper / drive more revenue.
• Sustainability is not about focusing on lots of things that you can’t do, it’s more about focusing on something that you can do. If you just use your ingenuity, you can create some magic which is sustainable.
𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨?
👤 Chompan Kulnides:
• Sustainability should be something that you can do within your normal business which still makes profits and impacts the others.
• Sometimes it does not come out in exact financial impact in the first instance, but it comes in the direct impact of such initiatives.
• At Minor, sustainability culture makes the attraction, helps retain (or even rehire) the talented people, and also creates employee engagement within the organization (e.g. Alumni network). In addition, employee training & development is highly emphasized which results in better yields, better outputs for the company.
• Sustainability is a license to operate. The company does not need to wait for the regulator announcement, instead, it needs to do it because customers have demanded it already. The power of social media and customer awareness of sustainability make it “a must” for the business operation. So If the company wants to be profitable, be a leader and be successful in the business, it needs to move now.
𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮?
👤 Dr. Darian McBain:
Currently, many financial institutions have a big commitment to the net zero sustainability to reduce carbon emissions in the business operation (scope 1 to 3). The group is called The Glasgow Financial Alliance towards Net Zero which currently includes more than 450 financial institutions that committed to transition to a net-zero global economy. That means if the company works with these financial institutions, it needs to move towards net zero as well. That’s why company leaders need to understand more about the green finance (sustainability-linked loan) which could help firm access to lower cost of capital lending. Without taking this into company’s heart, it might not be able to access some of the finance anymore in the future.
𝘽𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮?
👤 Bruce Bromley:
Access to high talented human capital especially young people is a challenge because they concern about the strong value system of the organization that makes the world the better place. To access human capital at a high level, you have to demonstrate them how sustainability that your organization has.
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣?
👤 Bruce Bromley:
The organization cannot separate the profitability and sustainability but needs to embed
sustainability to be the DNA and culture of the organization. Directors also need to have fiduciary responsibilities to ensure that the business operation is sustainability.
👤 Chompan Kulnides:
Building culture of sustainability might take time, so the company might integrate it in the business strategy (e.g. KPI) and get all the board and management aware of the impact of the sustainability.
👤 Dr. Darian McBain:
Sustainability must be part of the strategy. For companies that still don’t know where to start, they might apply risk management based approach to find the number of areas to be flagged up as material issues which can be related to both sustainability strategy and business continuity as well.
𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨
• Sustainability will soon become the same as profitability. Sustainability will be a requirement to enter to various markets, to access to funding, to able to attract talents, to be able to exist in community, to be a brand in customer’s mind.
• To adopt sustainability successfully. It needs to be well embed into corporate culture, DNA, KPIs and long -term strategy. Hence, sustainability is a board agenda and has to be integrated into company strategy.
• Sustainability takes time because it is the change of the mindset. If a company does not start now, its business may become extinct.
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