Read Online Successful Sustainability for Small Businesses, The Green Guide RTF
The Sustainable Revolution will reshape society and the economy, as resource depletion and concerns over environmental impacts come together to force change. Understanding the new parameters will be vital to future prosperity and corporate survival. The key to navigating the future is to understand that the changes are complex and interconnected reaching into every aspect of society and the economy.Examination of the macroeconomic context of sustainability provides solid foundations on which to build resilient corporate strategy. This book reaches beyond the business viewpoint to draw in the broader perspective of society facing a difficult dilemma. The underlying theme is that business can, and should be, the “primary agent for change”. Stakeholders across society will welcome business operating according to the new parameters building resilient and successful corporations in partnership with society.Resource depletion, climate change and biodiversity loss are difficult and apparently intractable issues. An effective solution requires complex, interconnected change across all areas of society. The challenge is so intense that “we are like a rabbit caught in the glare of the headlights of a speeding truck. We can easily escape, but we are transfixed by the situation. Instead of leaping off to the side, we wait to see if the wheels run over us.” Doing nothing is no longer an option, but trying to do too much is also a problem that leads to stalemate as different elements of society pull in different directions. The world needs the power, focus and leadership of business to make the leap forward and drive change, but business cannot act alone. The transformation in society and the economy will come about through a bewildering array of stakeholders fighting their corner. Business can sit it out and wait to respond to legislation or push ahead and set the agenda working with politicians and NGOs to shape a sustainable economy and vibrant society.Within the business community, sustainability is now more widely understood, requiring saving energy, reducing carbon emissions and increasing resource efficiency. This is only part of the required response; to address the full range of threats and opportunities requires understanding the changing macroeconomic context explained here in Adapt and Thrive.Continuing with business-as-usual will lead the world into crisis. There is already resentment against corporations generating profits whilst society suffers. If corporations are to avoid the growing backlash they need to lead the direction away from business-as-usual to a sustainable economy and society. Business is the most capable actor and most likely to be able to implement solutions supported by appropriate government policy.The Sustainable Revolution is slow in coming and the longer it is delayed the more difficult the transformation will be. This means that the risks are growing together with the scale of the opportunities. The safest place to be during this period of disruption is out in front leading change making the seed investments required to be poised to exploit the new business landscape.Peter McManners is a strategic consultant and Executive Fellow of Henley Business School, Reading University in the UK. He has written extensively on sustainability including winning a prize in the Oxford Science Writing competition 2002 for his article ‘is Carbon the Culprit?’ His column on business strategy for sustainability has been running in Sustainable Business magazine since 2008. Adapt and Thrive was first published in 2008 introducing concepts that have spawned other books at the leading edge of the debate such as a policy framework for the new economy ‘Green Outcomes in the Real World’ (McManners 2010) and an examination of sustainable aviation in the book ‘Fly and be Damned’ (McManners 2012). Adapt and Thrive remains a foundation text for students of strategy and core reading for MBA students.
