idUnited

Here is a great post I read awhile back on PSFK entitled > Why Build Sustainability Into Your Business? Written by Piers Fawkes >

The only reason to really motivate a business to go green is for competitive advantage. Sustainability must be part of your core business strategy. We have to remember that businesses are designed to make profit not save the planet. We have to appeal to their greed. Greed got us in this mess and greed will fix it. Being green means making more profit.

Why create a sustainable business?

• Your competitors aren’t doing it
• Your customers want it
• It improves your product, your efficiencies and your bottom line

Realize that sustainability is part of the mainstream. You, as businesses, are playing catch up even though you as consumers are already in the mindset. Be careful about making a statement about being green though – it comes across as cliché. Build it into your story so that it enhances your brand.

To read the entire post go here.

And read the great follow up by Clownfish Marketing > discussing how hopefully greed isn’t and shouldn’t be our last hope >

What this all points to is that, although an understanding of how going green can benefit companies economically is undoubtedly a catalyst for improvement, they’ll enjoy it more and have a much greater chance of success if their efforts are not driven by greed, but by a genuine and holistic desire to change, stemming from a shift in corporate values in response to global social and environmental agendas. This requires companies to look beyond cost structures and profit margins, and like Ray Anderson (who Piers credits for pointing out that sustainability is not the holy grail), to really think about how to profoundly re-engineer their operations into formats that are more compatible with nature, building on their ability to make a positive impact on individuals, communities and the environment.

Via >  PSFK