How Businesses View Sustainability

 

Sloan Management Review recently conducted a survey of global executives about sustainability, and the results are not pleasant. According to the survey the majority of executives do not see sustainability as a high priority issue. Executives say they are currently not focused on sustainability due to the economic climate and the inability to predict upcoming business obstacles. The other executives say they are seeking sustainability not in order to prevent climate change, but in order to remain competitive. Additionally, the majority of companies seeking sustainability say it is on their agenda, but they do not view it as a core value. I found this information to be troubling at best. This survey shows me how short sighted the majority of companies are. At some point the potential disasters of climate change must outweigh the potential profits of businesses if they continue a business as usual policy. Traditionally there has been debate over whether corporations have social responsibilities and if they do to what extent, but I believe this debate is outdated. Since corporations are responsible for so much of the greenhouse emissions, they must take responsibility for their actions and do their best to reduce emissions over the coming years. Consumers can act as a major catalyst for businesses to move towards sustainability. If consumers boycott environmentally unfriendly businesses for environmentally conscious ones, all businesses will move towards sustainability in order to regain their customer base. I remain hopeful that more companies will soon begin to look at other companies such as Coca-Cola and P&G as role models and move towards their respective levels of sustainability.