Last night, I went to the launch of DfID’s private Sector Development Strategy at the first in a series of events on harnessing business’ power to drive developmental outcomes. Organised by DfID, the Overseas Development Institute, and Business Action for Africa, the event highlighted the need for mainstream business practice to consider ‘development’ and ’sustainability’ as part of their core business rather than as a supplement to it, an act of philanthropy, or a marketing exercise.
The themes of ‘collaborative action’ and the convergence of ‘public-private responsibilities’ ran throughout the speaker’s presentations as well as the need for more accessible and robust business environments informed by the fullest range of stakeholder views.
What also emerged from the discussion — and what is already clear to those of us working closely in the CSR field (see AccountAbility’s work as an example) — is HOW to move toward a more sustainable, progressive business model while remaining competitive and selling the case to others within the organisation. In other words, long-term goals/benefits might be important but not at the expense of meeting quarterly shareholder profit lines.
In this, I see two fundamental tensions: 1) the disconnect between the need for collaboration and the business instinct toward competition, and 2) the constant struggle to keep up with a business context whose historical externalities are being blasted open wide by information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the threat of climate change (in terms of both public demand and more robust science).
Knowing HOW to sequence your entree into the ’sustainability’ discussion and WHO you should be working with is no easy task. When you couple these twin challenges with the business need to provide consistent communications to its customers and other stakeholders, and the full challenge (and opportunity) presents itself.
These are the questions that we at Glasshouse like to help our clients answer.