Mention sustainable development to most small businesses and they think environment, legislation and regulation. A group of academics at a University in Bangor, North Wales are on a mission to prove otherwise.
SBBS is a team of sustainable development practitioners (their words, not mine) who have come down from their ‘ivory tower’ to work with businesses large and small to help them take advantage of the growing consumer pressure around ethical trading, climate change and corporate social responsibility.
Their message is a simple one. Dr. Einir Young, who heads up the team, wants to be clear about their motivations:
“We are not environmental and ethical crusaders, we believe in true sustainability, which means thinking about people, the planet and crucially, profit too. We are helping business gain a real advantage in terms of their ability to adapt to a changing market, reduce costs and position themselves differently to the competition. This is a time of opportunity for businesses if only they look past the threats that make the headlines.”
A ‘well-business’ clinic?
The first step that the SBBS team takes is to run a business through their ‘sustainability health-check’, a software-based analysis of where an organisation is at in its action on sustainable development. Initially developed with EU funding, the team is now taking their health-check to a wider audience working with large and small organisations within the private and public sector.
Interestingly, when talking to the SBBS team, they have had more interest from larger businesses that see the health-check as a tool for innovation and marketing and an investment in the future.
This strikes me as ironic when surely smaller businesses have the flexibility and adaptability to be far more innovative and transparent when it comes to sustainable development? Sustainable development should be the ground on which small businesses takes on big corporates and win, should it not?
Site: www.sbbs.org.uk
Chris Hillier is founder of marketing and communications outfit twelfth man. You can learn more about him here.
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