PROBLEM: CHALLENGES TO THE ADOPTION OF SUSTAINABILITY
The ADL study indicates that for most businesses, adopting sustainability measures has yet to result in direct financial results (Milanese et al., 2022). It observes that 20% of the companies still need a guiding sustainability strategy. Further, less than 30% of the company management believes that employees clearly understand the impact of the strategy. Milanese et al. (2022) also note that companies cannot link sustainability to innovation or financial metrics due to a disconnect between business operations and sustainability. These companies need help to incorporate sustainability within the business, resulting in a gulf between the staff, strategy, and operations.
Coelho et al. (2023) observe that evidence shows that social responsibility deriving from ESG performance indicators points to a direct positive impact on a company’s financial performance. This positive relationship is optimized when more attention is given to primary stakeholders such as customers, employees, and the community. The relationship can be driven by factors like investments in R&D, the company’s intangible resources, advertisement activities, and the high development of the economy (Coelho et al., 2023)—differently, limited investments in sustainability measures lower trust and credibility among stakeholders, which impairs financial performance.
Yanine and Campos (2023) observe that assessing the impact of sustainable practices on business performance requires establishing a link between environmental behavior, societal behavior, and business performance. Sustainable practices can be measured through metrics, including sustainable business management, environmental support, community outreach and involvement, ethical business practices, and customer and stakeholders’ trust (Yanine & Campos, 2023). Further, business performance within a sustainable environment can be measured using metrics such as EY, ROA, ROE, and ROCE (Cuong et al., 2021).
PROPOSAL: LEVERAGING INNOVATION
The Fox School of Business should adopt a platform-based business model to help foster innovation and sustainability. This strategy would involve redesigning its website, creating social media accounts, and developing a career technology platform to create an ecosystem connecting different stakeholders (Lee & Patel, 2020). The school should train and equip people with skills to transition from connectors to service providers. The school should pursue competitiveness, sustainability, and scalability through the platform. Lee and Patel (2020) note that to be competitive; the school should create values based on a vision and everyday activities and facilitate their exchange between different stakeholders. The platform would enable the stakeholders to create value and share information with limited resources, consequently fostering sustainability. The school should also create a career center that would onboard stakeholders with expertise in different industries, facilitating the realization of scales with limited resources (Lee & Patel, 2020).
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the globe are investing in sustainability practices. These institutions are seeking collaboration with society, where administrators work with stakeholders to develop interdisciplinary approaches to operations, research initiatives, curricula, and outreach campaigns that support environmental sustainability (Filho et al., 2019). Innovation drives sustainability, where campus well-being, trans-disciplinary approaches, and sustainable development education play an essential role. HEIs are adopting practical green initiatives, altering teaching and learning processes, and innovating around curricula (Filho et al., 2019). Sustainability-driven innovation focuses on operations, education, and research. Innovative strategies being adopted include circular principles and green building standards in operations, enacting environmentally sustainable curricula in teaching, and implementing living labs in research (Filho et al., 2019). The proposal’s impact would be measured using metrics such as interaction levels among stakeholders, amount of information shared, and resources used. Potential challenges with the audience (school management) would entail a rigid organizational culture and structure resistant to change.
References
Coelho, R., Jayantilal, S., & Ferreira, J. J. (2023). The impact of social responsibility on corporate financial performance: A systematic literature review. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 30(4), 1535–1560. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2446
Cuong, P. D., Do, T. N. A., Nga, D. T., Hong, N. T. X., & Pham, T. K. Y. (2021). The impact of sustainability practices on financial performance: Empirical evidence from Sweden, Cogent Business & Management. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1912526
Filho, L. W., Emblen-Perry, K., Molthan-Hill, P., Mifsud, M., Verhoef, L., Azeiteiro, U. M., Bacelar-Nicolau, P., de Sousa, L. O., Castro, P., Beynaghi, A., et al. (2019). Implementing innovation on environmental sustainability at universities around the world. Sustainability, 11(14), 3807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143807
Lee, J. Y. & Patel, S. J. (2020). Innovating business model in the higher education industry: A platform-based approach in university career services. Industry and Higher Education, 34, 91–99.
Milanese, S., Eikelenboom, M., Stella, C., & Decadri, S. (2022). Sustainability 2022: Current State & Challenges to Adoption. CUTTER. https://www.cutter.com/article/sustainability-2022-part-i-current-state-challenges-adoption
Yanine, F. & Campos, Z. (2023). Sustaining business performance management: An operational framework. Procedia Computer Science, 221 (2023), 25-32.
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