The relevance of caring for the environment is indisputable and, although it has not yet reached the prominence it should have, it has been gaining ground, especially within business issues, a fact to which various legal and regulatory factors have contributed. However, an important gap remains between what is declared and what is truly implemented for the protection and conservation of the world in which we live.
Several causes could be mentioned that have limited further progress; But they all have as a common denominator the insufficient environmental awareness that has limited the formation and consolidation of a solid environmental culture, which is manifested in simple details of daily life, such as not activating a switch to turn off an unnecessary light, not managing the eliminating a leaking water or negligently dumping all kinds of garbage anywhere, without feeling responsible for an act that has a negative effect on the environment.
The advances in the environmental issue achieved in Cuba are real and compare favorably with the situation of many other countries in the world; but there are still reserves in the business system. For example, the proportion of Cuban companies that have managed to certify their Environmental Management System or their Integrated Management System, with participation of the environmental component, constitute less than 2% of the total number of companies in the country.
In order to deepen the search for improvement opportunities from the business sphere, the author of this work decided to carry out a review of three components of the strategy: Mission, Vision and Strategic Objectives, in a group of Cuban companies of various organisms.
A difficulty that had to be faced before starting the document review process was the lack of background information on the analysis of this relationship. For this reason, it was necessary to begin by defining what is to be understood as the presence of the issue within business strategies and what criteria to consider to decide whether or not the issue is included in strategic designs.
For this reason, the collaboration of a group of professionals interested in environmental and business issues was requested, who provided their criteria, analyzed which it was decided, for this work, that the subject would be considered to be included in the cases that, in the selected components of the strategy, mention is made of one of the following criteria:
- Environmental Management System (EMS) Integrated Management System that includes environmental aspects (SIG) Environmental Recognition (RA) Care / Protection of the Environment / Environment Sustainability (S) Environmental culture Cleaner Production (P + L)
With the collaboration of colleagues from the Management Consulting Group of the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy (CEEC) and a group of students from the Master's Degree in Management Processes, from CEEC and from the Master's Degree in Quality and Environmental Management, from In the Chair of Quality, Metrology and Standardization of the University of Havana, information was collected from 45 Cuban companies, both productive and service, belonging to different organizations.
In the review carried out, it was determined that, of the three selected components, it is in the Mission where some of the selected inclusion criteria are mentioned the most times and it is in the Vision where they appear least. Likewise, the criteria grouped as Care / Protection of the Environment / Surroundings are the ones that are most often reflected.
On the other hand, in the analysis according to the number of companies, the results are expressed in the following table:
The analysis carried out reveals that the inclusion of the environmental issue in the three selected components of the strategic design in the 45 companies is insignificant, which puts this group of entities before the opportunity to pay tribute to their improvement, which requires the introduction of profound changes.
An important role in the actions to be undertaken, due to the breadth of its sphere of influence, corresponds to the legal aspects related to the environmental issue. As it is recognized, the `value formation processes require the use of recognition and sanction mechanisms. Therefore, although legal sanctions are not proactive in nature, they constitute a mechanism to support said process, which is why it is necessary that they be used as established.
On the other hand, there are currently, for the business system, some conditions that can favor the success of change processes aimed at caring for and protecting the environment.
Among them, it should be noted that the Business Improvement bases included in Decree 187 of 1998 did not include the Environmental Management System, but with the promulgation of Decree Law 252 and Decree 281 in August 2007, this system is included, as which has promoted its design processes in companies in the country and should continue to do so.
Another important element that must be counted on is the rigor of the requirements of the different quality awards in force in the country, in which the presence of environmental impacts is exclusive for obtaining them, which constitutes a stimulus for companies interested in achieving any of those accolades.
Regarding the specific objective of this work, the transformations that must be carried out in these entities in favor of the environment, require creating the necessary conditions and for this it is recommended that environmental aspects are explicitly included within the guiding processes of the company's work, especially those in which this issue is not yet deeply rooted.
On the other hand, the business environment constitutes a relevant scenario to introduce changes, due to its influence on the environment and its representativeness in terms of the human factor that, once sensitized to the problem, can contribute not only to its solution in the company, but rather its diffusion within the family and social framework, which contributes to multiplying the effect of the improvements that are achieved and also to the formation of values.
However, the presence of the environmental issue in strategic design processes by itself does not guarantee the changes that need to be made.
In the practical order, in addition to pointing out the limitations and identifying opportunities for improvement, it is necessary to take actions, so the fact of achieving their inclusion in business strategies must be complemented with demands and controls that together with other existing mechanisms such as aspects legal, environmental standards and recognitions and quality awards, form an active system that fosters a reversal of the current situation towards an environment in which care and respect for the environment prevails, governed by a culture that contributes to the permanent protection of the environment.
The figures presented and the analysis carried out in this work reveal the existence of unexploited reserves in the companies whose documentation was reviewed, for their own benefit and that of society, in line with the social responsibility that is stated in the Business Improvement documents.
As already stated, the demands of Business Improvement contribute to the changes that favor an environmental awareness; but it is not enough if one takes into account that at the moment nearly half of the companies in the country are not in PE and this is a group of entities among which could be those that cause the greatest negative impacts on the environment.
That is why, since the review carried out for the preparation of this work revealed the existing reserves in the companies analyzed, from this derives the recommendation to extend the search to other components of the business strategy and also expand it with all the strategic components to other entities. It is also suggested to also take into account the entities that are not currently in Business Improvement.
Bibliography
• Collective of authors.- Methodological and conceptual bases for the process of design, implementation and control of Strategic Planning and Management by Objectives based on values, Management of Staff Training and Management Studies of the Ministry of Higher Education, 2007.
• Decree 281 “Regulation for the implementation and Consolidation of the State Business Management and Direction System”.
• Decree Law 252 of August 7, 2007 “On the continuity and strengthening of the Cuban Business Management and Direction System”.
• Documentation of the strategic designs of the companies included in the analysis.
• http://www.medioambiente.cu/
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• NC ISO 14001: 2004: "Environmental Management Systems - Requirements with guidance for their use"
• Ramírez, J. Pertinence and Integrated Management Systems in Cuban Companies, http: //www.gestiópolis.com, 2007.
