Society's concern for the environment and all aspects related to sustainability is increasing. More and more people take sustainable criteria into account in their day-to-day lives and, in addition, they transmit them because they believe in them and think they are necessary to preserve our planet.
This new awareness for the social and sustainable development generates relationships between people with the same characteristics. All this has not gone unnoticed by companies, since many have realized the benefits that more social and sustainable values can have for the reputation of the company. These values are considered positive, so that consumers can improve their image of a company in question, even create communities around one or more companies for certain values.
That these values are positive is not something new. However, there are different ways of working for sustainability in the business world. We can see the different degrees of commitment to sustainability in the market and how this can affect your company.
What do we understand by being sustainability?
Sustainability is a widely used concept and sometimes incorrectly. Sustainability refers to the characteristics of sustainable development, which is understood as the ability to maintain current activity without compromising the resources of the next generations in the future. But sustainability does not only focus on environmental values, but sustainable development has three legs: social, economic and environmental sustainability.
The first place, environmental sustainability refers to all those ideas or actions that are concerned with working for the environment, with the aim of reducing the damage to our planet and avoiding the depletion of resources. On the other hand, social sustainability works to improve the situation of people in order to improve equal opportunities for people. Finally, we find the economic sustainability that seeks the economic development of all people, promoting the economies of the areas where the different activities are developed.
CSR, social enterprises and sustainability
All strategies, actions or types of philosophy that are based on any of these branches of sustainability can be said to apply sustainable values. However, it cannot be said that all companies that carry out some social or environmental action are sustainable. As we have already seen, sustainability has three fundamental pillars, so if only one of them is applied, it can only be considered as Corporate Social Responsibility actions.
CSR strategies are those plans or actions that companies design to try to return the environment that surrounds them to all that they acquire from it, or the inconvenience they may cause. Thus, many companies carry out these types of actions to improve their corporate image, but it is necessary that these actions be sincere, since, otherwise, they can be counterproductive. If consumers see that, on the one hand, the company sells that it cares about the environment, but on the other hand, its business activity is detrimental to the health of the planet, the reputation of this company will fall completely.
It could be the example of a clothing brand that invests millions of euros in helping poor children, but later it is discovered that their clothes are made by children in conditions of child exploitation. In this way, all the social actions carried out would be of no use to solve the business crisis in which it would be involved.
Another very different case is that of social enterprises. These organizations do not have as a fundamental priority obtaining maximum benefits, but rather they work to improve some specific aspect of society through a business figure. In this way, they are companies created by and to generate a benefit to society. It is normal that they need to obtain income and benefits to be able to develop their objective and be able to pay all the costs that their activity generates, but they do not worry about the profits that they can generate for their shareholders. This is a less common case, but one that can be seen in some very interesting projects.
Finally, we find the most transversal concept related to business sustainability. They are considered as sustainable companies and work with the characteristic values of sustainable development in all areas of the organization, from the product they offer to the way the waste generated is sold or disposed of. These companies usually have a very strong responsibility, with a corporate identity or philosophy based on the correct environmental management of the company, resource efficiency, recycling and a great concern for all the organization's stakeholders. All this, with the aim of developing its business activity and obtaining benefits, without causing any damage to the planet or the environment in which it operates.
Currently, this latest model is the one that is building the most powerful brands with which the user identifies. An example of this can be the sustainable clothing brands in the textile field, in which the user prefers to pay a higher price for these garments because they are sure that they do not have any damage to the environment and, in addition, they are created by people who work in decent working conditions. Undoubtedly, a sign that the current activity can be continued with the minimum impact on our environment.
Conclusion: being sustainable = good reputation?
As we have already mentioned, in recent years the social and environmental awareness of people has increased, so it is logical that these values are appreciated as positive for companies. In addition, this is already a determining factor when making a purchase decision for many people.
This is essential because it does not only affect the image of people, but also the results and sales of a specific organization. In the case of clothing brands, it may not previously have had a direct impact on sales, because an alternative business model existed. However, at present, we can see how the alternative presented by the new clothing brands makes the possibility of choice already exist and, therefore, the damage to the image of the companies is noticeable in the income of the companies. organizations.
For this reason, more and more companies must apply sustainable values in all aspects of the organization to build a good brand image because, otherwise, competition may arise with a product and a sustainable philosophy with which Identify and lose all the corporate revenue you previously owned.
