Scandinavian Airlines — Committed to Eco-Efficiency

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- Gap Inc. is better able to attract and retain employees.

- The supply chain has improved due to better working conditions for employees.

- The impact on the environment is more positive — reduced energy use equals reduced cost (Wright, 2007).

Discourse

Sustainability is a Global Issue

Here are two examples of global initiatives designed to influence companies to incorporate sustainable society factors into their management strategies:

- In 2006, the United Nations introduced Principles for Responsible Investment to promote socially-responsible investing on a global basis. The Principles are voluntary guidelines that provide institutional investors and asset managers with a framework that helps them to avoid investing in companies with poor records on issues such as human rights, pollution, and corporate governance. So far, the United Nations has garnered 170 signatories to the Principles from around the world (Green, 2007).

- Ford Motor Company and Conservation International established The Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB) to help companies avoid harming the environment and instead integrate ecological practices into their business strategies in order to create solutions to global environmental problems (Business & the Environment with ISO 14000 Updates, 2007).

Benefits of Incorporating Sustainable Society Factors into Strategic Management

It's hard to dispute that there are definite benefits to the environment and local, national, and global communities from incorporating sustainable society factors into corporate management strategies. In fact, measurement tools do exist for calculating the benefits of a company's actions on society; the Center for Sustainable Innovation (http://www.sustainableinnovation.org) created a non-financial, mathematical tool called the Social Footprint, which is both a corporate sustainability measurement and a reporting method (Business Credit, 2006).

But what about the benefits to the company?

Benefits to the company — beyond political correctness — of positively contributing to a sustainable society include: the fostering of a positive public image; the attraction of investors and customers to a "socially responsible" company; and corporate satisfaction.