Sustainability initiatives can help drive corporate growth, according to Economist Intelligence Unit survey

Business initiatives that link sustainability and corporate growth are often dismissed by sceptics as mere window dressing. But executives say the link is significant, according to a global online survey of 183 respondents, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by SAS. Seventy-eight percent say sustainability initiatives are important to their current business strategy and 87% expect them to be important in five years' time.

As a result, respondents spend an average of 22% of their working time integrating sustainability initiatives into business strategy—a sizeable proportion. Yet a significant number of organisations do not devote sufficient resources to the issue. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed say their companies do not do enough to integrate sustainability initiatives into strategy.

The research shows that the main difference between sustainability leaders and other companies is a greater conviction that business will benefit from sustainability initiatives. “Sustainability is in everyone’s interest,” says Kim Andreasson, senior editor, Industry & Management Research at the Economist Intelligence Unit and editor of the report. “But those who excel make the business case first.”

Key findings of the report include:

• Sustainability and corporate performance. About one-quarter (27%) of executives surveyed rate their organisation above average in every sustainability-related category—ability to integrate initiatives into core strategy, investment in initiatives and reputation among stakeholders. Members of this “sustainability leaders” group of companies report better-than-average results in other areas as well: 35% say their financial performance is much stronger than their peers, compared with only 14% of respondents from other firms in the survey. Similarly, 33% of sustainability leaders believe their revenue growth is much stronger than the competition, compared with 10% from other firms.
• Sustainability isn’t about being nice, but about seeing profits. In particular, leaders believe that sustainability provides a market advantage: 43% say that it is important to customers, compared with only 16% of respondents from other firms in the survey. Similarly, 39% of sustainability leaders believe that sustainability can help to enhance revenue growth, compared with 26% from other firms.
• Leadership counts. But there appears to be a variation in the levels of support for sustainability among various stakeholders. Such corporate initiatives are very important to boards of directors at 44% of companies, and to senior managers at 36%. But these figures are much higher than those of any other stakeholder, whether inside or outside the company. This indicates that senior executives need to do more to educate both internal and external groups on the importance of sustainability to corporate strategy.

Management magnified: Sustainability and corporate growth
is available free of charge at www.eiu.com/sponsor/SAS/MMSustainability

Press enquiries:

Joanne McKenna, Press Liaison, +44 (0)20 7576 8188, joannemckenna@eiu.com
Kim Andreasson, Senior Editor, +1 212 641 9882, kimandreasson@eiu.com

Notes for editors

Management magnified: Sustainability and corporate growth is an Economist Intelligence Unit report sponsored by SAS. In order to assess the importance of sustainability to corporate strategy, the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted a global online survey in August and September 2009. Of the 183 respondents to the survey, 79 describe themselves as board members or C-level executives. Survey takers came from around the world, led by respondents in the Asia-Pacific region (31%), Europe (26%) and North America (26%), with the rest from the Middle East and Africa (10%) and Latin America (8%). Roughly one-half (51%) work for companies with global annual revenue exceeding US$1bn. Respondents represented a wide variety of industries, led by financial services (20%), professional services (13%), energy and natural resources (9%), and healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology (9%). Respondents also came from a broad range of functions, including strategy and business development (43%), general management (39%) and finance (25%).

About the Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist Intelligence Unit is the world leader in global business intelligence. It is the business–to–business arm of The Economist Group, which publishes The Economist newspaper. As the world's leading provider of country intelligence, the Economist Intelligence Unit helps executives make better business decisions by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on worldwide market trends and business strategies. More information about the Economist Intelligence Unit can be found at www.eiu.com or follow us on www.twitter.com/theeiu.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®. www.sas.com