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sustainabletimes
29
www.binfo.co.uk
What’s wrong
with making a profit?
It has been co2balance’s experience
from working with large organisations
that whilst a business has an agreed
set of aims, objectives or a fashionable
mission statement, there are often
huge differences among internal
stakeholders about how these goals
can be achieved.
Each of the functional departments
we engage with at co2balance has, on
the face of it, what looks like a different
primary objective:
n
Marketing is looking for an edge, a USP
that’s easy to communicate to the sales
team and the customer – something that
will set them apart from competitors and
help them engage with new business and
add value to their proposition;
n
Environmental teams are primarily
concerned about compliance and
reporting, adherence to standards and an
independent review of their process;
n
Where they exist as a separate entity,
Corporate Responsibility teams are
charged with creating positive actions in
line with corporate strategy – to provide
a traceable positive outcome from CR
spend. This must be beyond reproach to
safeguard the business reputation and be
in line with stated CR objectives;
n
Human Resources have a specific
mission to engage employees positively
so they feel connected to wider corporate
objectives and activities in a way that
aids staff retention and recruitment; and
n
The Finance team wants all stated
objectives to be achieved within or
below budget, with measurable return on
investment and sufficient due diligence
to ensure value for money.
While these aims may appear to be in
conflict, they do all have a common goal
and that is for the business to grow and
prosper. It’s about finding new ways to
attract business and secure higher value
by demonstrating to both customers
and employees that the organisation in
question ‘does the right thing’. And it’s
generally accepted and supported by
many studies that ‘doing the right thing’
is, from every angle, good for business.
Challenge conventional thinking
What our experience also shows is that
most organisations see ‘doing the right
thing’ as a net cost to the business
and believe that if you achieve your
Continuing his series on
green marketing, Steve
Hewson asks why doing
‘the right thing’ has to
be seen as a net cost.
objectives in these areas at very little
cost or even a small profit it is somehow
wrong. That makes no sense.
If we accept that investment in a
poster campaign promoting a product
or service creates awareness, changes
behaviour and results in more sales
and profit, then why should it be
wrong to support an enterprise in a
developing country that saves lives or
creates opportunities for people in poor
communities? If the net result of your
involvement is increased awareness of
your brand, increased sales and enough
profit only to cover your investment
in the project, can we agree that this
net zero cost/benefit to the business is
acceptable?
Now, let’s go one step further and
consider a scenario where a project you
support in a developing country actually
creates a profit for your business. Does
that make you feel uncomfortable? And if
it does, why should that be?
All it means is that you have ‘done
the right thing’ by supporting a project
in a wholly additional way, meaning that
without your financial input it would
not have happened. The outcome is no
different whether you make a profit
or not: the people still get what they
were in desperate need of (clean water,
sanitation, health benefits, education
etc.). Moreover, if your business can do
this and recoup the seed capital plus
some interest on the investment, the
chances are you will be more willing to
support this type of project again.
Why Now?Why Not?
The conventional approach for businesses
seeking a positive outcome from their
involvement in an environmental or
development project is to determine
a value – usually from a distinct
budget within one of the departments
mentioned earlier – that they can write
off against the objective.
Our position is that the right way
to approach such a project is as an
investment with a fully measurable
return, in addition to PR benefits. Nice-
to-have PR and promotional materials
will do their job in supporting the growth
of your business, but a well managed
project should also return more than
its costs, delivering multiple benefits
across all departments from a single
expenditure.
If you still feel it is wrong to make
a profit from supporting worthwhile
projects, that’s fine: just use your return
to make more good things happen. There
is more than enough need out there.
Opinion
Steve Hewson is sales and
marketing director of co2balance
UK Ltd. Established in 2003,
co2balance UK Ltd is a leading
UK-based carbon management
provider offering carbon
calculation, management and
reduction services to leading blue
chip companies including BSkyB,
Toshiba Europe, Gaz De France, Fiat
and Flybe. As a project developer,
co2balance UK Ltd creates African
Gold Standard projects that focus
on social, health and community
benefits to the families within the
project area, in addition to carbon
savings.
01823 332233
www.co2balance.com