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In This Issue
Editor's Note
Long Live Business
The corporation today is subject to powerful forces—from market dynamics to sustainability challenges to stakeholder demands. In this environment, the best corporate strategies address both sustainability and rapidly changing market conditions to generate business value.
This week, we break through the bedrock of corporate strategy—the “Three Cs”—to introduce an integrated strategy that looks at customers, competition, and the corporation through the lens of sustainability, and adds a fourth C: civil society and government. As BSR’s Mark Little and David Korngold write, “Old models of doing business are being deposed while new models are ascendant.”
We also look at advice from Ann-Marie Slaughter, BSR Conference 2012 plenary speaker, on work-life balance, and we report on a modest solution for increasing the wear of clothes—while decreasing their water, carbon, and waste footprint.
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In Depth
Open for Business: The ‘Four Cs’ of Integrated Strategy
By Mark Little, Director, Healthcare, Advisory Services, BSR; David Korngold, Manager, Advisory Services, BSR
Business has traditionally used the "Three Cs"—customers, competition, and the corporation—to form the bedrock of corporate strategy. But in today's tumultuous business landscape, looking at strategy through the lens of sustainability, and adding a fourth C (civil society and government) can provide the greatest opportunity to create integrated strategies to propel future success.
Read more →
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On the Record
Anne-Marie Slaughter on Work-Life Balance
By Julia Robinson, Communications Associate, BSR
"Unless you make it possible for the women who work for you to balance their work and family in the way they want to ... you're going to lose a huge amount of talent, and that's not going to be smart for you, for business, for the society."
—Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, mother of two, and BSR Conference 2012 Plenary Speaker, on her advice for employers
Earlier this month, Slaughter's article in The Atlantic, "Why Women Still Can't Have It All," argued for a change in work culture that would allow women (and men) to have work-life balance that does not necessarily undermine career success.
Slaughter is a plenary speaker at the BSR Conference 2012, taking place October 23 through 26 in New York City.
Toolbox
The Better for Wear: Reducing the Impacts of Clothing
Susanne LeBlanc, Analyst, Advisory Services, BSR
According to a WRAP U.K. study of 7,950 British adults, the most significant opportunity to extend the useful life of garments is by making clothes last an additional nine months beyond their current average lifespan of 2.2 years. That would reduce carbon emissions by 27 percent, water use by 33 percent, and waste output by 22 percent. WRAP U.K. also estimates that the cost of resources used to make and clean clothes could be reduced by almost US$8 billion a year.
Solutions for extending the life of clothing include proper laundering, repairs, and alterations by consumers, but the report also points to the important role of design in increasing the durability of garments. Read more in this new blog post.
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