Stonyfield Farm developed sustainability goals but struggled to integrate them fully into business operations and hold managers accountable. With help from Pure Strategies, they created Mission Action Program (MAP) teams of managers for key impact areas like packaging and transportation. The teams set ambitious goals, budgets, and tied sustainability to performance reviews. This unified the company around common goals and shifted responsibility for sustainability from a department to managers across functions. Metrics dropped from 36 to 7 but accountability improved. Results included significant waste and emissions reductions while growing sales.
Storytelling for Organizational Engagement: Selling Sustainability InternallySustainable Brands
How do you get your internal culture to embrace the right sustainability message that you have worked so hard to craft? What do you do to convince brand managers to incorporate your message as a sustainability manager working at the corporate level? Or, how do you get your higher-ups to not see it as too big a risk, if you are a brand manager or marketing director who wants to incorporate sustainability messaging into your existing messaging? Given you are unlikely to have much money (i.e. media budget) to put your message out there, what do you do to get social and viral play? And how do you sell something "out of the box" or "disruptive" in a conservative culture?
Strategies on how companies can be green and competitive. This is an old school project but I thought this information would be useful to share. All images are from the Internet and belong to their respective owners.
Storytelling for Organizational Engagement: Selling Sustainability InternallySustainable Brands
How do you get your internal culture to embrace the right sustainability message that you have worked so hard to craft? What do you do to convince brand managers to incorporate your message as a sustainability manager working at the corporate level? Or, how do you get your higher-ups to not see it as too big a risk, if you are a brand manager or marketing director who wants to incorporate sustainability messaging into your existing messaging? Given you are unlikely to have much money (i.e. media budget) to put your message out there, what do you do to get social and viral play? And how do you sell something "out of the box" or "disruptive" in a conservative culture?
Strategies on how companies can be green and competitive. This is an old school project but I thought this information would be useful to share. All images are from the Internet and belong to their respective owners.
This presentation provides a summary of the white paper Engaging Employees in the Company’s Sustainability, which goes through five steps to head your company in a sustainable direction, each step exploring how to successfully integrate sustainability into your bottom line.
The benefits that come from greening your business go beyond simply feeling good, indeed tangible benefits result. Greener behavior reduces costs associated with energy consumption, waste disposal, and paper use. Customers will also respect a company with green initiatives.
The key to integrating sustainability into your company’s bottom line is to get everyone involved, especially employees.
Green Marketing Mix As Strategy to Improve Competitive Advantage in Real Esta...inventionjournals
International Journal of Business and Management Invention (IJBMI) is an international journal intended for professionals and researchers in all fields of Business and Management. IJBMI publishes research articles and reviews within the whole field Business and Management, new teaching methods, assessment, validation and the impact of new technologies and it will continue to provide information on the latest trends and developments in this ever-expanding subject. The publications of papers are selected through double peer reviewed to ensure originality, relevance, and readability. The articles published in our journal can be accessed online.
Obtaining a green audit for your organization is a great step in a sustainable direction. But often a company finds that moving beyond this point is difficult. Identifying a specific route to take can be challenging with so many options of change available. But have no fear...this Slideshare will allow you to review your audit, and use it to propel you forward. It prepares you for both the pros and cons of change so that you can easily overcome obstacles when they arise.
The steps that Sustainability Change Management lays out are geared for both formal and informal leaders, who are ready to involve their employee base beyond just their green team. While getting a team rallied behind sustainable initiatives is not a simple task, it is a feasible one when leaders are aware of how to educate their peers, communicate plans, and positively address resistance to their efforts.
Another often neglected but important step in managing change is rewarding good behavior. This Slideshare brings this element to the forefront and examines how to successfully reward employees. Even simple recognition can give your employees a major boost.
Embrace the change for a greener business market and hear all that Sustainability Change Management has to say!
This presentation provides a summary of the white paper Engaging Employees in the Company’s Sustainability, which goes through five steps to head your company in a sustainable direction, each step exploring how to successfully integrate sustainability into your bottom line.
The benefits that come from greening your business go beyond simply feeling good, indeed tangible benefits result. Greener behavior reduces costs associated with energy consumption, waste disposal, and paper use. Customers will also respect a company with green initiatives.
The key to integrating sustainability into your company’s bottom line is to get everyone involved, especially employees.
Green Marketing Mix As Strategy to Improve Competitive Advantage in Real Esta...inventionjournals
International Journal of Business and Management Invention (IJBMI) is an international journal intended for professionals and researchers in all fields of Business and Management. IJBMI publishes research articles and reviews within the whole field Business and Management, new teaching methods, assessment, validation and the impact of new technologies and it will continue to provide information on the latest trends and developments in this ever-expanding subject. The publications of papers are selected through double peer reviewed to ensure originality, relevance, and readability. The articles published in our journal can be accessed online.
Obtaining a green audit for your organization is a great step in a sustainable direction. But often a company finds that moving beyond this point is difficult. Identifying a specific route to take can be challenging with so many options of change available. But have no fear...this Slideshare will allow you to review your audit, and use it to propel you forward. It prepares you for both the pros and cons of change so that you can easily overcome obstacles when they arise.
The steps that Sustainability Change Management lays out are geared for both formal and informal leaders, who are ready to involve their employee base beyond just their green team. While getting a team rallied behind sustainable initiatives is not a simple task, it is a feasible one when leaders are aware of how to educate their peers, communicate plans, and positively address resistance to their efforts.
Another often neglected but important step in managing change is rewarding good behavior. This Slideshare brings this element to the forefront and examines how to successfully reward employees. Even simple recognition can give your employees a major boost.
Embrace the change for a greener business market and hear all that Sustainability Change Management has to say!
This presentation was held at "The Email Design Conference" by Litmus, London 2016
Simple screenshots are not sufficient when testing interactive (or kinetic) email. Learn how to approach testing of complex interactive email without your budget skyrocketing. Do popups open after clicking buttons? Are forms properly submitted? Is it possible to browse an image gallery? Based on the most complex email he has built, Cyrill will share insights into his process for testing the beast. Testing starts before the first line of code is written by analyzing your audience and popular email clients and ends with physical device testing before pressing send.
Taking Sustainability Literally: An Introduction to Context-Based SustainabilitySustainable Brands
Back by popular demand, this workshop will introduce attendees to the practice of context-based sustainability (CBS) – a cutting-edge approach to measurement, management and reporting that interprets performance relative to social and ecological thresholds. Speakers will examine the stakeholder-centric orientation of CBS, its focus on multiple capitals, its grounding in science- and norm-based standards, as well as its practical implications for materiality, goal setting, and reporting. Notable case studies in CBS and its growing influence in international standards (GRI, IIRC, GISR, etc.) will also be discussed.
Beyond Employee Engagement: Using New Metrics to Embed Sustainability through...Sustainable Brands
Jeff Mendelsohn, Founder & Chair, New Leaf Paper
Rachel Parikh, Director, Sustainability, SAP
Lindsay Stoda, Senior Business Analyst, Interface
Christopher Miller, Social Mission Activism Manager, Ben & Jerry's
How do companies quantify the value of successful employee engagement initiatives? What are the current best practices around incorporating tangible on-the-ground HR incentives tied to recruiting, performance assessment, compensation, and competency building? What does it take to effectively drill down objective and subjective performance criteria and goals to the level of every employee?
Where Buying IoT Stocks? An effective guide to Innovations ScoutingAtooma Inc
Where buying IoT Stocks? In this guide we are going to define the correct process to start while looking for innovation in technology. The Internet of Things is a tricky space and only a precise and analytic job can reward. In this guide there are the steps you should take to be successfull
Best-in-Class in Methodologies for Putting a Monetary Value on Social ImpactSustainable Brands
Bea boccalandro, SROI Thought Leader, Georgetown university
Witold Henisz, Deloitte & Touche Professor of Management, The Wharton School, Univeristy of Pennyslvania
Lise Laurin, Director & Founder, EarthShift
What are the most pragmatic methodologies for converting various measures of social impact into monetary terms? Why have 'Social ROI' models seen both ups and downs over the last several years? How are smart brands turning SROI results into powerful communications pieces?
How to Understand the ROI of Investing in People - CMX Summit West 2016CMX
CMX Summit is the world's largest gathering of those who are ready to harness the power of collaboration and community in the digital age. Maia Josebachvili reveals how to predict the value of employee engagement and how to pitch it to management.
Driving Retention and Referrals Through In-Person Events - CMX Summit West 2016CMX
CMX Summit is the world's largest gathering of those who are ready to harness the power of collaboration and community in the digital age. Claire Arthur explains how events focused on engagement can actually drive acquisition.
Making the Business Case for Your Community - CMX Summit West 2016CMX
CMX Summit is the world's largest gathering of those who are ready to harness the power of collaboration and community in the digital age. Gina Bianchini shares concrete tactics for measuring and pitching the value of your community
This article presents the Strategy Execution Model– a comprehensive management model that allows managers to master one of the greatest management challenges – successfully implementing strategies. The powerful framework incorporates 18 success factors that are related to the strategy, its execution, mobilizing the people, aligning the organization and building systems to monitor and control the execution. Collectively, these tools help organizations plan and execute their strategies but also monitor, learn and adapt their strategy and its execution to achieve sustainable organizational success.
Brighter Planet Employee Engagement and Sustainability Survey 2009Elizabeth Lupfer
An Analysis of the Extent and Nature of Employee Sustainability Programs . This report sheds light on the interactions between employers and their employees around sustainable actions in the
workplace. Includes useful social media data as a communications channel.
Source: Brighter Planet, http://brighterplanet.com/research
Aligning ESG with Corporate Strategy to Gain a Competitive Advantage - SG Ana...SG Analytics
From the sudden surge in the popularity of green finance to the pervasive impact of ESG factors on consumers and their purchasing decisions
Visit: https://us.sganalytics.com/blog/aligning-esg-with-corporate-strategy-to-gain-a-competitive-advantage/
A presentation from my capstone project examining the effectiveness of the Global Reporting Initiative's Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility reports.
Running Head WASTE MANAGEMENT 2Waste .docxrtodd599
Running Head: WASTE MANAGEMENT
2
Waste Management
Overview to the Business
Waste Management Inc. is a US based company that is providing waste management and environmental services. The headquarters of the company is located in the First City Tower, Houston, Texas and it was founded in 1893. The area that the company is currently serving is North America where it has created a vast network to serve residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers. Currently, it is serving more than 21 million customers in US, Canada and Puerto Rico only for environmental services. The network of Waste Management Inc. is comprised of 246 transfer stations, 146 recycling plants, 295 active landfill disposal locations, beneficial-use landfill gas projects, and around six independent power generation plants ("Residential Waste and Recycling Services | Waste Management", n.d.). This is among the largest waste management companies in United States and its truck fleet is considered as the largest of all the companies operating in waste industry, i.e. 26,000 trucks for collection and transfer of waste (2014). The 47 years old company has reported $14.49 billion in revenues in 2017 ("Annual Reports | Waste Management", 2017).
The business is offering waste management, recycling, and environmental services to residential and commercial customers. The company is offering waste collection, transfer, and disposing services to the residents and businesses of the North American region as well as they are also offering the recycling services to their customers. Waste Management is offering a number of services on demand to the customers regarding the management of regular, medical, construction, or hazardous waste ("Annual Reports | Waste Management", 2017).
Organizational Details
Prior to 1971, the company was a family business which was founded in 1893 by Harm Huizenga. Not only it went public, but the company also made some major acquisitions to expand the business. The company has a divisional structure based on two divisions: Northern Tier and Southern Tier. Jeff Harris is the SVP of the North Tier while John Morris is the SVP of Southern Tier. Both are accountable to the CEO and President of the company is James C. Fish Jr. Moreover, the company prefers to work in teams that are made according to the type of a project. Although, currently, the company has no operations on international level, however, in 2009, it purchased a 40% stake in a fully owned subsidiary of Shanghai Chengtou
Holding Co Ltd. The purpose of this purchase was to get mutual benefits in the field of waste management ("Annual Reports | Waste Management", 2017). In regard to points of contact within Waste Management, as a former senior HR and Talent professional for Waste Management I was able to gather information from VP of Talent Acquisition Mel McDuffie and Barry Caldwell the Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Chief People Officer.
Progress and Path Forward
.
Tools, techniques and strategies for understanding, measuring and communicating impact. 19th-20th June 2018, London. This two-day conference will highlight the latest methods being applied by business to measure the impact of their sustainability programs. We’ll discuss and debate the pros and cons of the different tools and techniques available, whilst assessing what has really worked for companies in practice.
Aligning ESG with Corporate Strategy to Gain a Competitive AdvantageLuke Holland
Organizations can no longer choose to prioritize ESG. Sustainable plans are at the very center of the policies of those who wish to be competitive and profitable. However, the optimal strategy for ESG integration services differs based on the business. Furthermore, if ESG strategies are not evaluated holistically, they may clash with other operational goals. Companies are utilizing the strategy and actions of stakeholders willing to back their vision of a sustainable framework by putting the most successful practices based on brand values in place.
Six growing trends in corporate sustainability 2013Jaime Sakakibara
Earlier this month Ernst & Young and GreenBiz Group released a new study, entitled ‘2013 Six Growing Trends in Corporate Sustainability.’ Based primarily on a survey of the GreenBiz Intelligence Panel of executives and thought leaders engaged in sustainability, this study reveals that “companies are increasingly connecting the dots between risk management and sustainability by making sustainability issues more prominent on corporate agendas.”
Business must be the major driver of innovation and sustainability in our society if we are to avoid a “perfect storm” of resource scarcity, climate change, and pollution. The “triple bottom line” concept is a response to this need, but its use is limited because it does not address the competitive strategy of the firm. A strategy-based balanced scorecard system aligned with principles of the Triple Bottom Line offers a way to accomplish social and environmental goals while integrating them fully with financial performance and competitive advantage.
Communications Mining Series - Zero to Hero - Session 1DianaGray10
This session provides introduction to UiPath Communication Mining, importance and platform overview. You will acquire a good understand of the phases in Communication Mining as we go over the platform with you. Topics covered:
• Communication Mining Overview
• Why is it important?
• How can it help today’s business and the benefits
• Phases in Communication Mining
• Demo on Platform overview
• Q/A
Unlocking Productivity: Leveraging the Potential of Copilot in Microsoft 365, a presentation by Christoforos Vlachos, Senior Solutions Manager – Modern Workplace, Uni Systems
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 5DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 5. In this session, we will cover CI/CD with devops.
Topics covered:
CI/CD with in UiPath
End-to-end overview of CI/CD pipeline with Azure devops
Speaker:
Lyndsey Byblow, Test Suite Sales Engineer @ UiPath, Inc.
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
Climate Impact of Software Testing at Nordic Testing DaysKari Kakkonen
My slides at Nordic Testing Days 6.6.2024
Climate impact / sustainability of software testing discussed on the talk. ICT and testing must carry their part of global responsibility to help with the climat warming. We can minimize the carbon footprint but we can also have a carbon handprint, a positive impact on the climate. Quality characteristics can be added with sustainability, and then measured continuously. Test environments can be used less, and in smaller scale and on demand. Test techniques can be used in optimizing or minimizing number of tests. Test automation can be used to speed up testing.
How to Get CNIC Information System with Paksim Ga.pptxdanishmna97
Pakdata Cf is a groundbreaking system designed to streamline and facilitate access to CNIC information. This innovative platform leverages advanced technology to provide users with efficient and secure access to their CNIC details.
zkStudyClub - Reef: Fast Succinct Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Regex ProofsAlex Pruden
This paper presents Reef, a system for generating publicly verifiable succinct non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs that a committed document matches or does not match a regular expression. We describe applications such as proving the strength of passwords, the provenance of email despite redactions, the validity of oblivious DNS queries, and the existence of mutations in DNA. Reef supports the Perl Compatible Regular Expression syntax, including wildcards, alternation, ranges, capture groups, Kleene star, negations, and lookarounds. Reef introduces a new type of automata, Skipping Alternating Finite Automata (SAFA), that skips irrelevant parts of a document when producing proofs without undermining soundness, and instantiates SAFA with a lookup argument. Our experimental evaluation confirms that Reef can generate proofs for documents with 32M characters; the proofs are small and cheap to verify (under a second).
Paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1886
Observability Concepts EVERY Developer Should Know -- DeveloperWeek Europe.pdfPaige Cruz
Monitoring and observability aren’t traditionally found in software curriculums and many of us cobble this knowledge together from whatever vendor or ecosystem we were first introduced to and whatever is a part of your current company’s observability stack.
While the dev and ops silo continues to crumble….many organizations still relegate monitoring & observability as the purview of ops, infra and SRE teams. This is a mistake - achieving a highly observable system requires collaboration up and down the stack.
I, a former op, would like to extend an invitation to all application developers to join the observability party will share these foundational concepts to build on:
Sudheer Mechineni, Head of Application Frameworks, Standard Chartered Bank
Discover how Standard Chartered Bank harnessed the power of Neo4j to transform complex data access challenges into a dynamic, scalable graph database solution. This keynote will cover their journey from initial adoption to deploying a fully automated, enterprise-grade causal cluster, highlighting key strategies for modelling organisational changes and ensuring robust disaster recovery. Learn how these innovations have not only enhanced Standard Chartered Bank’s data infrastructure but also positioned them as pioneers in the banking sector’s adoption of graph technology.
Goodbye Windows 11: Make Way for Nitrux Linux 3.5.0!SOFTTECHHUB
As the digital landscape continually evolves, operating systems play a critical role in shaping user experiences and productivity. The launch of Nitrux Linux 3.5.0 marks a significant milestone, offering a robust alternative to traditional systems such as Windows 11. This article delves into the essence of Nitrux Linux 3.5.0, exploring its unique features, advantages, and how it stands as a compelling choice for both casual users and tech enthusiasts.
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
Alt. GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using ...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 6DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 6. In this session, we will cover Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI webinar offers an in-depth exploration of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for test automation within the UiPath platform. Attendees will delve into the integration of generative AI, a test automation solution, with Open AI advanced natural language processing capabilities.
Throughout the session, participants will discover how this synergy empowers testers to automate repetitive tasks, enhance testing accuracy, and expedite the software testing life cycle. Topics covered include the seamless integration process, practical use cases, and the benefits of harnessing AI-driven automation for UiPath testing initiatives. By attending this webinar, testers, and automation professionals can gain valuable insights into harnessing the power of AI to optimize their test automation workflows within the UiPath ecosystem, ultimately driving efficiency and quality in software development processes.
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into integrating generative AI.
2. Understanding how this integration enhances test automation within the UiPath platform
3. Practical demonstrations
4. Exploration of real-world use cases illustrating the benefits of AI-driven test automation for UiPath
Topics covered:
What is generative AI
Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath integration with generative AI
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...
Pure strategies empowering sustainability at stonyfield
1. A pureEnterprise Case Study
Companywide sustainability efforts are no longer the
domain of just a few niche, dark-green brands.
Regulations, customers, shareholders, resource scarcity
and a tough economy are pressuring a growing number of
well-established companies to set first-time sustainability
goals in areas such as energy use, waste reduction, and
water consumption. But goals alone are no guarantee of
success. Market-leading sustainable brands like Seventh
Generation, Patagonia and Stonyfield Farm learned
through trial and error that unless these initiatives are
integrated with regular business processes, they fall short
for a host of reasons. With these lessons in hand, a second
wave of companies can avoid costly missteps and garner
the value of effective planning on the first try. What these
businesses need is a tried-and-true process for setting
appropriate sustainability goals, making them meaningful
to the organization, and establishing the accountability
systems necessary to succeed.
“We had a great way
of measuring our
financial metrics, but
we didn’t really have
agreement within the
company around our
sustainability
metrics,”
Nancy Hirshberg
FORMER VP OF STRATEGIC
INITIATIVES, STONYFIELD FARM
EMPOWERING SUSTAINABILITY AT STONYFIELD
a pureEnterprise case study
2. Background: Failure of Sustainability as an ‘Add-on’
Once a company grows beyond 50 employees with well-defined divisions under
career-track managers, it may have numerous, disjointed programs for environmental
and social performance. Without clearly established long-term goals and a place in
the firm’s annual planning and budgeting process, these programs are typically
marginalized and fail to serve core business processes. As add-ons, they achieve little
with each passing year, and sustainability managers end up relying on persuasion to
encourage various parts of the business to embrace sustainability. Inevitably, when it
comes to crunch time (and it always does), division managers focus on the tasks for
which they are tracked and accountable to the executive suite. The head of
manufacturing may agree in principal to additional work that would reduce energy
use or solid waste, but when the going gets tough, he or she buys the equipment and
hires the personnel to achieve increases in productivity, improvements in quality, or
whatever other markers have been set and agreed upon by senior management.
In 2001, Stonyfield had the “add-on” dilemma. It was the fifth largest yogurt maker in
the U.S. with just over $50 million in sales of organic and natural products. Nancy
Hirshberg—at the time Vice President of Natural Resources, and VP of Strategic
Initiatives—and her small staff were solely responsible for the environmental and
social attributes of everything from plant operations to packaging to coordinating
with the organic industry. Double-digit growth year over year and a never-ending
battle to meet consumer demand threatened to overshadow the company’s long
history of environmentalism, and with new hires from the conventional dairy industry
quickly filling expanded tiers of management, Hirshberg recognized the need for a
comprehensive framework to talk about sustainability throughout the company. “We
had a great way of measuring our financial metrics, but we didn’t really have
agreement within the company around our sustainability metrics,” Hirshberg
explains. “So, we wanted to develop a baseline for measurement, and then have a
process for the company to set goals and buy into them.”
Hirshberg pulled together a team of 12 middle managers and began developing a
comprehensive set of performance metrics. Over the course of six months, they
solidified 15 metrics on employee well-being, 5 indicators for family farms, and 8
for the environment (in addition to existing measurements for profitability and
quality) for a grand total of 36 indicators in a single tracking system. The aim was
to produce a quarterly report and a dashboard from which managers throughout
the company could identify progress and gaps within their spheres of influence.
”What we learned from that process was that 36 metrics are way too many, and they
were just overwhelming for people,” Hirshberg says. The system collapsed under its
own weight in a little over a year. Ultimately the team rationalized the list of 36
metrics down to seven total, a change that improved measurement and tracking, but
did little to motivate behavior change or drive accountability within the company.
STONYFIELD’S
MAP TEAMS
FACILITY GREENHOUSE GAS
EMISSIONS
Eliminate GHG emissions
associated with facility
energy use through energy
efficiency, renewable sources
of power and sequestration.
GREEN CHEMISTRY
Identify chemicals that
reduce or eliminate risks to
human health, environmental
toxicity and greenhouse gas
impacts while ensuring food
safety and product quality.
MILK
Develop best practices to
minimize impacts from the
production and
transportation of the milk
going into Stonyfield
products.
STONYFIELD WALKING OUR
TALK (SWOT)
Conduct all Stonyfield events,
activities, and purchases in a
manner that is consistent
with the company’s mission
and values.
SUSTAINABLE INGREDIENTS
Ensure the company carefully
considers its mission when
making purchasing decisions
about ingredients.
TRANSPORTATION &
DISTRIBUTION
Develop best practices to
minimize emissions from the
transportation of finished
product.
WATER
Reduce overall water
consumption while
maintaining superior quality.
ZERO WASTE
Eliminate waste and
maximize recovery of
materials.
SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING
Create the most
environmentally sustainable
product packaging possible.
“We wanted to organize
around our impact on the
planet… build agreement
within the company around
those areas, and then hold
people accountable.”
Nancy Hirshberg
FORMER VP OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, STONYFIELD FARM
3. ABSOLUTE REDUCTION IN
TRANSPORTATION GHG
EMISSIONS FROM 2006-2011
CORRESPONDING TO $14.7
MILLION IN AVOIDED COSTS
SAVED BY PREVENTING
MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF
WASTE PLASTIC
THROUGH PACKAGING
REDUCTIONS
PERCENTAGE OF
RENEWABLE (BIO-BASED)
PACKAGING USED AS OF
END OF 2011
DOLLARS IN SAVINGS FROM
17% REDUCTION
IN FACILITY ENERGY USE
AND GHG EMISSIONS FROM
2007-2011
The pureEnterprise™ Process
At this point, Hirshberg went back to the drawing board with the assistance of Tim
Greiner, Co-founder and Managing Director of Pure Strategies. “The development of
a company-wide sustainability measurement system was useful,” Greiner notes. “But
ultimately the metrics didn’t matter. The responsibility for sustainability
performance remained with the sustainability department, and no one else was
really accountable for moving the dial on the metrics. The goals and initiatives were
still Nancy’s.” Together they turned to the strategic process, called pureEnterprise™,
developed by Greiner and Pure Strategies partner Bob Kerr through work with
earlier clients. The first major step is to gain executive-level commitment for an
integrated vision of sustainability. In the case of Stonyfield, CEO and Co-founder
Gary Hirshberg (Nancy’s brother) provided this support, along with the company’s
COO and other senior VPs, who threw their weight behind a company-wide
initiative called the Mission Action Program (MAP). The new program was based on
the company’s founding mission: To serve as a model for environmentally and
socially responsible businesses that can also be profitable. “We wanted to organize
around our impact on the planet,” Hirshberg says. “The whole idea was to build
agreement within the company around those areas, and then hold people
accountable.”
The following summer, Hirshberg and Pure Strategies launched MAP with an off-site
meeting of senior company leaders, department managers and key staff, divided
into teams for each impact area (see page 2 sidebar). The teams set near-term and
stretch goals, and budgets to be included in the coming fiscal-year’s planning
process. Pure Strategies provided technical expertise as needed, in many cases,
giving teams the confidence to set stretch goals for which they could not yet
imagine an immediate solution. The Packaging team, for example, set a goal of
achieving 100 percent sustainable packaging (by the Sustainable Packaging
Coalition definition) and to make 5 percent annual improvements towards this goal
between 2007 and 2015. “What’s so unique about Pure Strategies and Tim Greiner
is that he not only has the technical knowledge, he also has the
organizational-management piece down. He knows the people stuff,” Hirshberg
says. “For instance, at our kick-off meeting there were certain things that couldn’t
be said by me, they had to be said by an outside person—such as his impressions of
us compared to other companies, or what other companies out there are doing.”
Each team had a 30-day period after the initial kickoff to review its commitments
and determine what support and resources the team would need before submitting
a one-year action plan for CEO approval. In addition to setting sustainability goals,
the teams agreed to incorporate those goals into the HR process for job
descriptions, performance reviews and bonuses. “This was a critical shift in the way
Stonyfield addressed sustainability,” Greiner adds. “We attached it to the people
who were responsible for all the key decisions—What do we source? Where do we
source it? What do we make? How do we make it? What do we package it in? How
do we move that product?”
For the next six months, Hirshberg’s staff and Pure Strategies assisted the teams as
they continued planning and moved into implementation. When they reconvened
the following summer to present the results of their work, Greiner says it was
obvious the organizational culture already had begun to change. “Some teams
knocked it out of the park, and others didn’t,” he says. “But you could sense those
middle managers and project-team leads wanted to be successful. They didn’t want
to get up there in front of their peers and report they hadn’t progressed on
their goals.”
4. Stonyfield Buy-In
Semi-annual summit meetings continued off site for the next few years with
astounding results. “Because we launched it with such a powerful, emotional
training, people became very engaged, and then they just started doing it. It
worked incredibly well—far greater than we ever anticipated,” Hirshberg says. “For
the first time in our history, it absolutely unified us under clear, common
environmental goals that we could hold people accountable to, and it allowed
sustainability to no longer be about me and my staff. The process gave us
ownership and buy-in. From certain areas within the company we’d always had it,
but from others we didn’t. This got managers throughout the company to own
responsibility for our environmental performance. From then on it wasn’t looked at
as: ‘Oh, this is Natural Resources’ thing.’ They saw us more as facilitating the
process, rather than making it happen.”
Hirshberg adds that for many in the company MAP is exciting, because it demonstrates
the connection between environmental and financial performance. Sales continue to
grow while the company’s environmental impact is visibly reduced. Stonyfield is now the
leading organic yogurt maker in the U.S. and has expanded its product portfolio to
include numerous successful products and brands. The company sources more than 300
million pounds of organic ingredients annually, supporting roughly 200,000 acres of
organic production each year—the majority of which is located in the U.S. In addition, all
of the company’s organic milk comes from Organic Valley/CROPP, a national dairy
cooperative with 1,300 family farmers throughout the U.S. In recent years, the company
has received awards and recognition from organizations including the United Nations,
EPA and the National Wildlife Federation, as well as a diversity of publications like
Treehugger.com, Real Simple magazine, Vegetarian Times, Dairy Field magazine, and
Business Week.
“The process gave us ownership and
buy-in. From certain areas within the
company we’d always had it, but from
others we didn’t. This got managers
from throughout the company to own
responsibility for our environmental
performance.”
5. Tim Greiner, Pure Strategies'
Co-founder and Managing Director,
specializes in building environmental
and social integrity into products,
brands, and businesses. He consults
with domestic and overseas
manufacturers, socially responsible
businesses, and environmental
advocacy groups. Current and
former clients include Seventh Generation, The North Face,
Timberland, Stonyfield Farm, U.S. EPA, NRDC, Walmart,
Millipore, and Dell.
Tim holds a bachelor’s degree in Materials Science
Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and
master’s degrees in Environmental Policy and Business
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a
founding member of the Massachusetts Toxics Use
Reduction Planners Association and a former Board
Member and President. He is also founder of the Cape Ann
Climate Change Network and is a Fellow at the Lowell
Center for Sustainable Production. Mr. Greiner has work
experience in industry as a Process Engineer for Fairchild
Semiconductor. He also worked for the Massachusetts
Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) as Project Director
and Chief Engineer.
About Pure Strategies
In the past 15 years, Pure Strategies has led
numerous clients through the strategic planning
process we call pureEnterprise™. This includes
clients such as Radio Flyer, Aurora Organic Dairy
and Rockline Industries. Whether it’s a company
with $20 million or $2 billion in revenues,
integrating sustainability into a business is a
scalable process that’s much more than utilizing
metrics, appointing a sustainability officer, or
developing a host of good sustainability
projects. It’s about understanding— How do we
make the business case? If a company can make
that case to gain competitive advantage, save
money, or increase customer loyalty, then the
question is: How do we operationalize that? How
do we weave it into the fabric of the business in
a way that gets people in every division to care
about sustainability performance? That’s what
pureEnterprise™ does.
Watch Tim Greiner’s webinar: “Greening
Stonyfield Farm” at ww.switzernetwork.org
Pure Strategies helps organizations such as Stonyfield Farm and many others to develop meaningful
goals and create a clear pathway for enterprise-wide execution.
“What’s so unique about Pure Strategies and Tim
Greiner is that he not only has the technical knowledge,
he also has the organizational management piece down.
He knows the people stuff.”
ENVISION
Set Sustainability
Vision and Goals
ENGAGE
Align Leadership
Develop Systems
Socialize within Organization
EXECUTE
Integrate into Budget
Implement Programs
Communicate Results
The pureEnterprise™ Process
To contact Tim Greiner directly:
(978) 525-0480
tgreiner@purestrategies.com
PureStrategies.com