Business and sustainability - know what you've got to understand what you need

There are some things we keep coming back to in our work with corporate sustainability, one such thing is that many companies are already doing great things in terms of sustainability.

We recently completed an assignment where this became clear. A medium-sized company in the construction sector turned to us for support in getting started with its sustainability work. When we started talking to owners, employees, and customers, we discovered that a lot of sustainable practices are already in place. Admittedly, these have not been referred to as “sustainability”, but there were clear ambitions and efforts for employees, climate, and business ethics. It was clear to us why it looked that way. The company was built on long-term thinking, quarterly results stood back for an ambition to be profitable for the next generation. Therefore, sustainability and business benefit were closely linked. Need we add that the company is also vastly profitable?

Integrating sustainability into your business model might seem daunting and sometimes an outside perspective is needed to learn how to move forward. Read more about our work within in this area here.

Or simply contact us to learn more!

Risk Management and Sustainability at the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Conference

While the EU and its member countries are increasing demands on sustainability reporting for companies in the region, we sometimes forget that this also affects the rest of the world that interact with Europe.

Beyond Intent was recently invited as a speaker to a conference for the most prominent business leaders in Zimbabwe to address the issue. We presented our CBI index, developed with our partners at Consilio International, that displays country risk levels and spoke about how industry can navigate through risk management in an international expansion or global operations. As always, we learn extensively from interacting with international peers, business in Zimbabwe can teach us a lot about risk management. And although it was a digital meeting, it was a delight to be back in Zimbabwe.

Explore the new and updated sustainability guide for Företagarna!

Beyond Intent has collaborated with the largest business organisation in Sweden, the Swedish Federation of Business Owners, Företagarna, since 2015. We have produced joint reports on small- and medium sized companies and sustainability where we have analysed the companies’ approach, attitudes, and ambitions regarding sustainability. The data and insights from the companies’ have been valuable in our work with individual companies as well as to develop our tools.

Beyond Intent has developed practical support for small, and medium-sized companies that is available on the Företagarna website. It includes practical tools, guides, suggested reading and more. The material is useful for companies that are starting their journey towards sustainability as well as companies with more experience.

We recently updated the material and suggest that you check it out here!