Tag Archive for Sustainability

How to Turn Sustainability Into a Brand and Business Strength

In the race to sustainability, many brands are diluting their identity and relying on undifferentiated strategies to ensure environmental efficiency and social compliance along their supply chains. Thus, the challenge lies in the quality of sustainability investments brands are willing to pursue, but also in their ability to communicate the reasoning behind these efforts.

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Listen to your customers when it comes to sustainability

By Dan Matthews on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Few business owners would argue with the idea that the customer is always right and many successful modern businesses are built on their drive to satisfy customers. Leading Internet retailer Amazon is a great example of a successful company founded on a relentless focus on customer satisfaction. Their founder Jeff Bezos is well known for saying “We’re not competitor obsessed, we’re customer obsessed. We start with what the customer needs and we work backwards.”
Most businesses will immediately think about their product and services when it comes to keeping customers happy, making sure they have a great feedback system and deal speedily with customer requests, issues and complaints. However, customers these days are often more demanding than they were in the past and will look for more than just great prices and products from a company.
Consumers will often only want to buy from companies that have an explicit sense of purpose and align with their broader ideas about corporate responsibility and ethical behaviour. This could mean only buying fashion from companies that check their supply chains to make sure workers are fairly paid or only banking

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Transition to a net zero future with green finance

By fundingoptions on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

We all need to play our part to build a more sustainable future. SMEs, who are the lifeblood of the UK economy, will be a key player ensuring this occurs.

It’s in every business’ own interests to ‘go green’. Research indicates that £3bn savings can be realised by the SME community if it were to implement simple energy efficient measures. 

Why is it important for businesses to go green?

In June 2019, the UK was the first major economy to pledge to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. Earlier this year, the UK also committed to the ambitious goal of reducing its carbon emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. 

If the UK is going to achieve these pledges, all businesses will need to pull together now to make sufficient headway.

Collective responsibility

SMEs make up 97 per cent of the UK economy and contribute 25 per cent to its carbon emissions. Therefore, the UK won’t reach its net zero goals unless the SME community starts taking collective action today. 

Future growth

As the world transitions to a low carbon future, customers will expect the businesses they interact

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