Posts Tagged ‘McKinsey & Co.’

Last month, McKinsey & Co. published a study titled “How companies manage sustainability”.  The survey was conducted in February 2010 and received responses from 1,946 executives representing a wide range of industries. The fact that the topic of sustainability is significant enough for McKinsey to conduct this analysis is notable.  The study itself is short and it is easy to distill the major themes presented. Theme 1:  “Sustainability” has no defined definition … many [companies] have no clear definition of [sustainability]. Overall, 20 percent of executives say their companies don’t. Among those that do, the definition varies: 55 percent define sustainability as the management of issues related to the environment (for example, greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, waste management, green-product development, and water conservation). In addition, 48 percent say it includes the management of governance issues (such as complying with regulations, maintaining ethical practices, and meeting accepted industry standards), and 41 percent say it includes the management of social issues (for instance, working conditions and labor standards). Fifty-six percent of all the respondents define sustainability in two or more ways. Theme 2:  What gets measured gets managed, or vice versa [E]xecutives [of proactive companies] … are more aware than executives

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