SUSTAINABILITY & SOCIAL

ENTREPRENEURSHIPA trend that opens new perspectives, especially

considering times of crisis

Prof.Dr.Ing. David L. Fuschi PhD

SOME DEFINITIONSSustainability:

meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition to natural resources, we also need social and economic resources. Sustainability is not just environmentalism.

Economic Sustainability: ensuring organisations/products are "built to last" and are able to function efficiently over a long period of time.

Social Entrepreneurship companies or institutions operating with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.

SO, WHY AND WHAT FOR?

● We need to consider that:

- We do not own the world we live in,

- We simply borrow it form the future generations

- Available resources are limited

- What gets destroyed cannot be recuperated

● Adopting a sustainable approach ensures:

- Achieving our objectives now while

- Making sure what we do will last

- Overall, it is more beneficial than any other approach

THE CHALLENGE● Social entrepreneurship is

- not yet well understood

- perceived as not profitable

- believed to apply only to

emerging economies

- perceived as a “fashion”

Rather than a “business”

● Sustainability is

- not yet perceived necessary

- believed as hard to achieve

- perceived as not-profitable

- perceived as necessary only

for emerging economies

What people see is just the tip of the Iceberg, but there is much more!

DELOITTE's APPROACH Sustainability strategy - Developing a road map to address sustainability

risks and opportunities in support of business growth objectives, stakeholder engagement and communications, and brand enhancement programs, as well as prioritizing sustainability initiatives through detailed value quantification.

Resource productivity and risk mitigation - Identifying ways to address energy, water, and materials risks across the value chain.

Sustainable operations and supply chain - Refining operations and the supply chain by addressing diverse issues such as supplier engagement, sourcing and procurement, packaging, closed loop recycling, supply chain transparency, and human and labor rights.

Reporting and disclosure - Identifying ways to improve collection and reporting of data in compliance with laws, regulations, and stakeholder expectations.

Deloitte

INNOVATION via SUSTAINABILITY

Viewing Compliance as Opportunity

- Most companies start with compliance. Some choose to follow voluntary, sector-specific codes of conduct.

- Rather than viewing compliance as a burden see this as an opportunity.

- Being a first-mover provides a competitive advantage as well as efficiencies of scale.

- Staying ahead of regulation can also put companies in a position to shape future legislation

Witkin,J.,(2009)

INNOVATION via SUSTAINABILITYMaking Value Chains Sustainable

- Keeping pace with regulation makes companies more environmentally aware and more attentive to their resource consumption habits.

- It helps reducing consumption and waste in their operations and workplace environments

- It forces to become more adept with new tools like life cycle assessments, energy footprint calculators and carbon management protocols that can lead to future innovation especially in the design of new products and businesses.

- Driving sustainability through the supply chain compounds the positive effect by requiring suppliers to improve their environmental and labor practices.

Witkin,J.,(2009)

INNOVATION via SUSTAINABILITYDesigning Sustainable Products and Services

- With an increased focus on efficiency and newly acquired skills like life cycle assessments, companies can redesign their offerings and tap into growing consumer demand for more eco-friendly products and packaging.

Developing New Business Models

- As companies view current business models through the lens of sustainability, they will inevitably rethink these models, especially with the advent of new technologies and the shifting landscape of customer expectations.

- New models have already started to emerge emphasizing the delivery of value through services rather than products, and the combination of digital with physical infrastructures.

Witkin,J.,(2009)

INNOVATION via SUSTAINABILITYCreating Next-Practice Platforms

- A sustainability focus also allows companies to build on their existing competencies to develop next-practice platforms and new paradigms.

Witkin,J.,(2009)

Growing concerns over climate change, stricter government regulations, pressures from NGOs and shifting consumer expectations are surging and will force businesses to change.

Understanding this latent change that will be inevitable, suggests embracing the sustainability agenda and rethinking long-held axioms.

The transformation will take committed leadership at the top and a motivated, talented workforce in order to execute this agenda.

SO, WHAT IS NEEDED? First and foremost is needed a LEADER, someone with a vision that will

will champion the transformation

Secondly, is needed a clear objective and aim that can be shared within the organisation at all levels

Thirdly, is needed to have the “buy in” of the management and staff

Fourthly, is needed to gain the support of business partners, suppliers, and most of all, CUSTOMERS.

Lastly, is needed a good COMMUNICATION STRATEGY that will support in all the above-mentioned steps.

BUT WHAT MAKES A “LEADER”?According to Prive (2012) it takes to be having:

Honesty, ability to Delegate, Communication, Confidence, Commitment, Positive Attitude, Creativity, Intuition, Ability to Inspire, Approach.

According to Raymond Cattell's Leadership Potential Equation (1954) the traits of an effective leader include the following:

Emotional stability, Dominance, Enthusiasm, Conscientiousness, Social boldness, Tough-mindedness, Self-assurance, Compulsiveness.

These traits are further complemented by:

High energy, Intuitiveness, Maturity, Team orientation, Empathy, Charisma

The Air University (2014)

AN EXAMPLE As example let's have a look at the KiiT Smart Village Living Lab (SVLL)

KiiT SVLL is a network of Open Innovation enthusiasts from academia and business with its hub in a few villages in Odisha, a South Eastern State of India.

The Lab’s current focus is on Education, Water, Energy, Environment and Affordable Housing sectors.

All activities are managed through student projects, in the end user driven, real life environment of the rural communities and processed into knowledge through Living Lab infrastructure.

The SVLL is part of the European Network of Living Labs (EnoLL) and very closely supported by experts from Finland, Belgium, UK and from other parts of India

http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/livinglab/smart-village-living-lab-india

SO, WHAT IS A LIVING LAB? A living lab is a research concept, a user-centred, open-innovation

ecosystem, often operating in a territorial context (e.g. city, agglomeration, region), integrating concurrent research and innovation processes within a public-private-people partnership.

SOURCESPrive,T.,(2012), "Top 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader", [On-line], [Last

accessed 2016-4-8], Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/#6abf7cb73564

Deloitte, (2014), “Commitment. Stamina. Results.”, [On-line], [Last accessed 2016-4-8], Available at: http://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/solutions/about-our-sustainability-service.html

The Air University – The Intellectual and Leadership Centre of the Air Force, (2014), “Leadership Traits”, [On-line], [Last accessed 2016-4-8], Available at: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/sba/traits.htm

Witkin,J.,(2009), “The 5 Stages for Achieving Innovation Through Sustainability”, [On-line], [Last accessed 2016-4-8], Available at: http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/09/the-5-stages-for-achieving-innovation-through-sustainability/