Hero or Boogeyman? The Sustainability Dilemma for SMEs

Are we facing a new paradigm where Sustainability is either the “boogeyman” or the new Hero of Humanity?

There is a natural pressure in the market regarding the evidence of Sustainability. Small and medium-sized enterprises, not required to report, are now facing demands from various stakeholders in their value chain to demonstrate and prove environmentally friendly practices, social initiatives, and the promotion of transparency and ethics in top management. This has led to all sorts of evidence, some more creative than others, ranging from simple PowerPoint presentations with straightforward and appealing messages to larger corporate events.

Is one initiative worth more than another? Is a company more or less sustainable depending on the initiatives it promotes?

In reality, what unites all these companies is the will to survive.

Survive.

And history has shown that humanity unites for survival, from the black-and-white days when we witnessed the first man landing on the moon, to the advent of the Internet, and more recently, the fight against Covid. So, why do we look at Sustainability as the boogeyman when history shows us that, united for a common good, we achieve better results for all?

Perhaps because Sustainability has been instrumentalised to appear as something utopian.

How can a company think more about the environment, more about people, ensure fair management for all, and still survive?

In practice, it’s about breaking the paradigm that “thinking about everyone, giving everything to everyone, and accepting everything and everyone will cause everyone to end up with nothing.”

If this were true,

• Would we have weather forecasts today that save lives?
• Would we have realised how much an image and a word can make a difference in the lives of millions?
• Would we have saved millions of people with a simple vaccine and discovered new business models?

We thus have to break the very paradigm of Sustainability as the boogeyman.

Sustainability is at our core. It is part of this collective called Humanity. And this collective is indeed the hero of its own story.

As we want to be part of the Sustainability story of our companies, we will be publishing monthly, starting in October, in our section Yunit S-Tools, mechanisms and tools that help companies implement Sustainability practices.

So that together we can be the heroes of this story.

Contact

Author's Biography

Sónia Pereira

Environmental Engineer with over 20 years of experience in Management Systems, specifically in the implementation, auditing, and training on ISO 9001 and 14001 standards, and participation in pioneering environmental certification projects. She holds a Master's in Lean Management and an MBA in Operations Management, standing out for her work in productivity improvement projects across various sectors. Her mission is to support SMEs in adapting to sustainability demands, helping them overcome the current ESG challenges.

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Last update: 25 September 2024