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A businessman puts his finger to a transparent touchscreen on which are five hexagons, four featuring icons of environmental issues and a fifth showing the recycling symbol.

Ten key elements to sustainable business practices in SMEs

Learn to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt sustainability practices that benefit their communities, customers and financial positions, as well as the environment.

When companies embrace sustainability practices, something interesting happens. They often become more profitable, they enjoy greater customer loyalty, they see a growing commitment from their employees, and they more readily cement their relationship with suppliers.

One survey found that 70 per cent of SMEs that had adopted a sustainable business approach did so to secure new business, while 54 per cent did so simply to save money.

Finance professionals as guardians of the sustainability strategy

Regardless of the organization's motivation, you can be sure a finance professional was at the heart of the data-gathering process that helped these organizations drive performance improvement toward specific goals.

You can download a PDF file of Ten Key Elements to Sustainable Business Practices in SMEs. It features case studies and key lessons to help you adopt and implement sustainability strategies.

You will learn:

  • the importance of taking a broad view of sustainability
  • how to define what sustainability means to your company
  • how to engage all stakeholders
  • the importance of communicating your strategy widely across the company
  • how small changes can make a big difference
  • how to tie sustainability to profitability
  • that the biggest sustainability investment is usually in the management of time