Behemoth they may be, but a fair share of good gets done

HallsOfJustice

Large multinational corporations may not be perfect, but there’s a lot to be learned from some of their approaches to sustainability that can apply to SMEs too.

Good Business Message

Large multinational corporations may not be perfect, but there’s a lot to be learned from some of their approaches to sustainability that can apply to SMEs too.

Occasionally the monsters are the game changers and the more monstrous they become the more able they are to make an impact. One way or another. Sometimes, though, these monsters aren’t monsters at all, they just seem to be so very big and so mind-bogglingly burly that we assume they’re monstrous.

Unilever is one of those behemoths; a huge, sprawling multi-brand business, it’s ubiquitous consumer goods tentacles reaching off supermarket shelves and into our homes and everyday lives, profits pouring in through every limb, a monstrous marketing machine and yet a fair share of purpose driven behaviour, in the form of the Sustainable Living plan, dominates their, and often our, headlines.

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But this monster, derided by so many is run on a day-to-day basis by real people, with real lives and who, more often that not, really actually care. Surely they don’t lose the urge to be socially responsible on the commute to work, simply because they work for a monster? Whether they have much of a choice in how the monster conducts itself and makes it’s really big money decisions is debatable but if Unilever didn’t have a Sustainable Living plan we’d think they were pretty scary.

There are a few lessons there that smaller, more nimble businesses, with less complex financial structures can take from Unilever’s plan and act on.

Firstly, The Sustainable Living Plan makes it 100% clear.. there’s a plan. So, set an agenda.

Second, based on your business, or brand, get involved in something that really, honestly matters to you and your brand.

Dove = real beauty. Actually it equals sell lots of cream but the campaign has been a hit.

Unilever reports that 82% of women in Canada who are aware of its project “would be more likely to purchase Dove.”

Third. Once you’ve worked out what matters. Measure it. Saving water, recycling coffee cups, volunteer hours, social media mentions. Measure the stats so that you have some solid facts you can improve on next year.

Four: communicate what you’re doing.

Let’s bear in mind, companies like this ‘monster’ are intent on being around for the long term. In order to do so they ‘build to last‘; which means building themselves around a robust vision for business and, today, this vision is one of a sustainable business within a sustainable world.

No one is claiming that Unilever are perfect and in his article “Loved To Death” George Monbiot quite rightly points out how self-serving these monsters can be; yet, how churlish it would be to ignore the fact that at least this particular monster has understood that a great business today is about doing good AND doing well. It’s a long way from days of yore and pure Enron style greed.

Yes, there’s a five, six and seven but let’s keep things simple for now.

Large companies that articulate their vision well while making an authentic effort to drive purpose led behaviours alongside their obvious profit motivations are often able to balance breathing fire with building great brands

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