P@34 – Do your company SEEk sustainable performance and have the GRIP on it? (Part I)

To refer to John Elkington and in order to grow and subsist in the long run, companies should continue to strongly develop their “triple bottom line”: Social, Environmental and Economic. It just makes sense. An economically strong company is not sure to survive if its financial results are achieved unethically. Employees, final customers and an increasing number of sustainable funds are becoming more sensitive to corporations’ values, behaviours and business practices. More governments are setting up the right framework and many NGOs are creating a healthy level of visibility and pressure. Does your company really SEEk Sustainable Performance?

Sustainable Performance is quite simple to define, but so hard to achieve. It means getting the GRIP on company performance.

Growth: in a context of globalization and fierce competition nearly in all sectors now, there is no other choice than maintaining or growing sales. Marketing (emotional, digital, mobile, massively individualized marketing, big data, customer experience and distribution channels), sales effectiveness and internationalization are key success factors.

Responsibility from social, environmental and corporate points of view will no longer be a commercial or strategic advantage; it will become a basic and Go-No Go criteria for the Customers to choose from whom to buy. Nestle, P&G, C&A, H&M, DSM, BASF have already acknowledged  and intergrated this trend into their strategy.

Innovation is a key driver to profitability and sales growth. Referring to Larry Keeley, Helen Walters, Ryan Pikkel and Brian Quinn, Innovation is everywhere in the company as it can be related to configuration (of the business system / model, the structure, the network and all enterprise working processes), offering (of the core products and/or services) and customer experience (service, channels, brand, Customer engagement). You can perfectly mix incremental, breakthrough and transformational innovations.

Productivity: most companies work hard to improve 1.- productivity/efficiency (the same outputs and customer value with less inputs – Lean philosophy) and 2.- effectiveness (observed or actual output compared to optimal or standard output – Total Quality Mgmt., Six Sigma approach) by revising and optimizing as much as possible their products / services (offered to customers or purchased from vendors) and their processes in all areas of the organization. Supply chains are constantly scrutinized and improved. In/Out-sourcing and Re/Off-shoring strategies are also revised. There is an immediate impact on the ability of the company to generate money to fund innovation and growth.


Sustainable performance is not an easy journey for many organizations as hard choices must be constantly made to adapt permanent changes and strategic issues coming from all fronts. It is all the more difficult as an increasing number of critical activities of the companies are performed outside through a wide network of external resources. Do your vendors contribute to sustainable performance and company goals?