what is better, strongly sustainable, business?
DESCRIPTION
A 15 minute video of this talk is available on the Strongly Sustainable Business Model Group's youTube Channel: http://youTube.com/ssBusinessModelTV at http://youtu.be/vfG_RclyaWA. In these slides Antony Upward, Sustainability Business Architect, introduces sustainability, weak sustainability and strong sustainability and then discussed how this relates to creating better businesses. As usual, recommended downloading the presentation and viewing in slideshow mode with the speakers notes handy If you'd like to stay in touch with our work on Strongly Sustainable Business Models then please - Watch our ~3 minute introduction - http://about.SSBMG.com - Watch our other videos - http://youTube.com/ssBusinessModelTV - Like our facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/StronglySustainableBusinessModels - Join the linkedin group: http://forum.SSBMG.com - Give us your ideas via our survey (http://survey.SSBMG.com) or just sign-up for email updates (http://signup.SSBMG.com) - Visit our website: http://www.SSBMG.comTRANSCRIPT
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Antony Upward, MES, CMC* [email protected] @aupward #SSBMGssBusinessModelTV
* Masters of Environmental Studies in Business Model Design and Sustainability; Certified Management Consultant
Strong SustainabilityAn Introduction for Better Business
November 20, 2013
Lots of Lots of speaker notes,
speaker notes, inc. referencesinc. references
Builds on many slides Builds on many slides
download and view download and view
in slide show mode in slide show mode
for improved for improved
comprehensioncomprehension
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Why are we here? What’s the
meaning of all this?
The Big Problem with Sustainability
“Sustainability”
… and how will you measure your
“sustainability”?
… and who will benefit, for how long and at what
cost?
So tell me… what is it exactlyexactly
you want to sustain?
Don’t forget nature is alwaysalways changing… it isn’t
static
…and what we value is alwaysalways changing… that
isn’t static either!
Oh heck. I thought this sustainability stuff was going to be simple. I think
I’ll take a nap…zzzzz
No idea… but I want us to keep going for a
long time… just like we are now… what’s a word
for that?
3
Our Current Our Current Collective Collective ResponseResponse
Sustain maximum wealth creation (means)…so we can afford the public good (ends)
What do you want to sustain?
• For whom? • For how long? • How much will it cost?
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Sustainability is “the possibility that human and other life will flourish on this planet forever.” – John Ehrenfeld
So we’re on the same page...
NotNot trying to convince you!
My Personal My Personal ResponseResponse
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EcologicalEconomics
wikipedia.org/Strong_versus_weak_sustainability
Weak: Human ingenuity will always ensure manufactured capital can take the place of any natural capital we deplete
Human technology is beneficial and will always save us, just-in-time
Strong: The possibility for flourishing requires minimum amounts of critical natural capital
While often beneficial, there are limits to human technology (and its timing)
Sustainability
The difference is not a matter of good or bad The question is which is more or less likely to enable flourishing?
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...concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth’s crust
...concentrations of substances produced by society
...degradation by physical means
...people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their need for:
• Personal well-being • Influence • Learning and growth • Equity• Meaning
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing...
and, in that society...
www.NaturalStep.ca/four-system-conditions
From the Big Bang to Sustainable Societies
The Social Dimension of Strategic Sustainable Development
Sustainable Society
www.alliance-ssd.org/about/
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Financial EconomyFinancial Economy
SocietySociety
EnvironmentEnvironment
If a better business were to operate forever, it would not only do no harm, it would do well by doing good
… creating the possibility that human and other life can flourish on the planet
forever.
… throughout its value chain/network
A strongly sustainable business creates positive environmental,
social, and economic value
WHERE
WHY
WHAT
A Definition of Better, Strongly Sustainable Business*
* From a Gold-standard Benchmark for Sustainable Business - http://www.naturalstep.ca/gold-standard
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Better Businesses Recognize All Their Contexts
Context: Environment (Physical / Chemical / Biological)
(Monetary)
Business
(Social/Technology) Context:
Society
© Antony Upward / Edward James Consulting Ltd., 2013 Some rights reserved. Permissions available at www.EdwardJames.biz/Permissions
Context:Financial Economy
Better
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=Do Good & Do Well
What’s Better About Better Businesses?
Less RiskMore Innovation
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…And So a Quest For a Better Tool Begins
http://hdl.handle.net/10315/20777
…and reaches a major milestone
2010
20122013
We need a better tool to design better businesses
12 © Antony Upward / Edward James Consulting Ltd., 2013 Some rights reserved. Permissions available at www.EdwardJames.biz/Permissions
Introducing…The Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvas
V1.031
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Help bring Sustainable Business Innovation to the World!
Become a “First Explorer”– Enables commercial use of the new Canvas now
12 organizations around the globe have joined so far
Join the quest– Crowd-funded collaborative book project
Working Title: Strongly Sustainable Business Model Innovation– 13 International co-authors identified– Crowd-funding starting in 2014
Individuals and OrganizationsBackers also get immediate commercial rights to use new CanvasEveryone else will have to wait for the book
– Self Publish 2015Canvas released under a Creative Commons License free for
commercial use
Connect to like-minded colleagues– Linkedin and Facebook
100+ Members from around the globe
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Be Informed: http://signup.SSBMG.comShare your ideas for the book: http://survey.SSBMG.com
www.facebook.com/StronglySustainableBusinessModels @aupward
#SSBMGStrongly Sustainable Business Model Group
forum.SSBMG.com
www.SSBMG.com
Learn More– ~3 minute Audio/Visual Overview
about.SSBMG.com• Videos
– youTube.com/ssBusinessModelTV• Learning Map
– wiki.SSBMG.com/home/learning-map• Blogs
– blog.SSBMG.com – slab.ocad.ca/blogs/antony-upward
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Learn more: http://www.naturalstep.ca/gold-standard
Join a Key Related Project
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Possible Table of Contents
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Copyright
• All images used under applicable creative commons licences – see notes on each page
© Antony Upward / Edward James Consulting Ltd., 2013. Some rights reserved. – Permissions available at www.EdwardJames.biz
/Permissions – This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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