Business Needs To Take A Leading Role In Sustainable Development

Summary

Business Development is the creation of long-term value for an organization for customers, markets, and relationships. Business Development activities extend across different departments: Sales, Marketing, Project Management, Product Management, Vendor Management, Partnership, and cost-saving efforts.

Sales will focus on particular market or particular clients, often for a targeted revenue number. In this case, BD assesses Malaysia market and concludes that sales worth $1.5 billion can be achieved in three years. Marketing involves promotion and advertising aimed towards the successful sale of products to end-customers. Regulatory standards and market requirements vary across countries. A medicine of a certain composition may be allowed in India but not in the UK. A few business initiatives may need expertise in soft skills. For example, lobbying is legal in some locales, and may become necessary for penetrating the market. BD is not just about increasing sales, products, and market reach. Strategic decision are also needed to improve the bottom line, which include cost-cutting measures. The BD scenario discussed above is specific to a business expansion plan, whose impact can be felt by almost every unit of the business.

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched with much fanfare, endorsed by heads-of-state, celebrities and CEOs. The top three goals of possible interest to business were: SDG 13: climate action; SDG 8: decent work and economic growth; SDG 12: responsible consumption and production – all classic public goods. The World Bank recently moved the goal posts by shifting the poverty line from $1.25 (88p) a day to $1.90 (£1.34) a day. A close to 50% increase in the poverty threshold makes getting to the goals even harder. Governments in developed economies are also handicapped, with a plethora of domestic challenges, slow growth and declining productivity. A top barrier to taking action is the complexity of the context in most developing regions. The SDGs offer an organising framework for partners to agree to a common end-point and then work backwards from. The most frequently cited motivation was that of mitigating business risk from disrupted operations, supplies or reputational damage. The biggest risk is if companies find it too lofty and too much of a “UN initiative” or one best left to governments – and disengage. Each CEO should imagine the world of 2030 with and without progress on the goals and what the differences would be for their respective companies. With partnerships with local actors essential for execution, companies find it hard to work with and coordinate across so many disparate multi-sector stakeholders.  The first step towards eliminating poverty in all its forms everywhere is to first eliminate poverty of the imagination.

Reference: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/business-needs-to-take-a-leading-role-in-sustainable-development/