Actually, I have learned many things from the Sustainable Value and its author himself Chris Laszlo. This author who made the book interesting for the reader within just reading the first chapter; you know how great he is. Next, I am going to illustrate what I have learned from the book in such field like competitive advantage, management/ leadership for today, managing of people, performance, managing change, and understanding the game and changing moves. Beside all this, I am going to give you a little put of information about social Innovation, sustainable value, holistic value, explain the journey-what is encountered?, social environment and economic issues and play Offense not Defense.
Every company wants to have one or two of the competitive advantages for their product in the marketplace. In fact, those companies that want to earn the competitive advantage they must evaluate their companies from the high level of the management to the operation process to find what their companies capable of. To do so, the companies must have high level of coordination and high commitment from the senior managers and the workers as well.
The companies spend time and money trying to earn the competitive advantages because they know they would earn much more if their companies win to have the competitive advantages beyond their competitors. Before many years ago, the companies focused their resources and effort to earn the competitive advantage even though if this acts is going to destroy an environment. On other world, the company wants to satisfy the shareholder only, but now the companies think differently and they think out the scope in something call earn competitive advantage in sustainable value which allows them to satisfy the stockholder and the shareholder as well.
There are many companies that monition in the book which succeeds in the marketplace from earning Sustainable value like “DuPont, Wall-mart- Lafarge, Nature works LLC”. What those companies did to earn the competitive advantage was that the senior mangers felt their business would destroy if they did not take an action. Therefore, they evaluated their companies to know where their strength and weakness. In fact, some companies asked for help from outside the companies such as consulting or non-profit organization because they wanted to have highly accurate evaluation.
If the companies earn the sustainable value advantage, they will be able to lead the market, avoiding the regulation, enhancing the reputation, helping the community, getting support from the government, and saving the world for our next generation.
Ultimately, if one company wants to earn Sustainable value, they must have the support from the senior managers, the goals should be clear for the employees, evaluating the company in accurate way, and set a strategy.
The leadership is very important whether in the business world or in our life. The person who has this skill, he or she is going to make an effort or impact in the people who surround him or her. In this book, the author is starting with illustrate who Deanna made an effort to convince the top executive and the workers how the sustainable value is important for the company. For my opinion the leadership is about convince and mange the people in a way that they do not feel that they are getting force to do thing.
The people who have a position that allow them to control the workers, they should have some characteristic like opening mind and they see the future before they see the present. Also, the workers must have faith in them. Moreover, they should listen to their employees and they should have faith in them also. Also, the good leaderships are that one who take responsibility for any action they take.
In contrast, when the mangers manage an issue in business, they should know that it is hard to satisfy all people. So, they should try to satisfy the majority of the stockholder and the shareholder. Beside this, the good management is that one that can achieve the sustainable value without additional cost for their customers or low quality for their product and they can develop. Also, the company that shifts into sustainable value has to adopt new skill and new strategy approach into their management work. In the end, the leadership and the management are very critical in the business today and the companies who succeed to get sustainable value they have great managers.
The companies always talk about performance and how they should improve the performance in their companies. In companies which not consider the sustainable as core activity, they measure the performance in how much money they get in the annual years and how they satisfied just their shareholder. Otherwise, the companies that consider the sustainable value, they measure the performance in how the company satisfied the shareholder and the stockholder as well. On other word, they measure the hidden benefit that the company got from the sustainable value. Furthermore, the companies always try to improve the performance and set goals in the future to achieve. Therefore, the companies like DuPont, Wall-Mart …… develop a project that allow them to capture their activities and they try to adjust their activities to get the best performance in the future .
For my conclude, the companies should set some metric to measure their performance specially for those companies that consider the sustainable value as core activities because the sustainable value has a hidden benefit that the companies should measure in their annually performance.
In the dynamic business today and the evolution of the technology and the innovation, it is a challenge for the managers to keep doing the same thing for long time. the managers must have a vision to develop and change in how they are doing business. Otherwise, they would suffer in the future. Before six or seven years, we did not hear much about the sustainable environment, but now everything has changed and there are many books and theories about how the companies use the sustainable value as competitive advantage in the marketplace. In fact, the stock price for the company is determined by intangible factor such as reputation and this would not happen before. Now, the mangers have to set goals that satisfied the shareholder and the stockholder as well. Therefore, the managers have to change the way they are doing business to fit with their stockholder and shareholder interest.
After all, the mangers should be aware about what will happen in the future and they should adjust their management skill to fit with their business requirement.
The good companies are those one that understanding the game in the marketplace and changing the moves for their companies when they needed. Those companies that are providing in the book have something in common which are all of them understand the game which is shifting to the sustainable value. Therefore, they changed their core activities to fit with the requirement game to play and get success leading the market. To understand the game, the companies have to work in dynamic way and they always think that their businesses are in dangerous and they should play offense and not just defense all the time. Therefore, they are going to develop and innovate all the time. Beside this, the mangers have to take a risk to implement the innovation. Otherwise, the companies would not ever lead the market. Also, I am sure that if something bigger than the sustainable value would happened in the future, companies like (Wall- Mart, Dupont..etc) would be the pioneers in the market that did not because they make their companies work in dynamic environment. Also, the managers in those companies would take a risk because they know how much benefit that they would get.
Social innovation is very critical in the business today. The companies that can create something that help the community; they can earn many advantages for it. Indeed, the companies should focus their effort trying to innovation something that helps the community. In fact, the innovation may come from everywhere inside the company or outside the company as well. As examples provide in the books the companies created something that helped the community and they got advantage for it. Furthermore, those companies can sell their innovation to other companies in the marketplace. After all, everyone wins.
The company can achieve the holistic value when they can satisfy the stockholder and the shareholder in the same time. To do this the companies should try to innovative thing that can help to make sustainable environment with considering the economic factor as well.
There is a connection between the Social Environment and Economic issues. For many years, activates fight with the business leader in many issues such as climate change, pollution, Etc. In fact; some companies faced a lawsuit because their plant emission that destroy the environment. In other word, the social environments in managers perspective was an obstructive for the companies expand, but now the reality is different. According to the book the companies should take the opportunity of innovation in sustainable value to earn the competitive advantage in the marketplace. Moreover, there is a problem that companies faced which is the oil price and they can solve this problem by innovation in renewable energy.
The Sustainable value is very important for us. Before I read this book, I thought the Sustainable value is just about something related with the environment. Also, there were no ways that businesses and activists reach in agree point. Also, I looked to the sustainable value as additional cost for the companies, but now, after I read the book, I have realized that the sustainable value has broader meaning than just the climate change or water pollution. It includes every aspect in our life. It is a business opportunity for the companies. Last one I have learned that are some companies listing for what the activists say and try to innovative things from it that has a value for them. After all, I am optimistic about the future.
Now, the company should be focusing their effort to play offense not defense only because if they play defense, they would miss the opportunity in the marketplace and make other companies take it from them. If the company wants to succeed in the marketplace, they should take offense approach and not just taking defense to diminish the risk.
Each company has different journey because each one of them are dealing with different issue. However, all of the companies that provides in the book are sharing something in common such as they started with some problem, the CEO commitment, and they work with broad external non-organization profit. In fact, I defined the journey as an explain to how the company get succeed in doing Business. Indeed, it is very important for the company to have a journey because it allows them to come back to it when they needed. Also, it helps the community learning from it.
In my conclude, I have learned so many things from this book such as the Sustainable value is a business opporinuntiy to the companies. I explained how the companies gain competitive advantage from the sustainable value and what benefit they would get. Also, I was mentioned about how the good leadership would be and how they manage their people.
but the companies have to change their management way when they deal with sustainable value. Also, they must have a good leadership. Moreover, they must understand the game before their competitors. Moreover, I talked about the performance and how it is measure differently in the sustainable company and non one. Also, I talked about the managing change and how important is to CEO management to consider that. Moreover, I talked about how critical is for the company to understand the game and change their core activity to fit with the game requirement. Last thing, I was mentioned brief information about some key terms such as sustainable value, holistic value,… etc that it is very important to know. The Sustainable Value makes our environment better and it is a business opportunity for the companies. On other world, (win win to everyone).