Sustainable Enterprises

In a globalized economy, the societal challenges of sustainable development imply fundamental changes to the ways in which companies operate. As enterprises work within complex international supply chains, sell in global markets or compete for raw materials, customers and know-how, they are increasingly judged by aspects of their ecological and social performance.

Society has rising expectations in relation to sustainable development. This poses risks but also offers companies a growing number of entrepreneurial opportunities. Customers, investors and statutory regulations demand and reward better ecological and social performance. To be perceived as socially responsible is becoming more and more of a competitive factor. As such, this aspect is beginning to drive business and market development. Contributions by enterprises towards sustainable development help to:

• reduce risks,
• lower costs,
• boost competitiveness,
• access new (sustainability-oriented) markets
• enhance reputation.

For many years, the Öko-Institut – Institute for Applied Ecology has been working successfully with companies on issues of sustainability management, organizational development, development of sustainable products and technologies, and environmental and sustainability-related communication.

We challenge and support enterprises in integrating sustainable development into their corporate strategy, implementing it in their operational management, and ensuring appropriate involvement of the most significant stakeholder groups. We also help enterprises to develop strategies for setting up discussions with their stakeholders and for credible communication of their corporate social and ecological commitment.

For our interdisciplinary research and advisory work, we draw on the economic, social and scientific skills of our staff members to carry out:

• identification and analysis of social and ecological challenges (issue monitoring),
• identification of the stakeholder groups relevant to enterprises and the concerns of these groups, and strategic support for stakeholder management,
• implementation of stakeholder workshops on themes of strategic importance,
• development of sustainable corporate and product strategies (scenarios, business cases),
• consultancy on sustainable organizational design (structural organization and management systems, supply chain management),
• assessment of products and product portfolios, making use of life-cycle assessment, eco-efficiency analysis, life-cycle costing and
• Product Sustainability Assessment (PROSA),
• development of indicators for the assessment of corporate sustainability (benchmarking),
• consultancy and support in the preparation of environmental and sustainability reports.

Research priorities

• Sustainable products and product portfolios
• REACH: Implementation aids for companies
• Supply Chain Management
• Public Private Partnership
• Sustainability communication
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Sustainable strategy development in companies
• Finance and environment
• Competitiveness and innovation (CIS)

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