Market Movers: Lessons from a Frontier of Innovation

Companies from emerging economies are increasingly making their presence felt in the global business community. Not only are they acquiring more and more companies in the developed world, but they are also pursuing strategies that are highly competitive with those of established businesses in western markets.

Market Movers: Lessons from a Frontier of Innovation explores whether such emerging economy firms are also managing to embed sustainability in their business strategies in ways that stand comparison with companies anywhere else in the world. It tells the stories of four firms ranging across the globe from Beijing to Sao Paulo – in many cases operating in some of the most challenging environments in which to foster commercial success – and how they have found business value in strategies based on sustainability. These companies are:

• Amanco, a Latin American water pipe manufacturer that decided to develop a new water-tight technology and cater to low-income customers. (Download Case Study)

• Deqingyuan, an ambitious Chinese entrepreneur who supplies high-quality eggs in Beijing. (Download Case Study)

• Jubilant Organosys, an Indian chemical producer that has been able to reassure and attract investors with its high environmental, health, and safety record and efficient sustainability reporting. (Download Case Study)

• MAS Holdings, a Sri Lankan apparel manufacturer that increased the retention of its mostly female employees by offering them benefits, including training courses in information technology. The company is now a supplier to some of the world’s leading retailers. (Download Case Study)

The report goes on to draw some lessons from their experiences and to make recommendations as to how other emerging-market businesses might create value from sustainability. The report identifies a number of ‘ingredients of success’ – factors that contributed to the strong results in all four case studies and helped them overcome some of the constraints that many emerging-economy companies face. The five ingredients are:

Leadership: the role of the chief executive or chairman in pushing through a strategy based on sustainability.

Integration: the embedding of sustainability elements in corporate strategies from the very beginning.

Innovation: using sustainability as a source of innovation.

Differentiation: having the courage to be different.

Quality of relationships: business benefits from strong relationships with stakeholders – suppliers, customers, employees.

The final section of Market Movers: Lessons from a Frontier of Innovation describes six steps in building a sustainability strategy – showing how companies can make sustainability an integral part of business excellence and success by being attuned to developments in the operating environment, and developing a business strategy to respond.

For more information on the report or SustainAbility’s related activities, please contact Jodie Thorpe at thorpe@sustainability.com.