Interestingly, 61% of SMB leaders practice sustainability at home while only 43% reported incorporating eco-friendly practices at the office. Many things that are done at home can also be done in the office, often resulting in cost savings. Two easy things are adjusting the heater thermostat to the lowest comfortable setting when the business is occupied and setting the temperature back further when the business is unoccupied.
SMBs are often a small tenant in a building and don’t think they can make changes. Liberty Power challenged this notion. The company went to its building managers and shared their desire to have more sustainability programs, which led to a recycling program. These programs can lead to significant cost savings by reducing costly trash removal spend.
What’s In It for Me?
Large corporations may ask what’s in it for them to educate SMBs on sustainability. As more and more companies are announcing aggressive sustainability goals, they need their partners’ help to meet them. SMBs are known for their entrepreneurial spirit, which sparks ideas and innovation. SMBs bring a fresh perspective to the sustainability dialog and can offer new ideas about products, packaging and processes. While they may not have a lot of financial capital to invest in sustainability, thinking about operating efficiently is usually top of mind for them. In fact, when asked how sustainability relates to business, SMBs used the following terms: survival, long-term success, efficiency, consistency and growth.
Large corporations can create a sustainability dialog with SMBs by incorporating sustainability into RFPs; encouraging SMBs to participate in and use paperless billing; sharing their sustainability goals and asking SMB partners for ideas on how to meet them; inviting SMB partners to join their employee volunteer projects; and making introductions to other companies implementing sustainability programs.
While these may sound simple, starting the sustainability conversation with SMBs is a win-win. Large corporations can share best practices and SMBs can help bring new ideas to the table. Collectively, we can all make a difference and move the needle on sustainability.
Alex Taylor is executive vice president for Cox Enterprises, a leading communications, media and automotive services company. He oversees Cox Enterprises’ long-term investment strategies, including the Cox Innovation Fund and True North Venture Partners. Cox Enterprises, a $17 billion company, has aggressive goals around carbon, waste and water. Cox has hundreds of thousands of SMB customers and suppliers across its businesses and recently released findings from the inaugural Cox Conserves Sustainability Survey. The survey examined sustainability trends/barriers faced by SMBs. To view the results, visit www.CoxConserves.com/Survey.
