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The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY: Profiting from Sustainability Innovation
Ulrich Lichtenthaler • Sept. 12, 2022
The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY goes beyond traditional sustainability, and it refers to developing innovative solutions for a ‘net positive impact’.
What is the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY?
The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY is a sustainability strategy that focuses on innovation and new business opportunities rather than limiting sustainability programs to resource efficiency and the optimization of established processes. As such, the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY goes beyond traditional sustainability concepts that often focus on avoiding harm (no net loss) to consider positive sustainability and to embrace doing good (net positive impact). The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY enables you to leverage sustainability for innovation and value generation, and it can be systematically developed with the SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MAP, which helps firms to achieve a competitive advantage by systematically pursuing sustainability innovations in all ESG dimensions – environment, social, and governance.
The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY is a sustainability strategy that focuses on innovation and new business opportunities rather than limiting sustainability programs to resource efficiency and the optimization of established processes. As such, the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY goes beyond traditional sustainability concepts that often focus on avoiding harm (no net loss) to consider positive sustainability and to embrace doing good (net positive impact). The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY enables you to leverage sustainability for innovation and value generation, and it can be systematically developed with the SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MAP, which helps firms to achieve a competitive advantage by systematically pursuing sustainability innovations in all ESG dimensions – environment, social, and governance.
The SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MAP, BLUE SKY STRATEGY and
GREEN GRASS STRATEGY
How does it differ from traditional sustainability strategies?
Many firms have launched sustainability initiatives, which often concentrate on efficiency gains, for example by reducing power consumption to lower CO2 emissions in light of climate change and to save costs at the same time. Thus, these initiatives avoid negative effects of business activities, and they focus on the upper blue part of the figure. They are called BLUE SKY STRATEGIES because resource efficiency in the environment domain contributes to less emissions and hence to blue skies. These important efficiency gains are partly ‘quick wins’, but they often limit a fundamental sustainability transformation. In addition, BLUE SKY STRATEGIES neglect innovation opportunities in the strategy space in the lower green part of the figure.
Younger generations expect firms to actively contribute to solving today’s environmental and social challenges. This requires executives to take a positive perspective by doing good in the core business and not only in separate social responsibility programs. This understanding of positive sustainability or positainability is at the core of the new approach, which complements traditional BLUE SKY STRATEGIES. The new strategy is called GREEN GRASS STRATEGY because it enables sustainability innovation and new business to grow and flourish like green grass. The two sustainability strategies can be distinguished according to the following key points.
Many firms have launched sustainability initiatives, which often concentrate on efficiency gains, for example by reducing power consumption to lower CO2 emissions in light of climate change and to save costs at the same time. Thus, these initiatives avoid negative effects of business activities, and they focus on the upper blue part of the figure. They are called BLUE SKY STRATEGIES because resource efficiency in the environment domain contributes to less emissions and hence to blue skies. These important efficiency gains are partly ‘quick wins’, but they often limit a fundamental sustainability transformation. In addition, BLUE SKY STRATEGIES neglect innovation opportunities in the strategy space in the lower green part of the figure.
Younger generations expect firms to actively contribute to solving today’s environmental and social challenges. This requires executives to take a positive perspective by doing good in the core business and not only in separate social responsibility programs. This understanding of positive sustainability or positainability is at the core of the new approach, which complements traditional BLUE SKY STRATEGIES. The new strategy is called GREEN GRASS STRATEGY because it enables sustainability innovation and new business to grow and flourish like green grass. The two sustainability strategies can be distinguished according to the following key points.
GREEN GRASS STRATEGY vs. BLUE SKY STRATEGY
(adapted from Ulrich Lichtenthaler, 2022, Why being sustainable is not enough: Embracing a net positive impact, Journal of Business Strategy)
(adapted from Ulrich Lichtenthaler, 2022, Why being sustainable is not enough: Embracing a net positive impact, Journal of Business Strategy)
What is the background of the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY?
The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY draws on insights from multiple company projects and extant research in different fields, including SDGs, shared value creation, CSR, and positive psychology. For a conceptual background, please see: Ulrich Lichtenthaler (2022), Why being sustainable is not enough: Embracing a net positive impact, Journal of Business Strategy. The table above has been adapted from this article. For a free initial discussion and a free pdf template of the SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MAP (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License), please contact me here.
Why should you use the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY?
The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY is a proven approach to achieve the next level of sustainability management. Even those companies that consider themselves as sustainability pioneers usually do not fully realize the opportunities from sustainability innovation and new business development. With innovative solutions, firms may profit from sustainability and positively contribute to society and the environment. In the medium to long term, the positive effects of GREEN GRASS STRATEGIES will often exceed the short-term efficiency gains of BLUE SKY STRATEGIES. Thus, many companies and executives will have no choice but to embrace the positive sustainability perspective of GREEN GRASS STRATEGY.
To master GREEN GRASS and BLUE SKY STRATEGIES, the SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MAP systematically integrates these 2 complementary strategic directions with the 3 ESG dimensions and 6 supply chain stages. The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY is adaptable to small and large organizations and units from diverse sectors. A step-wise strategy development and implementation process eases its application and the subsequent implementation of important measures. For a free initial discussion about examples of the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY or for a keynote about the topic, please contact me here.
The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY draws on insights from multiple company projects and extant research in different fields, including SDGs, shared value creation, CSR, and positive psychology. For a conceptual background, please see: Ulrich Lichtenthaler (2022), Why being sustainable is not enough: Embracing a net positive impact, Journal of Business Strategy. The table above has been adapted from this article. For a free initial discussion and a free pdf template of the SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MAP (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License), please contact me here.
Why should you use the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY?
The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY is a proven approach to achieve the next level of sustainability management. Even those companies that consider themselves as sustainability pioneers usually do not fully realize the opportunities from sustainability innovation and new business development. With innovative solutions, firms may profit from sustainability and positively contribute to society and the environment. In the medium to long term, the positive effects of GREEN GRASS STRATEGIES will often exceed the short-term efficiency gains of BLUE SKY STRATEGIES. Thus, many companies and executives will have no choice but to embrace the positive sustainability perspective of GREEN GRASS STRATEGY.
To master GREEN GRASS and BLUE SKY STRATEGIES, the SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MAP systematically integrates these 2 complementary strategic directions with the 3 ESG dimensions and 6 supply chain stages. The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY is adaptable to small and large organizations and units from diverse sectors. A step-wise strategy development and implementation process eases its application and the subsequent implementation of important measures. For a free initial discussion about examples of the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY or for a keynote about the topic, please contact me here.
As sustainability and ESG are on top of many firms’ strategic agendas, there is a growing need for specialized trainings, workshops, and keynotes.
Nachhaltigkeit und ESG stehen bei vielen Unternehmen ganz oben auf der Tagesordnung, daher wächst der Bedarf an spezialisierten Schulungen, Workshops und Vorträgen.
ChatGPT und generative KI werden uns nicht überflüssig machen – auch wenn die aktuelle Berichterstattung genau diesen Eindruck erweckt. ChatGPT hat uns allen verdeutlicht, wie schnell sich manche Felder künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) aktuell weiterentwickeln. Auch wenn einige dieser Entwicklungen schon seit Jahren erwartet wurden, ist die Geschwindigkeit vieler Verbesserungen selbst für manche ExpertInnen erstaunlich. Der aktuelle offene Brief des Future of Life Institute, der von über 1.000 Personen unterzeichnet wurde, ist daher grundsätzlich nachvollziehbar. Darin wird insbesondere auf die Risiken von KI hingewiesen und eine sechsmonatige Pause für das Trainieren leistungsfähiger KI-Lösungen gefordert. Eine ausreichende Beachtung der Risiken von KI ist unbedingt erforderlich, auch wenn die aktuelle Berichterstattung dazu oft zu kurz greift. Noch erstaunlicher ist aus betriebswirtschaftlicher Sicht jedoch das Medienecho der letzten Wochen und Monate zu den Auswirkungen von KI auf die Arbeitswelt, das sowohl in klassischen Medien als auch bei Social Media zu beobachten war. Dort wird häufig gefragt, ob wir als Menschen noch schlau genug sind im Vergleich zur KI. Auch wird diskutiert, ob KI künftig die meisten Führungskräfte ersetzen wird. Besonders oft steht also wieder einmal die Frage im Mittelpunkt, wie viele Personen durch KI ihren Job verlieren werden. Diese Frage ist auf den auf den ersten Blick vielleicht nachvollziehbar, weil durch KI-basierte Automatisierung in den nächsten Jahren tatsächlich in nennenswertem Umfang Jobs verloren gehen werden. Insbesondere werden auch solche Büro-Jobs betroffen sein, die bisher noch nicht automatisiert werden konnten. Dadurch sind mit offensiven Schlagzeilen sicherlich hohe Klickzahlen zu erreichen. Außerdem werden auch Arbeitsplätze in der Medienbranche automatisiert werden, wodurch sich die Berichterstattung zusätzlich erklären lässt. Integrierte Intelligenz strategisch oft wichtiger als eigenständige KI Dennoch wird viel zu oft ein einseitiger Schwerpunkt gelegt und damit auch ein falscher Eindruck vermittelt. Der wirklich entscheidende Teil der Entwicklung für die meisten Unternehmen und ebenso für die meisten Arbeitskräfte liegt in der Kombination von KI mit menschlicher Arbeit – und eben gerade nicht in der vollständigen Automatisierung von Jobs durch KI. In den letzten Jahren kamen verschiedenen Studien immer wieder zu ähnlichen Ergebnissen. Der Grundtenor ist dahingehend identisch, dass sich deutlich mehr Jobs verändern werden als komplett wegzufallen (vor allem, wenn die Zahl der Arbeitsplätze berücksichtigt wird, die durch KI zusätzlich entstehen). Diese Kombination von menschlicher mit künstlicher Intelligenz wird auch als integrierte Intelligenz bezeichnet.
Despite the massive attention to sustainability and ESG, many firms still underestimate the opportunities for innovation beyond reducing CO2 emissions.
Generation Z – and what is next? Many of today’s students are ‘sustainable natives’ and expect companies to make a positive contribution to solving ecological and social problems. In an international survey of more than 27,000 people, GlobeScan found in 2020 that for 60% of younger participants, climate change and social inequality are top priorities, combined with the expectation that companies should contribute to solving these challenges. Very importantly, the young generation expects positainability , i.e. making a positive contribution and not just reducing negative effects of doing business, for example by reducing CO2 emissions. To implement this positive sustainability approach, companies would need to pursue a GREEN GRASS STRATEGY . So far, however, many companies are hardly prepared for the future changes due to the ideas of those persons that will be starting their careers in the next few years. In fact, this new generation of ‘sustainable natives’ presents new challenges and opportunities for companies (as I have explained in more detail in a recent article in the Haufe Personalmagazin ). In particular, the following typical perspectives of this ‘Generation PI’ – Positive Impact – have to be considered. 1. Sustainable natives Many current students are ‘sustainable natives’ because they perceive sustainability as a core topic since their early youth. In contrast to the extensive public discussions about ‘digital natives’, the role of ‘sustainable natives’ has been mostly ignored so far. 2. Doubtful prospects Typical for ‘Generation PI’ are doubts whether their future standard of living will remain as good as their current situation and as the life of their parents, especially due to climate change. 3. Expected limitations Many current students expect restrictions on possible behaviors to enable a more sustainable economy and society in the future, for instance bans or massively increasing prices for air travel or the consumption of less sustainable food. 4. Positive contribution Beyond the goal of no-net-loss, ‘Generation PI’ is ready to make a positive contribution in terms of a net-positive-impact. Here, companies need to focus on major innovations rather than limiting themselves to reducing CO2 emissions in established processes.
Positainability – or positive sustainability – refers to the combination of doing good and avoiding bad to arrive at innovative solutions.
On May 28, 2022, Liverpool FC with the manager Juergen Klopp have the chance to win another Champions League title after beating Chelsea to win the FA Cup 2022.
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