An Introduction to the SIGMA Project: Sustainability in Practice

摘要

In many industries, basic marketplace conditions are changing in response to the availability of information about corporations, awareness and interest in this knowledge and action resulting from it. One aspect of this trend is that consumers, customers, and investors want to know what companies with whom they do business are doing to address environmental issues and develop a sustainable business. In addition to traditional business factors related to environmental performance, such as risk and pollution-related costs, new issues such as customer expectations, corporate image, emerging market opportunities, competitiveness concerns, and ultimately shareholder value are driving companies to rethink their business practices. Responding to evolving business needs, the Sigma Project aims to assist an organization in developing a systematic framework to integrate social, economic, and environmental issues. The Sigma Guidelines provide: 1) a set of principles that help an organization understand and navigate the parameters of sustainability; 2) a management framework that integrates sustainability issues into core processes and mainstream decision-making; and; 3) a series of tools and approaches which organizations can use to implement effective strategies, initiate culture change, promote learning, set objectives and then achieve goals. A growing number of corporations are recognizing the importance of the concept of sustainable development and realize the need and benefit of taking actions. These organizations are experiencing a paradigm shift in culture and organizational thinking. A broader perspective on how to manage economic, environmental, and social performances must be developed not just by environmental specialists but by an organization itself and be integrated in its core business management and operations. The Sigma Project is a business driven initiative to make a paradigm shift happen and to move businesses toward sustainable development.