The downturn affected everything, not least sustainability. As a result, organizations are now revisiting what it means to be sustainable and embracing the business benefits.
The global recession had many impacts, one of which was that sustainability slipped way down the news agenda. As illustration, in the thick of the downturn last year, the BBC’s environment correspondent Richard Black despairingly noted in his blog that 4,000 journalists had attended the UN World Summit in 2005, while in 2009: “hardly a news reporter came” to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development’s (CSD) annual meeting, “and hardly a news report emerged. “He added: “In one sense, this is incredible. The CSD’s agenda is humanity’s future; so in the minds of news editors the world over, this is not a story?”
This begs the question, is sustainability no longer ‘a story’ for businesses, when the priority has become pulling out of the downturn?
In fact there is evidence to show that, on the contrary, sustainability is seen as an antidote to the downturn by leading businesses; and that organizations are using “green” and “socially responsible” activities as levers for economic recovery.
Embedded in this idea is a new post-recessionary way of seeing sustainability. A key trend is that organizations are increasingly moving away from saving the planet, and focusing instead on the bottom line benefits. As researchers Aberdeen Group puts it:
“Far from being a philanthropic ‘nice to have’, top performing organizations view sustainability as a ‘must have’ strategy for long term business viability and success. Sustainability brings together strategies to ensure optimal performance related to the business, the environment, and society.”
Reuters’ Environment Forum echoes the same sentiment. Its April 2010 number one of the ‘Top 10 trends in sustainable business’ is: “A deeper understanding of what sustainability means”. It adds:
“…we are quickly moving away from a ‘sustainability is all about saving the world but not about business’ mentality into the ‘using sustainability to strengthen my business while also having a positive impact on society’ one.”
How then does sustainability strengthen a business and aid recovery? To begin with, a clue lies in the name itself. Any organization that is perceived as “unsustainable” won’t be around for very long. Conversely, sustainability by its very nature encourages organizations to focus on long term goals and strategy which is a better foundation for organizational success than constantly fighting the fires at your elbow.
If you want to enhance the business or product reputation in the market then the best medium and easiest way is ISO 9001. But gaining 9001 is not as simple as we think. For gaining this a business must have to clear all the requirements of the ISO 9001. The ISO 9001:2008 standard requires the implementation of a documented quality management system to facilitate enhanced performance and efficiency.
Any size organization can registered itself under ISO 9001. Some of you might be implementing ISO 9001 in small companies and some might be implementing it in much larger companies, but, in all cases, the principal mode of implementation is identical. In other words, the application of ISO 9001 is scalable and generic. Size of the business does not matter. The most important goal is to accomplish a set of regular processes that provide a route for enhancing customer satisfaction and to provide the necessary data for meaningful continuous improvement activities.
According to ISO 9001:2008 A organisation go through with the 6 documented procedures, however, rest of the documentation may be required by an organisation in order to deal with the processes that are essential for the successful operation of the Quality management standard (QMS). In addition to the minimum document requirements the standard defines twenty one specific requirements for records.
Other documents to demonstrate conformity like process descriptions, process flow charts, specifications, work instructions, organization charts, approved supplier lists and inspection plans are several requirements of ISO 9001:2008 where value can be added to a quality management system by the preparation.
The documentation required in a system to achieve ISO 9001 certification is no longer as onerous as prior to 2000 and the value of ISO 9001 certification for an organisation has never been higher. Certification sends a clear message to all interested parties that an organization is committed to high standards and continual improvement.
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