SustainabilityHQ Highlights | Are Consumer Companies Serious About What They Say in Their Sustainability Reports? (September 24, 2015)

Forbes’ contributor Christopher Meyer seeks to ask and answer this question in our Top Story selection this week. He explores the actions and statements about responsibility to society that leading consumer marketers make. Is the commitment and action “for real,” or part of the effort to differentiate [a company] from its consumer market peers via smart PR?

For his examples the author looks at such enterprises as Luxottica (glasses), its peer Warby Parker; Toms (footwear), and Eileen Fisher (clothing).  Some of the perspectives offered are harsh – Warby Parker has made a “structural commitment to social benefit, while Luxottica pursues practices that shift consumer surplus to investors, an unsustainable form of capitalism.” Some are praiseworthy:  Eileen Fisher claims “We don’t want sustainability to be our edge…we want it to be universal…” Where this is relevant:  “As customers, we want to understand companies’ motivations because we think it will help us to identify those who are genuinely trying to be part of the solution,” notes the writer.

The Forbes contributor is focused in this commentary on some well-known domestic and global consumer marketers, and explores what might motivate a potential buyer to look more closely at the culture, commitments, statements and achievements of companies who want their business (to purchase clothing, glasses, apparel, foods such as Whole Foods, furniture at IKEA, and so on).

This is an important development in consumer marketing. Moving up the value chain, we at G&A Institute monitor the large consumer marketers and their sustainability journeys. We've been assisting clients to sell more products and services to these larger customers by strategically aligning, executing and communicating effectively about their (the supplier) sustainability & responsibility programs.  

This is just a sample of some of the articles from this weeks SustainabilityHQ Highlights.  You can view the full Highlights by using the following links. Sustainability | ESG, Highlights for the Week of September 24, 2015