This text is part of the special Business Challenges booklet
In Canada, SMEs create the majority of new jobs in the private sector, but they have a major environmental impact, estimated more than 60% of industrial pollution, according to the Organization of economic cooperation and development. The transition to more sustainable business models is therefore necessary to limit the impacts and deal with the consequences of climate change..
What do the circular economy company Loop Mission and the Ekinox physiotherapy clinic have in common? They are both committed to the path of sustainability. Reducing the waste of waste is the very raison d’être of the first, while the second has changed its practices to become the first carbon-neutral physiotherapy clinic in Quebec.
Socially, Quebec SMEs are more advanced than a few years ago, according to an analysis by François Labelle, professor at the School of Management of the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, carried out between December 2019 and February 2020. However, he notes a delay with regard to environmental practices, in particular those that are part of a logic of circular economy. “Without a reduction in their negative externalities, the targets to be met to limit climate change cannot be achieved,” reads the report. Portrait of the commitment of Quebec SMEs to sustainable development.
Building a strong ecosystem
Despite awareness, this gap can be explained by the fact that SMEs generally have fewer resources and pressure mechanisms than large companies to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. “It is essential to build a strong ecosystem around them to support them in this shift,” says Luciano Barin Cruz, full professor in the Department of Management at HEC Montréal. Alone, they would be helpless. »
In other words, it is important that universities provide training on these issues and that governments create incentives to encourage companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, for example. The support of private and public organizations is also essential.
“SMEs remain the critical mass of stakeholders in the workplace, and that’s where we have the quickest access to leadership,” says Maxime Desjardins, founder of the Atelier.ad agency, which supports businesses in definition of a sustainable business model. After determining their raison d’être and reviewing the organizational culture, we help them manage a business model that integrates the social and environmental dimensions. »
Maxime Desjardins and his team have also developed tools to facilitate the process. They worked with sustainable innovation specialist Alexandre Joyce, who created a business model concept at three levels: environmental, social and economic. “It helps to map a sustainable model by exploring the different possible scenarios to get there. It’s very intuitive,” says Desjardins.
Ask the right questions
To move towards more sustainable development, companies can modify concrete aspects of their activities. “This can go through the energy consumed, the products purchased for packaging or their own products or the way in which they will manage the waste from their production chain”, illustrates Luciano Barin Cruz.
For the professor, who heads the IDEOS Social Impact Management Unit, companies also benefit from adopting the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) by asking themselves how they can better integrate historically marginalized groups, for example. “In Quebec, immigrants represent a large proportion of the population,” he says. How to better attract them, hire them while ignoring biases, ensure their progression in the structure? »
These issues require extensive communication with employees to create buy-in. They need to understand precisely how their work will be affected and why organizational changes are important in the long term.
Ideally, three main motivations underlie the action, according to Mr. Barin Cruz. “There is the strategic argument, but you also have to assess the risk — that is to say the costs generated if we do nothing — and finally, there is the moral motivation: it is the right thing to do in a global context of socio-ecological transition,” he explains.
A deep transformation
For Maxime Desjardins, an internal structure is necessary in order to implement a sustainable business model, with a person in charge of social responsibility or the creation of specific positions.
“We can’t change the world if we don’t have a concrete plan to materialize our vision,” he concludes. Indeed, unlike companies that practice greenwashing, or greenwashingthe transformation must be motivated, profound and thoughtful.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.