“Sustainability is the Moneyball of the global economy[i].”  Moneyball, the successful baseball business strategy employed by the Oakland Athletics and General Manager Billy Beane, is a statistics based approach to operations that promotes cost effectiveness, efficiency and, ultimately, results.

Now business gurus are tapping sustainable strategies as the new Moneyball for firms across industries.  The statistics back up this new method, as companies like Apple and Google are performing better than ever while utilizing some key aspects of sustainable business strategies like productive employee programs, environmental awareness and corporate governance.

Rethinking how businesses conduct themselves and how they interact with their stakeholders are two important parts of sustainable business strategies.  Conducting business in a sustainable and consistent fashion by acting proactively, being transparent and quickly disseminating information to the appropriate groups creates lasting credibility for the firm.  This credibility draws in new customers from positive word-of-mouth marketing and, critically, it promotes repeat customers, the lifeblood of most businesses.

The concept of a stakeholder interaction is the other important aspect to understand.  In this sense, the term stakeholder encompasses everyone that is affected by yourbusiness decisions.  This includes shareholders, employees, management, customers, partners, vendors, communities,etc.  By accounting for all of these groups, a firm can reach a wider audience and have its messages be more effective than when the focus is concentrated on the traditional shareholder.  Furthermore, by recognizing and focusing on the benefits the firm gives to each group, a company can create a blueprint for strategies that last.

Sustainable business strategies are not a fad that will come and go and are definitely not new.  Since the start of the industrial revolution, when independent businesses became the driver of economic growth, the companies that have innovated and incorporated sustainable business strategies into their operations have been the ones that lasted.  With more and more people on the planet and the increasing scarcity of key resources, sustainable business strategies will only grow in importance and continue to live up to their Moneyball status.

[i] Roston, Eric, “Sustainability is the Moneyball of the global economy[i].”  Bloomberg, 2/6/12.  Retreived via http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/sustainability-is-the-moneyball-of-the-global-economy.html