Going beyond compliance - competitive advantage from sustainability
Samantha Heath , CEO, London Sustainability Exchange
- The economic downturn has left its mark on businesses of all sizes, but here Samantha explains how growing more sustainable offers particularly SMEs a real chance at beating the recession.

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Going beyond compliance - competitive advantage from sustainability
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The Editor - The Editor, Editor, Knowledge Peers

30 May 2012

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Key points

Sustainability is about preserving resources and living conditions for future generations, whilst equally encouraging a more sensible and healthy lifestyle among current generations of customers and employees.
SMEs are huge drivers of sustainability, being more innovative and entrepreneurial than large corporates. Becoming sustainable can give you a real competitive advantage, whilst providing your customers with products they can "feel good about buying".
Sustainabilty has become increasingly important in the construction sector, but standards are needed to level the playing field as bigger contractors could price out SMEs in a bid to deliver the most sustainable developments.
This level playing field will help contractors in the same way that regulating Health and Safety did before. Reporting according to an industry standard not only saves costs, but also offers a clear way of benchmarking your performance against that of your competitors.
To gain a competitive edge, merely complying with standards is not enough. High profile projects such as the Olympics challenge whole industries to go beyond compliance, while local communities proactively develop relationships to assist businesses in achieving the standards and to help entrepreneurs in going the extra mile.

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