Sustainability: the Key to Future Business Prosperity - Part I

Are you a retailer and wonder where the industry will be in 15 years, 20 years, or beyond?

Regardless of industry, most of us wonder what the world will be like given our current environment. Will there be drought, floods, and/or limited energy supplies? While it is easy to ask questions about the future, it is very hard to prepare for uncertainty.

In looking ahead the Retail Industry Leaders Association “RILA” (pronounced REEL-ah) launched “The Retail Horizons Program” to help retailers and product manufacturers prepare for tomorrow by driving sustainable change within their organizations through a three-pronged approach.

The three prongs are

  1. Recognizing current trends that point to change,
  2. Planning for different future scenarios, and
  3. Using tools provided by RILA for additional support.

The program was rolled out at the end of September in conjunction with RILA’s sustainability conference in Minneapolis.

As an added bonus, being in the retail industry is not essential to reaping the perks of this program. Anyone in a product driven organization will benefit from using the second prong, future scenarios, in practicing forward thinking.

The common theme that unifies the Retail Horizons program is sustainability. At Strategic Sustainability Consulting we couldn't agree more that sustainability is the key to businesses staying strong. Implementing sustainability practices now, arm businesses with the shield they need to protect against a potential unstable future whether it is a weak economy, sparse resources, and/or environmental instability.

Additionally, RILA is not only looking out for a business’s future stability, but their financial stability as well. There is a free downloadable toolkit to help retailers plan for the years ahead, and it can also be applied to other product-driven organizations. To download the toolkit, go to: http://www.rila.org/sustainability/future/Pages/default.aspx

Stay tuned for Sustainability: the Key to Future Busniess Prosperity - Part II: Current Trends as Future Indicators next week! 

Be sure to check out our 2013 blog entry that focused on RILA's Retail Sustainability Report here.