Sustainability Footprints in SMEs: Strategy and Case Studies for Entrepreneurs and Small Business

5Sustainable Strategic Growth Model: A Solution to the Sustainability/CSR Dilemma

5.1 Introduction

To aid business in developing and measuring sustainability objectives that are pertinent to their specific organizational context and to define the relevance of philosophical, cultural, and strategic challenges on an organization’s transition to becoming a sustainably managed enterprise (SME) led to the creation of the Sustainable Strategic Growth Model, which is based on the following principles:

• Do no harm [1], and engage and listen to all stakeholders [2].
• There are no barriers or limits [3] to sustainable growth, only challenges [4].
• Sustainability is an ever changing goal [5].
• There is no “silver bullet”—sustainability strategy is ever evolving to meet society’s present and future expectations [1, 6].
• Sustainability is measurable—use both sustainability footprints [7] and traditional financial indicators to benchmark sustainable growth and performance [8].

Using these principles, a practical model for sustainability strategy development to improve business performance will be demonstrated by reference to four United Kingdom-based organizations:

• Capital Cooling Ltd.
• The Log House People
• Moffat Golf Club
• Rabbie’s Trail Burners

Figure 5.1 is a diagrammatic illustration of the Sustainable Strategic Growth Model that describes the possibilities of the application of technology, research, and development to develop products and services that increase resource efficiency and improve carbon productivity ...