In a Tough Market, Knowing is More than Half the Battle

IMC2 issued a white paper this week regarding the State of Sustainability Communications. The study looked at how well S&P 100 companies are communicating their sustainability efforts. Here's what they found:

Leading Players: The automotive, forestry, chemicals and pharmaceutical industries are currently setting the standard for sustainability communication.

Emerging Players: The mining/energy, transportation/shipping, technology, communications and consumer product/retail industries are making progress, yet still have significant opportunity to improve.

Lagging Players: The financial services and media/entertainment are lagging players. Their sustainability communications have the most opportunity for growth.

God news or bad? Well, I see "opportunity to improve" and "opportunity for growth" as "opportunities for eager MBAs looking for a job in a tough market."

Whether you're looking for a job in CSR or not, the emerging and lagging players are going to have to play catch-up, and every top decision maker in these companies will need to understand what is at stake when it comes to effectively communicating sustainability efforts.  Are you prepared to speak on this at your next interview with Nestle? 

We're hoping that our weekly installments of "This Week in Numbers" has helped you stay on top of some of the important industry trends and current events. If you would like us to follow a certain company or industry more closely in our weekly briefings, please let us know and we'd be happy to do our best to help you stay informed.