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Antony Upward, MES, CMC* antony@EdwardJames.biz @aupward #SSBMGssBusinessModelTV

* Masters of Environmental Studies in Business Model Design and Sustainability; Certified Management Consultant

Designing Strongly Sustainable Business

The Role of Better Tools to Design Better Business

November 20, 2013

Lots of Lots of speaker notes,

speaker notes, inc. referencesinc. references

Builds on many slides Builds on many slides

download and view download and view

in slide show mode in slide show mode

for improved for improved

comprehensioncomprehension

2

Why are we here? What’s the

meaning of all this?

What is Sustainability?

“Sustainability”

… and how will you measure your

“sustainability”?

… and who will benefit, for how long and at what

cost?

So tell me… what is it exactlyexactly

you want to sustain?

Don’t forget nature is alwaysalways changing… it isn’t

static

…and what we value is alwaysalways changing… that

isn’t static either!

Oh heck. I thought this sustainability stuff was going to be simple. I think

I’ll take a nap…zzzzz

No idea… but I want us to keep going for a

long time… just like we are now… what’s a word

for that?

3

What’s What’s Your Your

ResponseResponse

What do you want to sustain?

• For whom? • For how long? • How much will it cost? (p.26)

?

4

What do you want to sustain?

• For whom? • For how long? • How much will it cost? (p.26)

Our Current Our Current Collective Collective ResponseResponse

Sustain maximum wealth creation (means)…so we can afford the public good (ends)

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What do you want to sustain?

• For whom? • For how long? • How much will it cost? (p.26)

“The possibility that human and other life will flourish on this planet forever.” (p.6)

So we’re on the same page...

NotNot trying to convince you!

My Personal My Personal ResponseResponse

6

Goals Need Strategies…

…so Strategies are designed!

Design is the process of “changing existing conditions into preferred ones” – Herbert A. Simon, 1969

“Business people don’t just need to understand designers better.

They need to bebe designers” – Roger Martin, 2006

7

Design brief for business…

…its been a huge success!(although clearly far from perfect and there are alternatives)

“There is one and only one social responsibility of business – to increase

its profits within the rules of the game” – Milton

Friedman, 1962

generate the wealth to do good …

8

…The unintended consequences #1• Put Billions of Kg of toxic materials into the

air, water and soil every year• Produce materials so dangerous as to

require constant vigilance by future generations

• Place gigantic amounts of waste, irretrievably in holes all over the planet

• Slowly poison people and ecosystems, limited only by thousands of complex regulations

• Create economic prosperity by reducing the number of people with valued work

• Create prosperity by digging up or cutting down natural resources then burying or burning them

• Erode the diversity of species and cultural practices with unknown consequences

McDonough & Braungart, 2002 p.18

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“The earth is full”….and there is no planet BPaul Guilding

…Evidence of the consequences

Human Development

vs. Ecological

Footprint

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…The unintended consequences #2

60% of firms in the manufacturing and service sectors in 6 of the larger OECD countries ceasecease to exist within 7 years of founding (p.14, Figure VIII.5)

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Design Briefs for Better Business

Confidence not uncertainty and distrustReduces speed of bio-diversity loss

Happiness not fearDigs up and cut down less

Enduring and resilient, not failing unexpectedly

Don’t explicitly consider human flourishing

Positively contributes, not does less damageIncreases number, complexity and stringency of regulation

Flourishing by being not languishing by havingProduces smaller amounts of useless / irretrievable waste

Everyone and everything forever not just me now

Produces less while living in fear

Environmental, Social and Economic abundance not limits

Releases less toxic materials while ignoring long term impacts

Creates possibilities for…Financially profitable and…

“Flourishing” “Strong Sustainable” “Eco-effectiveness”

“CSR” “Weak Sustainability”

“Eco-efficiency”A B

Adapted from McDonough & Braungart, Cradle to Cradle 2002

12

But…How do you design a business?

13

and…What is a business design?

• Business Plan• Strategy• Vision• Mission• Business Model• Value Statement• Simulation• Prototype

14

Previous Best Practice• Have Idea+ Get Money+ Hard Work+ Hope + Luck

Not…• Efficient• Effective• Reliable

15

A N

ew B

est P

racti

ce…

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Lots about money, and the people you financially

transact with…

…(almost) nothing about everyone and everything else

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…And So a Quest For a Better Tool Begins

http://hdl.handle.net/10315/20777

…and reaches a major milestone

2010

20122013

We need a better tool to design better businesses

18 © Antony Upward / Edward James Consulting Ltd., 2013 Some rights reserved. Permissions available at www.EdwardJames.biz/Permissions

Introducing…The Strongly Sustainable Business Model Canvas

V1.031

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Help bring Sustainable Business Innovation to the World!

Become a “First Explorer”– Enables commercial use of the new Canvas now

12 organizations around the globe have joined so far

Join the quest– Crowd-funded collaborative book project

Working Title: Strongly Sustainable Business Model Innovation– 13 International co-authors identified– Crowd-funding starting in 2014

Individuals and OrganizationsBackers also get immediate commercial rights to use new CanvasEveryone else will have to wait for the book

– Self Publish 2015Canvas released under a Creative Commons License free for

commercial use

Connect to like-minded colleagues– Linkedin and Facebook

100+ Members from around the globe

20

Be Informed: http://signup.SSBMG.comShare your ideas for the book: http://survey.SSBMG.com

www.facebook.com/StronglySustainableBusinessModels @aupward

#SSBMGStrongly Sustainable Business Model Group

forum.SSBMG.com

info@SSBMG.com

www.SSBMG.com

Learn More– ~3 minute Audio/Visual Overview

about.SSBMG.com• Videos

– youTube.com/ssBusinessModelTV• Learning Map

– wiki.SSBMG.com/home/learning-map• Blogs

– blog.SSBMG.com – slab.ocad.ca/blogs/antony-upward

21

Learn more: http://www.naturalstep.ca/gold-standard

Join a Key Related Project

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Possible Table of Contents

23

Copyright

• All images used under applicable creative commons licences – see notes on each page

© Antony Upward / Edward James Consulting Ltd., 2013. Some rights reserved. – Permissions available at www.EdwardJames.biz

/Permissions – This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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