The line between companies and individuals is not always clear. Individuals - who are also leaders and employees - have the potential to influence companies and vice versa. When business and society face different challenges, it is easy to point the finger at each other and speculate on which actor should take the greatest responsibility, but if the line between actors is not clear, whose responsibility is it?

The goal of this game is to achieve sustainable development and the game is timed. Each player is assigned a different role with different interests and motivations. Players face different social, environmental and economic challenges and have to negotiate with each other to move forward in the game. There is no single winner as the interests of all players must be balanced to achieve the goal of sustainable development.

The game is in full swing and we will now take a look at what has happened so far:

Politicians decided to introduce a law requiring large companies to produce a sustainability report. The large companies accepted the law and started reporting. A natural consequence of the reporting requirement was to ensure sustainability at all levels by making demands on the smaller companies in the supply chain.

Here the players encountered an obstacle. Most had been assigned the role of small businesses with scarce resources and shared the view that sustainability work is complex and time-consuming. One player expressed "Does it matter what we as small business owners do when you as a single giant have the biggest impact?". The response was "As a large company, I only represent 1% of all companies in the market, but together you have at least as much impact". The players agreed that everyone must do their bit, but the questions that remained were how and to what extent small businesses can be expected to contribute.

Smaller companies with scarce resources shared the view that sustainability work is complex and time-consuming.

Small businesses feel that sustainability work requires a lot of resources

Readers may begin to suspect that the discussions that occur in the game are also happening in real life, and this is absolutely correct. Small businesses feel that sustainability work requires a lot of resources and there is a lack of tools adapted for them. Many are also afraid of expressing themselves incorrectly and may therefore choose to avoid sustainability work altogether. This is a perception that we need to challenge. Small and medium-sized enterprises make up 99 percent of Sweden's businesses and it is more important that they get started with sustainability work than that they do everything by the book.

Companies need to start from their current situation and set reasonable targets to progressively broaden their engagement. They should identify some sustainability issues that are relevant to their industry and geographic location, and then prioritize their efforts within these issues. It is also wise to involve employees so that everyone understands their important role and can take the lessons learned into their personal lives.

With kind regards,
Therese Svensk

PURE ACT, winner of the Quality Innovation Award in Sweden 2019, works to enable sustainability work for all Swedish companies through a digital 5-step process.