Dear Shami,

Possible reasons for corporate sustainability initiatives failure in achieving stated goals and objectives should be internal or external to each company. Particularly, internal factors of failure should be the overestimation of setting goals in short-term (operational level), medium-term (innovative level), or long-term (strategic level) of planning. These factors are also positioned in line to the methods of production (such as following benchmarking and outsourcing choices, or not), advertising, and manufacturing. In parallel, external factors of failure -that are strongly associated with the aforementioned internal factors- should be the liquefied economic environment -that accelerates economic recession- the competitive market, the potential merging of affiliated companies, the quick adaptation -or not- to innovative methods of production, the governmental protection or not, and the local acceptability -that reinforces the local participation to each entrepreneurial scheme.

Dear @Shami, I am attaching fine reading "Strategy deployment through portfolio management - A risk-based approach" .Ten key steps to strengthening risk culture are given to overcome the reasons for failure!

I would say that is largely because many sustainable initiatives are simply great marketing moves.

Dear Alexandre, This is one of the major reason....I could not agree more with you. But I also see that initiatives are stand alone processes and they are not embed into organizational daily processes...Hence creating another silo within an organization, with different objectives and goals then the rest of the organization.... Any thoughts?

It will be clear from my comments that I believe sustainability must be part of every organization's "DNA."

I think that one significant reason is when upper management view sustainability as a cost rather than an investment. For example, raising livestock in a high-density facility often results in introducing harmful substances such as nitrates, antibiotics, and pathogens into the water system. Let us assume (I say assume because I do not know) that current regulations allow Q Corp's current levels of toxic runoff. If Q's upper management views the cost of reducing the amount of toxins produced by their operation as cost with no benefit other than some positive public relations, this initiative will likely never happen unless forced by the government or legal action.

However, if upper management was more mindful, i.e. employing systems thinking, they could connect this investment in pollution reduction to increased profits (sustainability would be an unintended consequence). This action could prevent future lawsuits related to sickness and deaths caused by introducing pathogens into the drinking water supply. Also, new regulations may require Q Corp to clean up their past mess as well as reducing the level of toxins dumped into the water system. Perhaps, overemphasis on short-term results is one reason that sustainability efforts are only viewed as a cost.

One area in which I am more familiar is introducing mindfulness meditation and mindfulness activities into the workplace. Management does not even have to care about their employees to see the benefits that have accrued to organizations who have a mindfulness initiative such as Google (http://theweek.com/article/index/259351/the-mainstreaming-of-mindfulness-meditation#axzz34Sr2lGiR). Research has shown that mindfulness meditation reduces stress, increases focus, and enables one to be more aware of your immediate environment (including your behavior and the behavior of others). It does not take much thought to connect the dots from mindfulness to profits:

1) Reducing employee stress reduces stress-related illnesses. The result is lower absenteeism and lower health care costs for treating these illnesses.

2) Increasing focus allows employees to work closer to their peak ability more often: being more productive and finding better solutions to problems.

3) Increasing awareness of your behavior and the behavior of others will make one a better team member, which increases the likelihood that teams will work effectively.

Even if not motivated by enhancing the triple bottom line, visionary leaders can link sustainability efforts to increased profits. They can then sell the idea to a wide audience by appealing to stakeholders who are profit motivated as well as those who take a broader view of what it means to be a good corporate citizen.

Dear Quazi, I am also interested in this topic, do you have some statistical evidence that can show us the failure of companies in achieving their sustainability initiatives? It would be very helpful. Thanks

Thank you Mr. Kyriakopoulos, Mr. Jacic, Mr. Beluco, Mr. Newmark, and Mr. Simha for your wonderful insight and beautiful responses. Mr. Smith, you are right when you say that many companies are successful in achieving stated goals and objectives, but the reason for this question is very simple i.e. to learn from the failures of others. We would welcome if you could share the success stories and what they did differently from the one who failed.

Regards