Sustainability reimagined: Unleashing the full potential of sustainability

Purpose reimagined: Thinking beyond the customer to build a credible purpose

In today’s fractured political environment, stakeholder trust is both more fragile and more vital than ever. The companies best positioned to navigate uncertainty are those grounded in a clear, credible purpose.

However, purpose must extend beyond marketing narratives; it must be operationalised. The firms poised for sustainable success are those that look beyond simplistic customer-centricity and fulfilling any latent need that might constitute a promising business opportunity. Rather, truly purpose-driven companies move above and beyond a narrow-minded customer perspective and adopt bigger picture thinking. They see and take on a global and systemic perspective. The critical question becomes: What role does the company play in addressing societal challenges that intersect with its business model? How does it create shared value across its broader stakeholder ecosystem?

Aligning corporate purpose with systemic challenges – such as climate resilience, resource efficiency, or social inclusion – can unlock significant commercial opportunities. Companies that credibly position themselves as enablers of sustainable solutions are likely to capture new market segments, attract values-driven talent, and justify long-term investments even in regions where policy frameworks are in flux. In short, they are riding the long-term trend.

This dynamic is particularly evident in consumer sectors, where firms are redefining their role not simply as product providers, but as facilitators of sustainable lifestyles. This strategic reframing informs decisions across sourcing, design, partnerships, and logistics, transforming sustainability from a perceived cost centre into a dynamic platform for growth and differentiation.

Business models reimagined: Designing sustainable business models for a new market reality

In an era where regulatory momentum is uneven, the impetus for change increasingly resides within corporate strategy itself. This places a premium on rethinking how value is generated and sustained over time.

Many legacy business models remain entrenched in linear value chain processes and business model designs – extract, produce, sell, discard. This approach is becoming economically untenable as resource constraints, supply chain volatility, and shifting consumer expectations converge. Business models based on circularity, regeneration, and decoupling growth from resource usage are moving from the periphery to the mainstream.

Companies blazing the trail with service-oriented models, product life extension strategies, and closed-loop thinking are finding not only environmental benefits but also tangible economic gains. These models can buffer firms from commodity price volatility, reduce exposure to tightening (or returning) regulatory requirements, and open new revenue streams. Importantly, adopting such models positions companies to be more agile in responding to policy shifts, competitive dynamics, and consumer demand.

Ecosystems reimagined: Winning through collaborative advantages and partnerships

One lesson is clear in this era of ambiguity: no firm can achieve meaningful sustainability outcomes in isolation. Competitive advantage is increasingly contingent on an organisation’s ability to orchestrate collaborative ecosystems. This requires moving collaboration upstream, involving suppliers, customers, competitors, and regulators early in problem-solving processes.

To make ecosystems work, companies must shift from controlling every aspect of their value chain to orchestrating partnerships where knowledge, data, and resources are shared. This involves setting joint targets, defining common metrics, and co-investing in solutions that benefit all stakeholders. Practical steps include forming cross-sector alliances, piloting shared projects, and creating open standards in areas where regulation lags behind.

Internally, companies need teams that are skilled at managing collaborative projects, not just procurement or sales. This means building capabilities in ecosystem mapping, governance design, and trust-building. It also requires leadership to signal that long-term system value takes precedence over short-term competitive wins.

Turning purpose into progress

Embedding sustainability at the heart of leadership decision-making and business strategy calls for organisational reimagination. It is no longer sufficient for sustainability to reside in a discrete department; it must become a lens through which strategic decisions are designed and evaluated.

One emerging catalyst is the double materiality assessment framework introduced under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). While debates continue in Brussels over the pace and scope of such regulations and some companies have treated the framework as a cumbersome compliance exercise, leading companies are advancing their internal assessments irrespective of external mandates. The rationale is clear: robust materiality analysis not only illuminates where stakeholder expectations intersect with business priorities but also enhances internal alignment, strategic clarity, and operational focus.

Executing on this vision requires targeted capability building. Finance teams must become adept at integrating sustainability considerations into financial planning and risk management. Supply chain functions need transparency tools to track and manage environmental and social impacts. Innovation units must incorporate holistic lifecycle thinking from product and service conception. Perhaps most critically, executive leadership must foster cross-functional integration, ensuring that sustainability is not a siloed initiative but a shared enterprise-wide imperative.

As certain regulatory initiatives face rollback pressures, there is a temptation for businesses to interpret this as a reprieve from action. Such a stance overlooks the fundamental forces reshaping markets – climate impacts, generational shifts in consumer expectations, supply chain vulnerabilities. These dynamics are not contingent on legislative cycles; they are structural realities already influencing business performance.

The question confronting today’s business leaders is no longer whether sustainability should be part of strategy. It is whether their strategy is resilient enough to sustain value creation in a world defined by rapid change, mounting environmental and social challenges, and evolving stakeholder demands.

Six questions for senior leaders

1. How might we reimagine our corporate purpose, so it credibly addresses societal and global challenges while securing long-term business relevance and growth?
2. How might we reframe how we define and measure value to ensure environmental and social performance alongside financial performance are treated as core drivers of long-term success and prosperity?
3. How might we redesign our business models to move from linear, resource-intensive operations to circular and regenerative systems that future-proof profitability?
4. How might we rewire our decision-making processes to consistently account for long-term impacts, even when short-term financial pressures dominate?
5. How might we build ecosystems of partners beyond our immediate value chain to create collaborative advantage in solving systemic challenges and building resilience?
6. How might we reconfigure our organisational structures, capabilities, and incentives to embed sustainability into every layer of the business?