by Rebecca Walker — April 5, 2010—A recent survey of nearly 2,000 executives, conducted by McKinsey Global, finds a number of common obstacles, and common keys to success, for companies working on environmental issues.
The majority of respondents called sustainability “very” or “extremely” important for a number of business operations — including developing new products, opening new business opportunities, and building corporate reputations — but only 27 percent of companies said their CEOs or other c-suite executives are in charge of the day-to-day sustainability operations of the company.
The survey found that companies can be considered very engaged with sustainability when their CEOs consider it a “top-three priority” in their agendas. However, only 6 percent of the respondents said their company has put sustainability in the top three priorities for their CEOs.
In fact, 11 percent of the executives responding to the survey say that no one is responsible for coordinating daily sustainability activities at their companies.
The full report is available online.
