10 simple steps to integrate SDGs in Business Model like a professional
Integrating 17SDGs in your business model exposes you to more opportunities to create value and impact for the people and planet. These structured 10 steps exercise will help you to assess your business model and integrate 17SDGs in it.
I strongly believe every individual in the business world should work around the 17SDGs. The SDGs are regarded as the world’s best plan to end poverty, reduce inequalities, and tackle climate change. So the business you embark into should focus on the people and the planet. By following the structured 10 simple steps you will be able to integrate 17SDGs in your business model.
Integrating SDGs in your business model will not only full fill your responsibility as a global citizen but also it would open up opportunities for your business and attract impact investment.
Times are gone when business was all about maximizing the wealth for the shareholders. Now it’s all about maximizing impact and profit becomes an obvious outcome in that journey.
The elaboration of 17SDGs is purposefully quite generic with specific 169 targets altogether. The primary principle behind the SDGs is regarded as “no one is left behind”. I believe based on this principle every business must look at its relevance regarding the SDGs in two ways:
1) Direct relevance:
Business is about maximizing values by bringing solution(s) which solves the problem(s) for the people. When you establish the immediate connection of the solution that your business is offering with any of the 17SDGs, that’s where you will find the direct relevance of your business with the SDGs.
2) Indirect relevance:
Every business operates within an ecosystem. Let's consider as an example that you have a business that is operating in the legal domain of the business ecosystem. Your customers, the value providers, the shareholders, the investors, the developers, etc are all part of that ecosystem.
Your business solution is not only touching upon the upstream of the ecosystem i.e your target customers. Also, your business is largely touching upon the downstream of the ecosystem at the same time.
To simply put, the value you are offering through your business is not only for the customers. You are creating employment opportunities by generating tremendous values across the value chain. So your direct business solution creates many values across the value chain. That’s where you are touching the SDGs with indirect relevance, apart from providing the solution to the problems of your target group.
I would also like to emphasize an additional point here while you are conducting such an SDGs integration exercise.
Traditionally the business world tends to focus only on the product or service they are selling to the customers as the key component of the value creation model for the business.
Somehow many of them miss out on the fact that the values they are creating through their business are also relevant for the people in the ecosystem as much as the value is relevant for the target customers.
Because, I believe, business is all about people. You do many things in the business, in the end, you deal with real human beings. And you create the values for them, be it customers, be it employees, be it suppliers. With the right mindset and broader perspective, you can realize how many peoples’ lives are being impacted just because of your business solution.
Do the internal exercise following the 10 steps plan:
- Prepare the Business Model Canvas (improvised version) for the business that you are leading. You can take the help of the online instruction with an example case of the “Business Model Canvas: How to Turn Ideas into Business” by clicking here. Here you will learn how to use the tool to define or document the business model by mapping out the value chain.
2. Prepare the value proposition canvas from two perspectives:
Perspective 1: Customer-focused where you provide the solution for the defined problem and generate revenue
Perspective 2: Ecosystem-focused where people in the value chain are getting values because of the solutions your business is offering.
3. Outline the broader outlook of the people led touchpoints of the industry ecosystem where your business is operating. To simplify further, just prepare the list of the touchpoints where people (as beneficiaries) and their lives are being impacted by your business, both directly and indirectly.
Update: To help you in the value chain mapping exercise, I have added the example case of Coffee value chain mapping.
Example case: Check out the infographic which represents the coffee value chain, the industry ecosystem “From Bean to Brew: The Coffee Supply Chain”.
4. Create an outline of the ecosystem of your business domain which is operating within the larger industry ecosystem. For example, your business operates within the defined value chain as explained in the above infographic.
5. Do a value chain mapping of the business operations from the earlier output. A value chain is the core activities that your organization performs for making its competitive edge. This includes primary activities of your business as well as support activities. Your task here is to map out the value chain and determine the touchpoints. You can use Porter’s value chain model to conduct the mapping.
6. Prepare a document that helps you specify the followings:
a) Of that defined ecosystem, who are getting the direct values from your business and relieving their pains.
b) Identify those who are being positively (as well as negatively!) impacted due to the business solution your business is offering.
7. Check out the 17SDGs and 169 targets precisely and mark the relevant ones in different color codes using the following SDG mapping tool. Remember to consider both the primary business front end actors as well as the support actors in the value chain.
a) Directly relevant SDGs: In the green marked box you put the SDGs which are directly relevant and impacting the people and the planet because of your business.
b) Indirectly relevant SDGs: In the orange marked box you put the SDGs which are indirectly relevant and indirectly impacting the people and the planet because of your business.
c) SDGs relevant by tweaking the business model: You will discover that there might be a couple of crucial other SDGs that could be relevant or interchanged between direct & indirect relevance if the business model is tweaked a little bit.
In this yellow box, you put those SDGs which you could consider either direct or indirect relevance by tweaking your business model a little. This is a very important step that can leverage further opportunities.
d) Nonrelevant SDGs: In the red boxed put all the SDGs which you have found no relevance with your business.
8. Combine the outcome of this exercise with your core business model. In this step, you will get the SDGs mapped in combination with your business model.
9. Once the SDGs mapping is done, quantify them to assess the impact. In the best-case scenario, you will have a positive impact which you should exploit further to strengthen your business model.
In case of negative impact, you have to relook into the business model and figure out how to eradicate (or minimize) the negative impacts.
10. Last but not least. This is the step when you need to reflect on the process until step 9. In this step, you are to decide and conclude about finalizing the SDGs that your business is impacting having direct and indirect relevance. Then start to embed those in the business model and (re) formulate your strategy and make the communication plan accordingly.
The difference between success and failure in business has always been the people in each of the steps. Be it the team, employees, customers, consumers, markets, or be it partners management in the whole ecosystem where your business operates.
If you are to be successful in business, you are to be successful in creating value for the people via your business model by essentially impacting the 17SDGs.
For contact, write to me at abirh@how2transform.com
