Every time Italian industry approaches the issue of sustainability, small and medium-sized enterprises ask themselves how to do it. Because if the big companies tackle the subject drawing on their own balance sheets, the small ones very often already struggle to make ends meet at the end of the year. Imagine if they also have to deduct sums to support production from the profits, thinking about the environmental impacts, recycling and recovery of materials. So let's find out that only one in four companies (26%) believe that ESG (Environmental, Social, Governaance) practices contribute to the creation of value. There is awareness of the impact of their activities on people's lives, on communities, but we prefer to wait. A wait-and-see approach, as defined by Global Strategy, a financial consultancy firm and Equity Markets partner of Borsa Italiana, which oversaw the latest study on Sustainability and value creation.
Thanks to the work done, we know that seven out of 10 excellent companies adopt sustainability policies and spread virtuous behaviour. Mid-cap companies – the heritage and pride of our economy – know the value of sustainability, its modernity, but when they have to decide how to combine it with production, they stop. The 722 companies selected from over 10.000 of the same size were evaluated with a view to generating new value, gaining competitiveness and managing risk exposure. “The most evident fact that emerges from the study is that many of the excellent entrepreneurs are already adopting virtuous behaviors today, often in an unconscious and little shouted way – explained Antonella Negri-Clementi, President and CEO of Global Strategy –The challenge will be to integrate them into their business model and corporate strategies”.
The analysis was carried out on manufacturing, service and trade companies, which in the last five years have recorded growth, profitability and capital solidity indices above the average for their sector. The way of producing, however, is being transformed right from the procurement, involving suppliers and service managers: 44% of the companies interviewed declare that they have already made such a choice. Sustainability does not only mean the economic cycle, but a strategy that also includes social, human and cultural values. It is well known that without sharing and conviction of the active subjects, of the workers, there will be no good results. Large multinationals invest hours of work to increase their employees' awareness of global issues. In SMEs it is very different. For this reason, the situation analyzed inevitably refers to political and governmental choices that will be defined in the coming weeks. Two plans of intervention, in our opinion: economic benefits and a favorable social climate. It is clear, the researchers say, that behaviors linked to the correct recycling of waste, the use of renewable energies and the reduction of emissions are to be taken almost for granted in a company that aspires to excellence. But an authoritative push is needed, from a forward-looking state to "recognize the ineluctability of sustainability from an ESG perspective". The properties are careful and it is already a step forward to learn that they don't just want to make money at all costs. On a scale of 1 (nothing) to 5 (very high) the ethical beliefs of micro-enterprise owners are the most important element, with an average score of 3.8. But moral conviction, significant in itself, does not yet enter into the strategies and policies of attacking the markets. We risk talking about it for a long time, if these studies that are rightfully part of a transversal green economy with small and large industries are not taken into due account by political decision-makers.
