Some thoughts on Sustainability in the corporate world whilst I shall be absent for the next week.

DEFINITION CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY.

Corporate Sustainability refers to the business approach by companies to

consider not only economical needs in their strategies and practices, but also

environmental and social needs. It is the opportunity for businesses to improve

their profitability, competitiveness, and market share without compromising

resources for future generations.

Public criticism, enabled by powerful mass media, has made some level of care

for the environment and refraining from dubious accounting practices and from

operating “sweatshops” in developing countries part of the strategy of even the

most die-hard financially oriented firms.

Leading sustainability companies show high levels of competence in addressing

global and industry challenges in a variety of areas:

Strategy.

Integrating long-term economic, environmental and social

aspects in their business strategies while maintaining global

competitiveness and brand reputation.

Financial.

Meeting shareholders’ demands for sound financial returns,

long-term economic growth, open communication and transparent

financial accounting.

Customer & Product.

Fostering loyalty by investing in customer

relationship management and product and service innovation that

focuses on technologies and systems, which use financial, natural and

social resources in an efficient, effective and economic manner over the

long-term.

Governance and Stakeholder.

Setting the highest standards of

corporate governance and stakeholder engagement, including corporate

codes of conduct and public reporting.

Human Resources.

Managing human resources to maintain workforce

capabilities and employee satisfaction through best-in-class

organizational learning and knowledge management practices and

remuneration and benefit programs.

Corporate sustainability performance is an investable concept. This is crucial in

driving interest and investments in sustainability to the mutual benefit of

companies and investors. As this benefit circle strengthens, it will have a positive

effect on the societies and economies of both the developed and developing

world.

One of the critically important issues in sustainability is that of human

overpopulation combined with human lifestyle. A number of studies have

suggested that the current population of the Earth, already over six billion, is too

many people for our planet to support sustainably at current material

consumption levels. This challenge for sustainability is distributed unevenly. The

ecological pressure of a US resident is said to be 13 times that of a resident of

India and 52 times that of a Somalian resident

My wife has been suggesting Aloe Vera cures for friends who have excess weight issues. We know for sure that excess weight comes mainly from overeating or unbalanced diet. I can vouch for that as I have managed to shred 34 kilos off my body weight. From a high of 108 kilos I have now stabilised at 74 – 75kilos. I have read and studied the slender eating strategy which uses NLP techniques. This recent article from the BBC is claiming success from cognitive behavioural therapy. NLP therapy will not require 20 sessions of 50 minutes I am pretty sure.

More people with eating disorders could benefit from “talking therapies” which aim to release them from obsessive feelings, say UK researchers.

They said a specially-created form of cognitive behavioural therapy might work in four out of five cases.

A 154-person American Journal of Psychiatry study, by the University of Oxford, found most achieved “complete and lasting” improvement.

At present, the treatment is officially recommended only for bulimia patients.

Some statistics suggest that more than a million people in the UK are affected by some kind of eating disorder, the best known types being anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

Approximately 40% of those with eating disorders have bulimia, 20% have anorexia, and the remainder have “atypical disorders”, which can combine both bulimic and anorexic-type symptoms.

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence has backed cognitive behavioural therapy for bulimia, but Professor Christopher Fairburn, the Wellcome Trust funded researcher who led the project, believes his version could help many more people.

His study focused on bulimia and “atypical” patients, but excluded those with anorexia.

The technique works using a series of counselling sessions which help the person involved to realise the links between their emotions and behaviour, and work out ways to change what they are doing.

Self-esteem

Professor Fairburn developed two versions specifically for people with eating disorders, one which focused completely on the eating problems, and another, which took a wider view of not only the eating disorder, but also problems with self-esteem which might be contributing to it.

Both treatments involved 50-minute outpatient sessions repeated once a week for 20 weeks.

Afterwards, the researchers found most patients had responded well, and that this improvement was maintained over the next year – a time during which relapse into eating disorder is most likely to occur.

Two-thirds made a “complete and lasting” response, with many of the other third showing substantial improvement.

Although the study did not specifically include people with anorexia, a second study, currently underway, is showing promising results in this group.

No hospital

Professor Fairburn said: “Now, for the first time, we have a single treatment which can be effective at treating the majority of cases, without the need for patients to be admitted into hospital.

“It is increasingly being used across the NHS, and has the potential to improve the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people living with eating disorders.”

Susan Muir is one person who says that CBT techniques have helped free her of a long-term eating disorder.

The 39-year-old, from Chesterfield, used diet and exercise to shed 13 stone, but found that once this had happened, she found herself binge-eating then obsessively exercising.

“The CBT helped me realise what I was doing, and turned those irrational thoughts into rational ones.

“It really helped me deal with my self-esteem problems and made me feel very positive.”

Susan Ringwood, the chief executive of Beat, the eating disorders campaign group, said: “This research shows that people can benefit from psychological therapy even at a very low weight.

“There has been so little research into eating disorders and anorexia in particular, and this has really added to our knowledge in a challenging field.”

Dr Alan Cohen, mental health spokesperson for the Royal College of GPs, welcomed the research.

He said: “Access to this service, and appropriate training for therapists to deliver this new form of treatment, is very important.”