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Strategic steps to implement a sustainable development approach


                  Since the United Nations published the SDGs in 2015, business organizations face the question
                  of how to implement them into business activities. Most strategic approaches start with vision and
                  mission statements. When it comes to sustainability, they should also reflect the relevance of
                  SDGs and whether some goals are influenced by the organization’s activities.

                  As  Herzner  (2021)  recommends,  an  organization  should  implement  a  holistic  approach  on
                  sustainability  in  its strategy, strategic actions and  business models. Starting  with designing  a
                  sustainability  understanding  connected  to  moral  values,  this  vision  and  purpose  should  be
                  communicated in an understandable way.

                  While these normative statements should be linked to the SDGs, the SDG compass is a concrete
                  five-step guide on how companies can align the SDGs and their strategy and normative DNA.

                      Figure 1: Sustainability Assessment Model


























                  Source: Alexander Herzner, 2021


                  Step 1 - Understanding the SDGs

                  The SDGs succeed the Millennium Development Goals that ended in 2015. While the MDGs had
                  a strong focus on reducing poverty and improving health in developing and emerging countries,

                  the SDGs expand the challenge of ending poverty by widening the range of the inter-connected
                  topics. UN addresses these goals for universal application, while governments are supposed to
                  translate them into national action plans, policies and initiatives where companies can contribute
                  to.  What  makes  the  SDGs  complex  for  organizations  it  that  all  17  goals  offer  specific  and
                  actionable sub-targets and actions (www.sdgcompass.org).

                  Developing  and  delivering  solutions  to  contribute  to  accomplishing  sustainable  development
                  creates value for companies not only in their innate business activities, but also in the relation to
                  and interaction with their stakeholders.
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