AITKEN SPENCE
Q: In your opinion, what does corporate sustainability mean for organisations?
A: Sustainability is about ensu-ring our ability to sustain the business by proactively identifying and managing risks, and differentiating ourselves from the competition.
Any sustainability strategy sho–uld begin by identifying potential social, environmental and economic impacts, and working to enhance positive outcomes while controlling if not eliminating any adverse outcomes.
We are inherently dependent on the environment to survive, not merely for business success. As such, protecting the environment is a critical prerequisite for any company to succeed while being mindful of stakeholders’ needs.
Sustainable success is the outcome of a business that achieves a sound balance of both. For this, in addition to the triple bottom line – i.e. people, planet and profit – we need to critically look at the fourth ‘P,’ which is ‘processes.’ It also takes purposeful leadership to achieve this.
Our sustainability journey is a continuous and evolving one, and we’re learning as we progress.
Q: How does Aitken Spence identify environmental impacts and risks – and how does it aim to minimise them?
A: Aitken Spence proactively ado–pted a scientific approach to sustainability based on our own examples of sustainability – namely the iconic Heritance Kandalama story. We combined reviews with our experience and fine-tuned the findings with feedback received from stakeholders.
The most valuable feedback we received was from cross-functional teams – they represented multiple divisions that formed our subsidiary specific sustainability teams.
Our voluntary endorsements su—–ch as the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact – to which Aitken Spence is a signatory – and the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) standards, to which the group’s performance disclosures are aligned, also guide us in identifying operational priorities.
In a nutshell, we consider the scale and frequency of impacts, compliance requirements and pre—requisites of voluntary endorsements that we’ve committed to, along with the level of potential risks and important stakeholders’ perceptions in identifying and prioritising areas we want to focus on. We use local and global benchmarks such as the ISO standards to plan control measures.
As a diversified group, Aitken Spence has developed a unique solution as our diversity does not allow us a one-size-fits-all solution. Our sustainability strategy and implementation framework guide the subsidiaries in planning their actions based on their unique operational priorities.
Q: How is corporate governance incorporated in the group’s systems?
A: The group’s governance model provides the framework and processes to support its systems and achieve strategic objectives. Our corporate governance framework is based on five key principles – viz. leadership, cul–ture and ethics; risk management and internal control; accountability; and shareholder communication.
This ensures the execution of the group’s strategic objectives effectively and ethically in compliance with applicable legislation in the markets in which we operate.
Moreover, we adapt to globally accepted best practices by continuously refining our structures, policies and procedures, which are aimed at strengthening the group’s governance framework.
Q: Aitken Spence was conferred the most number of awards at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability (BCCS) Award 2020 – particularly in the consistency category. Could you elaborate on this?
A: Aitken Spence won the highest number of awards and received the most certificate awards for ‘Consistent Commitment and Continuous Improvement.’
This reflects the robust sustainability strategy and unparalleled commitment to sustainability of our teams across the diversified group even during extremely cha-llenging times through the leadership of the top management.
Additionally, I believe this is the result of us using constructive feedback from the esteemed panel of judges to improve year on year while continually applying for the awards even when we think we may not win.
Q: How are sustainability concerns taken into account in the sectors Aitken Spence engages in?
A: Aitken Spence is one of the few groups in Sri Lanka that is truly international and diversified. Developing a sustainability strategy that encompasses the priorities of all our operations is even more complex and we cannot adopt a one-size-fits-all solution.
Therefore, identifying threats and potential disruptions to our business is extremely complicated because each industry is different. Finding sustainable solutions is similarly challenging – imagine running 16 different businesses and developing sustainability strategies to manage all the impacts.
Each industry has its own set of strengths, weaknesses, oppo-rtunities and threats (SWOT), and needs. Nevertheless, we also look at this positively as we can learn from multiple industries since solutions that work in one subsidiary enable us to face challenges that arise in others.
The group’s sustainability stra-tegy directs subsidiary companies. However, they have the autonomy to make decisions depending on the nature and scale of their businesses. The group’s core sustainability team monitors progress and guides them when required.
