Integrated Management: How Sustainability Creates Value for Any Business

Integration has been a key theme across the general management, organizational behaviour, supply chain management, strategy, information systems and the environmental management literature for decades. Sustainability continues to be, at the “top of the agenda” in the C-suite. Despite this, specialists in academia and organizations lack the peripheral vision to understand the power of a more integrated approach that will empower functional groups to become best-in-class without forcing trade-offs that pull down other groups connected to overall operations. Integrated Management is the key driver of innovation and profitability in progressive companies. It reduces risks while pursuing new opportunities, and the checks and balances for prudent management are baked in the strategy for modern go-to-market synergy and growth.  What can be done, then, by individuals, functions, organizations, value chains, and even whole cities to integrate and align sustainability? To answer this and other questions, the information in this book finds enterprises already on the path toward integrated management and strategic sustainable development. It considers the opportunity we have to enable an enterprise value proposition that includes environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Integrated management applies a proven strategic planning approach to uncover the tools and actions available for change management and performance measured with an Integrated Bottom Line (IBL). Using evidence based examples from best-in-practice enterprises, proven management tenets, models and tools alongside emerging technologies, we can develop integrated solutions aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  It’s easy to say sustainability is important, yet not so easy to understand how it is part of the decisions that are made every day and how it cuts across business functions, systems, and supply chains. The information within this book, the application of systems thinking to complex problems, development of a vision and action plan, your own research, and action learning activities are all designed to accelerate management action, value creation, and the goal of a sustainable future.

Table of Contents:
SECTION I: A DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE FRONTIER - BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY Chapter 1. The Integration Opportunity   Chapter 2. Critical Dimensions of Integration - Enablers  Chapter 3. A Customized Approach for Any Enterprise  SECTION II: BUILD SHARED UNDERSTANDING Chapter 4. Integration Across Disciplines  Chapter 5. Value Creation for Stakeholders and Shareholders  SECTION III: ASSESSING THE CURRENT REALITY (As Is)  Chapter 6. Design Thinking - Life Cycle Assessment  Chapter 7. Enterprise Systems - Operational & Strategic Assessment  SECTION IV: BRAINSTORMING ACTIONS TO CLOSE THE GAP (To Be)  Chapter 8. The Changing Performance Frontier - Evolution & Trends  Chapter 9. Crossing the Chasm - Evidence & Opportunity  Chapter 10. Propositions - Integration and Innovation  SECTION V: PRIORITIZATION - ACTION  Chapter 11. The Strategic Integrated Enterprises We Have Been Waiting For  Chapter 12. The Future - What Could Be (Beyond Sustainability)?  Appendices  References

About the Author :
Robert Sroufe is the Murrin Chair of Global Competitiveness, and Professor of Sustainability & Supply Chain Management at Duquesne University’s Palumbo Donahue School of Business. He is involved in developing and delivering action learning pedagogy within the #1 ranked MBA Sustainable Business Practices program, producing future change agents. Winner of numerous teaching and research awards, he has published practitioner, environmental, and business journal articles and multiple books on sustainability topics. As a public speaker and consultant Dr. Sroufe utilizes integrated management practices to help decision makers solve problems, improve productivity, increase revenue and enhance competitiveness with a range of enterprises. He has been awarded the Academy of Management Organizations & Natural Environment (ONE) Division inaugural Teaching Award. 

Review :
‘Tomorrow's capitalism will value different things - and value them differently. In his timely, insightful book Integrated Management, Robert Sroufe explores what this means for business, integrated bottom lines performance, markets and, ultimately, all of us.’ ‘Integrated Management is making a simple but powerful case for developing your business model beyond shareholder primacy only and showing you practically and simply how to get started, integrate and reap the benefits. Comprehensive, actionable and enjoyable.’ ‘This book is a must have for decision makers seeking a customized approach to the integration of sustainability throughout an organization that is based on proven practices such as the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development. It recognizes the importance of a strategic approach to the value sustainable business practices provide, it will help move us closer to a sustainable society and will be appealing to any business globally.’ ‘Integrated Management breaks out of the linear thinking mode of most management texts, squarely facing the challenge posed by the embedding of businesses in a complex socio-economic-environmental world. Without such a move, progress towards the ambitious but critical goal of sustainability is severely constrained.’ ‘With a “how to” approach in this book, sustainability comes alive deep in the operations, decision rules, supply chain and measurement of the integrated management of all businesses.’ Sroufe writes for decision makers and lifelong students around the world who want to integrate environmental sustainability into business strategy and management practices. Sustainability is not something to do in addition to strategy, he argues, but is a part of strategy and leads to dynamics performance improvement. He covers a dynamic performance frontier-beyond sustainability, building shared understanding, assessing the current reality (as is), brainstorming actions to close the gap (to be), and prioritization-action.