Empowering A Community of Conscious Business Leaders
What is Sustainable Business?
Sustainable Business aims to redesign business models to work as productive, transparent and accountable entities in the marketplace. 'Business for good' is a movement to create a global market that is durable into the future and benefits all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
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Sustainable business focuses on the Triple Bottom Line; a structure in
which a business accounts for People, Planet and Profit in their practices.
This means that shareholder maximization is not the only focus of the business
model, and that the company is constantly evaluating decisions based on
their holistic impact on their employees, community members, investors and
the environment.
Net Impact Global's theme for 2020 is 'Reimagining Capitalism'. They have a series of virtual events surrounding this topic and how to visualize a world we want to live in for the future. To reimagine capitalism is to expand on and innovate with the markets that we have in place to build progression in the corporate world that benefits everyone involved for generations to come. For more information on this series and Net Impact Global, go to
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Some of the certifications we focus on in businesses include the B-Corporation certification that is handled by a global non-profit called B-Lab, and Fair Trade which has multiple sectors but is most commonly known by their Fair Trade International certification. Both are rigorous and extensive certifications that hold businesses to a high standard of sustainable practices.
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What these certifications aim to prevent, along with true triple bottom line intended business models, is Greenwashing. Greenwashing is a marketing strategy that a company uses to attract a consumers attention through its portrayed sustainable practices. This can include labels that advertise 'eco-friendly', 'green', 'biodegradable' products that does not prove to be accurate labeling when taking a closer look at the product. Through events and community growth, our club hopes to educate our members to become conscious consumers that can filter through greenwashing and any other forms of unsustainable business practices.
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With the knowledge gained through Net Impact, we hope to sculpt a new generation of educated consumers that have the tools necessary to shape the future of business. We see a bright future where all businesses consider all stakeholders and work to be productive in society. We recognize the power of consumer behavior and voting with our dollars and hope to diffuse that message to the Cal Poly SLO community and beyond.
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To hear more of an in depth description of the focuses of our club, watch our 'Defining Sustainable Business' webinar recording which can be found under the archives tab. We touch on Greenwashing, B-Corporations, Fair Trade, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Impact Investing. For more resources follow us on our Instagram linked at the bottom of the page and our 'Interesting-Stuff' page on Slack.