Draft SBN Business Model
Table
of Contents
1.
Executive Summary
2.
Forward
The SBN
Mission
Promoting
Sustainable Business
A
Sustainability Network
The
Strength and Potential of the
The
Project Team
3.
Documenting the
Bringing Past Initiatives and Current Resources Together
Phase 1 of the SBN – Creating a Business Model
Advisory Committee
Needs Analysis
Local Inventory
4.
Value: the Business Case & Regional Development
The
Business Case for the
Benchmarking Study Findings Supportive of the SBN Business Case
Needs Analysis Findings Supportive of the SBN Business Case
The Value of the
Support for SBN Regional Value in the Benchmarking Study
Needs Analysis Support for SBN Regional Value
5.
Market Analysis
The Market
Demand from Pittsburgh Region Companies
The Extent to Which the Market Is Being Served
“Competition” and Collaboration
Market Segmentation
Tier 1 and 2 Organizations
The Regional Market – Still Not Fulfilled
6.
Services
Networking and Information
Services
Building Capacity for Business Services
Sustainability
Services
Project
Facilitation
Research
Public
Sector Services
Training
and Professional Development
Marketing
and Cross-Promoting Member Services
7.
Service Delivery and Operations Plans
Key Strategies for SBN Development & Service Delivery
Utilizing These Key Strategies in the
Developing Services In The Demonstration Project
Demonstration
Project - Development and
Implementation
Three-Year Operations Plan
Other Important Notes About the SBN Operations Plan
8.
Financial Plan
APPENDIX
A: Advisory Committee
APPENDIX
B: Implementation Plan - *Phase 2*
APPENDIX
C: Benchmarking Study Report
APPENDIX
D: Needs Analysis Report
Appendix
E: Local Inventory – Table: Tier 1 and 2 Organizations
Appendix
F: SBN Project Team Biographies [? Or will this all go in text]
Business
Model
For
the
Since
its founding at The Pittsburgh Technology Council,
Through
the generous support of The Forbes Fund and The Community Foundation for the
Alleghenies,
It
is with great gratitude to our funders and the project Advisory Committee
that we present this report.
Exec. Summary could be
enhanced to include key findings of the benchmark and needs studies.
At present its focus is heavy, like a grant proposal, on selling SBN.
Overall comment on document:
p22 is a great statement o f business case.
This concept of business bottom line needs to be focus of Exec.
Summary, Forward,
Get into Demo Project early on
and in more detail.
1.
Executive Summary
The
SBN Mission
By
establishing a dynamic public-private network, the Pittsburgh Sustainable
Business Network (SBN) will promote and support business development, business
service organizations and public policy to build Sustainability capacity, or
the integration of economic, environmental and social values, in the
Pittsburgh Region business community.
Definition
of Sustainability
“Sustainability”
or “Sustainable Development” is an approach to development, whether
community or business related, which integrates the “Triple Bottom Line”,
or the economic, environmental and social aspects of development, into a
single coherent model for planning and implementation.
To accomplish and implement Sustainability then, expertise is needed in
all of these areas, along with collaborative planning to bring them all
together. In a community or large
business, implementation requires a facilitated interconnection of the various
“silos” that have existed in traditional community development and
business development.
Phase
1
While
the Pittsburgh Region has seen several initiatives to develop the
environmental industry, and while the Region currently is attempting to build
its capacity for Sustainability in many ways, the SBN Project Team realized an
even greater opportunity to accomplish both by bringing these past initiatives
and these current resources together in a dynamic interactive network.
Since this goal is ambitious and involves many organizations, however,
the Team also knew that the Business
Model would have to be well-researched and prepared.
The SBN Team organized an Advisory Committee to guide their work,
and planned three studies: the international Benchmarking
Study, a regional Needs Analysis,
to study the interest of Pittsburgh regional companies in SBN services; and a
regional Local Inventory of existing
organizations and firms which either already have capacity to promote and
support Sustainable Business in the region, or have the potential and mission
to do so. The final product of the
studies is the Business Model, with a plan to implement the Model directly
thereafter. The six-month period
in which these studies were conducted and the Business Model was developed is
known as Phase 1.
SBN
Value
As
described in the Benchmarking Study report [Appendix
C], Sustainable Business organizations and firms provide value both to the
companies with which they work, and the communities or regions in which these
organizations and their member companies are located.
The value that the SBN provides then, can be described by the
combination of the two separate sets of values, as well as the “Business
Case” for the Pittsburgh Sustainable Business Network.
The
Business Case for the SBN
The
Business Case for the Pittsburgh SBN is that the SBN will assist companies in
comprehending, implementing, and assembling local resources to support new
business initiatives which achieve necessary financial value of their business
activities, while increasing environmental and social value.
The strategic implementation of activities which are mindful of
financial, environmental and social values, known as the Triple
Bottom Line, will result in the following benefits to companies: increased
revenues; cost savings; risk reduction; access to capital; or brand value and
other intangibles.[1]
The SBN will assist companies in realizing these benefits by:
·
providing in-house
Sustainability expertise and related information resources;
·
maintaining a network of
other companies, service providers, and public organizations and agencies
which can provide valuable resources; and
·
providing specialized expert
assistance in key Sustainable Business competencies.[2]
Developing
Business Value in the Demonstration Project
As
detailed in the Service Delivery & Operations Plan section, the SBN will develop
the capacity to provide these unique benefits by executing a Demonstration
Project, in its first year of operation. Need to provide more insight on
what is the Demo project. The
Demonstration Project will be modeled after several projects around the world,
such as the Pathfinder Programme, which was executed by Forum For the Future
(the Forum), a Sustainable Business organization in the
Pathfinder
Programme participants and other companies which achieve the Triple Bottom
Line which the SBN will promote, will achieve these developmental benefits:
·
improved understanding of
project management within a clearly understood sustainability framework;
·
improved understanding of the
behavioral changes required to implement sustainable practices;
·
improved ability to
understand many sides of a complex issue, to resolve conflict and to achieve
consensus;
·
improved decision making
within a common framework; and
·
new opportunities to assess
future scenarios[3]
these
bullets seem weak as opposed to outcomes that are more quantified to satisfy a
business case
SBN
Regional Value
In
addition to the value that the SBN will provide to the companies with which it
is engaged, the SBN will also provide value to the Pittsburgh Region as a
whole. The SBN will provide value
to the Region primarily by extending the regional Sustainability initiative,
currently seen mostly in community development, transportation and development
projects, and environmental improvement, into the business realm.
The SBN will provide this regional value by engaging with companies
directly to assist them in their Sustainability initiatives, and by building
the capacity of public organizations and agencies to assist business with
their initiatives. The SBN will
build capacity to assist businesses by:
·
facilitating a dynamic
network, where companies can easily access public resources;
·
working with public
organizations and agencies to provide new or a greater amount of existing
services; and
·
coordinating the many public
business services into a coherent and comprehensive package of Sustainable
Business services.
The
specific benefits to the region that will occur as a result of providing these
values are:
·
environmental and community
improvements which as occur as a result of company-led initiatives for changes
in material, energy, organization, facilities and workforce;
·
regional business
development;
·
efficiencies and synergies
realized in public business service delivery; and
·
developing regional
infrastructure for ongoing Sustainable Business initiatives.
consider
adding: - branding the
region - supply chain
The
SBN Market & “Competition”
Because
the SBN provides values both to public and private sector organizations and to
the region-at-large, and because the SBN will provide services which are new
to the Pittsburgh Region, describing the “market” for the SBN has several
components. Other Sustainable
Business regional markets around the
Lastly,
the Local Inventory catalogued the public sector organizations and agencies
which provide business services related to Sustainable Business, providing
some ??? not clear a foundation to assess the demand for a comprehensive and
coordinated package of Sustainable Business services.
Using a relative definition of “competition” for a collaborative
organization, a sense of the vitality of the market and opportunities for
collaboration toward the “comprehensive package” are also revealed.
not easily understood
font
change here? The primary market
opportunity for the SBN is being the “one-stop shop” for Sustainable
Business in the
In
fact, all of the most closely related organizations, or Tier
1 organizations, have been involved in the SBN Advisory Committee and
Phase 1 of the SBN Project since its inception.
With the successful implementation of the SBN (as detailed in the SBN Operations Plan), the SBN will act as a convener and facilitator of
new collaborative efforts to combine existing services into a complete listing
of Sustainable Business services and programs, provided by private service
providers and public sector entities alike.
In order to convene this entire range of services, the SBN Team will
meet with organizations listed above where?in
the “Market Analysis” section to integrate their services into the
Sustainable Business model, and provide easy access, and a strategic and
coordinated plan to utilize these services.
The key to this task will be successfully demonstrating to all
participants that all of these different components of business development
and regional development are interconnected.
Then, the participants will be challenged to expand their missions to
work both with more companies and through more collaborations to help achieve
Sustainability in the region. All
of these organizations and service providers are seen as partners not
competitors.
SBN
Services
Starting
small and lean, the SBN will focus violates the recommendation of the
sub-committee to not lead wiht networking; instead lead with Demo project
on Networking Services to
provide high-impact networking opportunities that create business value,
and Information Services which
support networking, education, marketing and outreach.
During the Demonstration Project, the SBN will pilot a range of other
services, provided by either SBN staff or local consultants, and determine the
need and value for these services. The
SBN will then plan to develop the capacity (if needed) to provide these
services. The full list of
services that will be piloted are: Sustainability
Services, Project Facilitation, Research, Public Sector Services, Training and
Professional Development, Marketing and Cross-Promoting Member Companies. Not
clear here on if this describes
the Demo project or how relates.
Strategies
for SBN Development
The
Benchmarking Study also provided key insights for developing an SBN.
Reviewing several separate insights regarding Business Leadership,
Funding, and Provision of Business Services, and analyzing the correspondence
between the insights in these categories, provides a rough sketch of a
best-practice SBN. The rough
sketch is of an SBN which establishes or has business leadership from its
founding, is able to raise revenues from business memberships and other fees,
and provides both a network and relevant business services.
Demonstration
Project - Overview
The
lynchpin of the Service Delivery and Operations
Plans is the demonstration project, the inclusion of which is mentioned in
the Model Organization and Services
sections above. The demonstration
project is a critical initial initiative (wordy) of the SBN which will safely
demonstrate the Sustainability model and the services that the SBN will
provide with a limited group of companies.
The demonstration project will also establish a core group of companies
within the network.
Three-Year
Operations Plan
In
Year One, the SBN will “open the doors” of the organization, begin
implementation of key tools for information and networking services,
aggressively begin coordination of the demonstration project (building upon
*Phase 2* efforts) first mention of this thus not self-explanatory ; conduct
meetings with key organizations which will collaborate on the demonstration
project; then execute the demonstration project and continue building the
network through outreach and participation in other organizations’ programs.
In
Year Two, following the demonstration project, the SBN will begin to provide
regular full membership and all of the services and benefits which come with
membership. The Team will review
the results of the demonstration project and carefully select and plan
membership and other services.
In
Year 3 then, the SBN will review its membership and other business services as
it did following the demonstration project, and will assess whether current
services are finding intended interests, and whether to initiative additional
services.
Financial
Plan
As
mentioned, the SBN will operate on a very small and lean (wordy) budget,
starting with one full-time director, and a mix of consultants and a part-time
co-director which will successfully (wordy) coordinate the Demonstration
Project if Demo project is the key
then need to not make it seem the Demo project only get half time attention .
Also, the budget did not seem to show the co-director in year one The
SBN staff will also include a part-time administrative person.
Funding from private and corporate foundations will increase steadily
for two years following Year One, while the SBN is ramping-up its capacity and
giving the network time to grow. Following
Year Three, however, the SBN will have sufficient income from corporate
donations, membership fees and other program and service fees to raise total
SBN revenue, hire the Co-Director full-time and decrease private foundation
revenue.
2.
Forward
The
following section introduces the SBN Mission Statement, the concept of
Sustainable Business, networking methodology, the relevant history of the
forward
leads with Network as opposed to business case throughout ie pgs 9-10, p. 12.
Also the case with pg 17 & 18 of Doc. the Opport. and Dev. Bus.
Model. Also Svcs. pg. 36
and p 48 Other Impt. Notes
Overall
this seems to weaken the Forward.
The SBN
Mission
By
establishing a dynamic public-private network, not lead with network?
the Pittsburgh Sustainable Business Network (SBN) will promote
and support business development, business service organizations and public
policy to build Sustainability capacity, or the integration of economic,
environmental and social values, in the Pittsburgh Region business community. need
to lead with bottom line business interests.. applies here and next paragraph
To
be a dynamic network that can promote and support such innovative business
practices, the network must provide access to knowledge, resources, and
opportunities for collaboration between network members, public or private.
Knowledge must be provided through online databases, publications and
links to other organizations and firms, as well as through SBN staff members
and other local experts easily matched with members’ needs and contacted
through the SBN. The resources
needed by all of the various industries are unlimited.
From general practice resources, such as management and operational
tools that assist companies in their comprehensive sustainability effort, to
industry-specific resources, such as sustainable resource alternatives or
local opportunities for specific by-product reuse, an intelligent catalogue
must be managed by the SBN staff. Most
importantly, the SBN must provide opportunities for company representatives
with similar interests and issues to meet, share ideas, and collaborate.
Doing so enables them to propose “win-win” policy ideas, and
voluntary “beyond compliance” program ideas to the regulators and other
public sector organizations which support business development and regional
development. too soft
Much
of the information and many of the experts and resources are here in the
region already. The supporting
organizations, state and federal environmental and community development
agencies, for business development and regional development, and networks and
associations, such as the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and
the Pittsburgh Technology Council, which provide some opportunities for
collaboration are at work in the region. These
resources and these opportunities, however, are isolated from each other in
disparate networks, which function well themselves because of the similarities
between their members, but miss opportunities for further innovation and
collaboration by not reaching out across industry sectors, across public and
private boundaries, and to a company’s many stakeholders.
Only through a network, connected to all of these constituencies, can
these communications, relationships and collaborations take place.
Building new relationships through a network is vitally important for
Promoting
Sustainable Business
Accounting
for all of the environmental and social impacts of all business activities is
a daunting undertaking for a business. It
not only requires an intimate understanding of all manufacturing, operational
and organizational processes, but also of how all of these processes interact
and interconnect with each other. The
processes must be studied not only to the point where these processes can be
seen as one integrated and dynamic system, but where this business system is
seen as part of the greater environmental and social systems of which the
business is a part.
This
systems approach involves a great degree of complexity.
Solving problems and innovating is no longer a straight-forward and
linear approach, as it has been in business and industry since the dawn of the
Industrial Revolution. Regulations
call for a greater understanding of environmental impact, international
development issues, and trade issues. Likewise,
consumers everywhere are calling for greater corporate citizenship and
responsibility. Understanding the
complexity involved with integrating environmental, social and economic
systems into a business plan is a problem that must be solved.
And, in fact it is being solved.
Dr.
Lester Lave, a professor, economist, engineer, and co-director of the Green
Design Institute at
Members
of the SBN Project Team have studied with Dr. Lave and/or other systems
experts, and have otherwise devoted their careers to understanding and
implementing these new methodologies, both directly with businesses and
through public sector initiatives to provide resources to businesses and
assist businesses with implementation. Although
this challenge is still new, and may seem particularly new in the Pittsburgh
region, it is the case today that large, small, regional, national, and
international organizations around the world have formed to assist business
and their stakeholders through direct consulting and public-private
partnerships to master this new and complex approach to business.
With
the intention of creating a Sustainable Business Network organization in the
Over
the course of six months, the Team completed the Benchmarking Study, and two
other studies: a Needs Analysis [Report in Appendix D] to study the interest of
Pittsburgh regional companies in SBN services; and a Local Inventory [Report in Appendix E] of existing organizations and
firms which either already have capacity to promote and support Sustainable
Business in the region, or have the potential and mission to do so.
The result of these efforts is an intelligent and effective Business
Model for a Sustainable Business organization in the
A
Sustainability Network
“Sustainability”
or “Sustainable Development” is an approach to development, whether
community or business related, which integrates the “Triple Bottom Line”,
or the economic, environmental and social aspects of development, into a
single coherent model for planning and implementation.
To accomplish and implement Sustainability then, expertise is needed in
all of these areas, along with collaborative planning to bring them all
together. In a community or large
business, implementation requires a facilitated interconnection of the various
“silos” that have existed in traditional community development and
business development. Heads of
different organizations and departments must learn the common language of
Sustainability, then communicate and collaborate toward the common long-term
Sustainability goal. Again, it is
evident that Sustainability requires a complex system of relationships, all
functioning harmoniously, in order to be effective.
Heavy
focus on network here Approaching
Sustainable Business at a regional level, then, requires a regional Network
Organization, with expertise in network methodology.
While most regional organizations studied in the Benchmarking Study
performed at least in part as a network, they have not focused sufficiently on
creating a dynamic network to take advantage of the opportunities available
therein. That is not to say that
these organizations did not have the expertise in network methodology either.
The Forum For the Future Business Network, one of the most successful
SBNs in the world, was quite aware that they have established a Stage
One, or Hub-and-Spoke network,
in the middle of which they have positioned themselves.
They further understand that their network has not moved significantly
beyond the stage where they as the hub of the network are no longer needed for
new relationships and opportunities form from network activities and
interactions.
Another
example is the World Business Council for Sustainable Development – Great
Lakes Chapter (or Council of Great Lakes Industries), where the Chapter serves
a narrow but extremely well-executed mission of creating a strong voice for
regional industries in public policy, as well as a strong role in the
sustainable development of the region. The
Chapter’s organizers acknowledge, however, that other interactions between
regional industries occur through their meetings, programs and activities, and
that there could be great value to these companies in these other networking
interactions.
Collaboration
for Sustainability consider
putting ahead of section above
Promoting
Sustainable Business practices requires strengthening companies’
understanding of the true interconnections of the various aspects of their
operations with the economic, environmental and community systems in which all
of their business activities take place. Companies
must understand that from a systems-level perspective all of these aspects
impact one another dynamically and relentlessly, and that they effect the
long-term efficiency and viability of their business as a whole.
A systems methodology capable of capturing the value in these
interconnections is therefore necessarily based on both internal and external
collaboration. Internal
collaboration, alone, requires that changes in resources, processes or
activities are understood for their impact on the entire business enterprise.
In the traditional business model, processes and activities are
understood as more liner and separate functions.
To achieve Sustainability, the interconnections between departments
must be opened-up and strengthened through collaboration.
Companies
must also analyze their efficiency based on the impacts of their business
operations and activities on the natural environment, which is negative
feedback into regional environmental systems and social systems.
These impacts may feedback back again into regional companies in the
way of increased regional environmental costs and regulation, either directly
effecting the process or activity from which it came, or the business as a
whole. These impacts to the
company, however, are often obscured, particularly when businesses are
operating from the traditional business model, and regulators and business
development organizations, themselves, do not see all of the important
interconnections between business impacts and regional environmental and
social issues.
Ultimately,
both the public and private sectors must understand Sustainability in terms of
their own business activities, then come together to combine all resources and
policies toward the single goal of a sustainable Pittsburgh Region, with which
the business community is intricately interconnected.
Only through many levels of collaboration can this be achieved.
The
Strength and Potential of the
It
remains the case, however, that many other regions around the country and
around the world have assembled strong Sustainable Business organizations and
networks without such significant capacity, support and initiative.
The
SBN Needs Analysis provided examples of the capacity of the Pittsburgh
Region’s environmental industry, by revealing many companies in the Region
which are leaders in Sustainable Business.
In fact, a prominent
The
Needs Analysis also revealed innovative technology companies providing
sustainable products and services world-wide.
One such innovator is Thar Technologies, which provides supercritical
fluid technology and services, a substitute for traditional solvent-based
processing techniques. By
harnessing the power of carbon dioxide, Thar’s environmentally-friendly,
physiologically compatible, safe and cost effective supercritical fluid
technology can eliminate the toxicity, waste and pollution associated with
traditional solvent-based processing techniques.
Thar Technologies has become one of the largest and most successful
companies in the world dedicated solely to supercritical fluid technology.
A
broader analysis of the Region, provided by the
The
Project Team
A
group of full-time, part-time and volunteer members were assembled by SBN
Project Co-Director, Alex Lackner. While
Co-Director, Dr. Matt Mehalik, was only available for part-time support of the
project, his invaluable Sustainable Business research, and systems and network
expertise provided substantial direction to the project and the resulting
Business Model. Others mentioned
below, combining for an incredible overblown resume of relevant graduate
education, research and career experience, graciously volunteered their time
to complete the project’s various studies, and to add many more angles to
the perspective the studies revealed. Their
work was critical to the ambitious goals of the six-month project.
[Abbreviated
or full bios here? Brief would be
one line or two short ones. Full
would be one long paragraph. Full samples are below]
Feels like bios should be Appendix
Co-Directors:
Alex
Lackner
This
dude is cool.
Matt
Mehalik, Ph.D.
Matthew
Mehalik is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Learning Research and
Development Center (LRDC) at the
Research Associates:
Brad
Nilson
Bryan
Kalisch
Bryan
Kalisch is a second year graduate student at the Heinz School of Public Policy
and Management at
Shannon
Lloyd
Timothy
White
Mr.
White is in the second year of the Master of Science program in the
3.
Documenting the Opportunity & Developing the Business Model
this heading seems to mislead as the next section does not do this...
maybe "Description of the Project"
While
the Pittsburgh Region has seen several initiatives to develop the
environmental industry, and while the Region currently is attempting to build
its capacity for Sustainability in many ways, the SBN Project Team realized an
even greater opportunity to accomplish both by bringing these past initiatives
and these current resources together in a dynamic interactive network wordy
with too much emphasis on network. Since
this goal is ambitious and involves many organizations, however, the Team also
knew that the Business Model would
have to be well-researched and prepared. sentence
does not add anything
weed
out throughout the document the over use of dynamic, dynamism, etc.
Bringing
Past Initiatives and Current Resources Together
As
stated in the Forward, the
To
further develop the environmental capacity of the region, more relationships
must be established between environmental companies, other regional companies,
and the public sector organizations and agencies which support business
development and environmental improvement.
Relationships and interactions around common goals will lead to
collaboration, and eventually a dynamic network capable of mobilizing its
resources for any appropriate initiative.
A dynamic network occurs only as a result of deliberate high-impact
interactions, facilitated by an expert organization which has both the vision
and the methodology to achieve the success of the network.
Moreover, the network takes time and continual demonstrations of the
value that the network provides for more companies and organizations to join
in the dynamism and seek new opportunities and initiatives.
The network must demonstrate its value from the very beginning and
slowly create more high-impact interactions through each success. Simplify
pargaraph seems full of jargon
Building
upon past efforts to enhance the environmental business capacity of the
Phase 1
of the SBN – Creating a Business Model
Considering
the potential of the environmental industry, recognizing the large investments
of time and funding in past efforts, and knowing that the missions of several
prominent organizations would interconnect with the mission of the SBN, the
Project Team recognized that the SBN Business Model would need to be
well-founded, intelligent and aggressive.first long sentence seems self
serving to us and not sure what
adds The SBN Team organized an Advisory Committee to guide their work, and
planned three studies: the international Benchmarking Study, a regional Needs
Analysis, and a regional Local Inventory.
The final product would be a Business Model, with a plan to implement
the Model directly thereafter. The
six-month period in which these studies were conducted and the Business Model
was developed is known as Phase 1.
Advisory
Committee
Because
collaboration is vital to the success of the Pittsburgh SBN, the Team formed
an Advisory Committee to guide their work.
Invitations to potential members were sent to business leaders, local
university faculty with related expertise, and directors from related economic
development and regional development nonprofit organizations.
All but one of the 24 invited participants showed great interest in the
project and joined. The following companies, organizations and university
programs are represented on the Advisory Committee.
The full list of names, titles and organizations are listed in Appendix
D.
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