It does not work without a leader…

According to 96 % of people asked, examples shown by leaders and their commitment are key from the aspect of sustainability. 

According to 96 percent of Hungarian companies, the real sustainability performance depends on the credibility and example shown by the CEO – as revealed by our this year survey. We were primarily interested in how organizations – having signed the leaders’ recommendation introduced three years ago, titled „Complex interpretation of corporate sustainability” – view the actual status, trends and future prospects of corporate sustainability. This year the survey focused on responsible management.

„It was confirmed, that the CEO is the key player: his commitment, example, approach and decision making play a dominant role is the field of sustainability, as well” – said  István Salgó, president of BCSDH about the most important outcome of the survey, carried out with 59 companies.

Although views differ on whether a manager responsible solely for sustainability issues is needed (63% of responding companies have it), 84% of respondents agree that corporate sustainability needs to be managed top down and that the CEO has to demonstrate his responsibility, commitment, attention and set examples in order for responsible corporate management and operation to be integrated in the decisions and actions of other managers and associates, as well.

According to the majority of respondents involved in the survey, the mostly used corporate management tools are formal regulations and guidelines – which are also used to promote sustainability performance. The positive trend however is, that self assessment, internal and external audits, as well as the application of sustainability related systems and standards are also gaining ground increasingly.
According to respondents corporate culture defines the scope of tools of properly operating corporate management, much rather than company’s the size.

According to the respondents, sustainability is closely linked with the status, forecastability of the given market, as well as the consumer/customer maturity and price sensitivity.

Consequent to getting out of the economic crises, as well as due to international trends and Hungarian local practices, according to 56% of respondents the situation and perception of Hungarian sustainability improved. It seems that this issue becomes increasingly integrated in the everyday thinking of business decision makers, which in itself promotes the further development of the sustainability approach.

„Corporate sustainability is largely supported by the President of the Republic of Hungary putting the issue of climatic changes on the agenda, as well as by the National Sustainable Development Council playing an ever more active role. However, there are still too many short sighted business decisions, and we also see shortcomings in implementing sustainability aspects within government actions” – said István Salgó.