Transformational business programme launched in Auckland

A business programme that guarantees to add value through future focus is to be launched in Auckland at an early morning briefing this Friday, April 12.  Adding Sustainable Value (ASV) is to offer a dedicated Auckland programme to start next month and businesses are invited to register.

Launched in 2011, and with 44 businesses nationwide successfully completing the programme, ASV provides a tested strategic framework that drives innovation and designs for success, while improving business resilience to underlying market change.

Top New Zealand companies including Annabel Langbein Media, Fulton Hogan, Livestock Improvement Corp and NZ Pharmaceuticals all recommend the programme and see sustainability as critical for business success over the coming years.  Recent research* shows all participant respondents so far have found value that far exceeds the costs of taking part.

Campbell Sturrock of Fulton Hogan’s Auckland branch will address the 50+ businesses registered for Friday’s presentation.  A 2012 graduate of the programme, he credits ASV with offering tools that allowed the framing of a sustainability conversation in the upper levels of the nationwide company.

“ASV has forced us to undertake an honest review of where our core business activities are currently unsustainable and helped us to work on some challenging goals based on what ‘doing good’ would look like.  Ultimately, we hope to show others what’s possible in our industry,” he said.

Programme Manager Simon Harvey says businesses that understand sustainability not only help themselves, but offer inherent value to the wider economy and community.

“It’s easy for people to assume this is just about being ‘green’ or that it’s purely environmentally focused.  But ASV is more about making sure businesses have the strategies and the market awareness needed to ensure they will be around long into the future,” he says. “Their work contributes to healthy, resilient local economies.”

ASV is delivered through partnerships between The Natural Step, Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice and the Sustainable Business Network. It includes a sustainable enterprise benchmarking process – SBN’s Get Sustainable Challenge - a NZQA approved qualification – Certificate in Sustainable Practice - and the country’s most prestigious sustainable business awards programme – the SBN National awards. It runs over 6 months and includes 4 workshops and one-on-one coaching. The 2013 schedule covers 5 North Island regions – including Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, and Manawatu.  The first Auckland workshop takes place on May 28.

Eligible businesses can qualify for a 50% subsidy on the $3,450 price tag through Trade and Enterprise Accelerate Success Programme.