1.  SKN's role.  At SKN, we recognize that our customers work diligently to enhance their company's performance, and are already familiar with the details and efficiencies of their operations.  Our role is to draw upon our team of experienced sustainability professionals and network partners to help your managers take another look at their operations from the perspective of sustainability.

2.  How is a sustainability review different from a traditional operational or financial review?  In manufacturing planning, for example, a sustainability review may examine the eco-efficiency of the manufacturing process, including energy and water use, raw material efficiency, emissions management and waste reduction.  Such review may also examine social factors such as the composition of your work force, the business practices of your suppliers, and the impact on the community where your goods are manufactured.  In sales planning, we may examine the biodiversity of your product ingredients, as well as product distribution and pricing in diverse geographic and economic markets.  Many of these factors affect the economics of your business, and an SKN sustainability review will often reduce your cost of doing business, and increase your product and service revenue.

3.  Observation.  Our customers understand that evaluating these areas of sustainability is often subjective, and that many of these segments are not yet subject to detailed government regulation.  Nevertheless, these sustainability issues can lead to process and product backlashes from your customers, the public and other stakeholders, often requiring expensive retooling, substitution of product ingredients, repackaging or changes in your advertising message.

4.  Third-party perspective.  SKN consultants and its network partners bring an objective, third party perspective to the building of your sustainability management system, a critical ingredient in building a system whose success depends in part on the reaction of third party stakeholders.  SKN systems use design metrics that are auditable, enhancing their credibility and your reputation.