P34-35 MBAS8 ATK V6 .qxd 8/4/08 14:49 Page 2
Executive Interview
SUSTAINABILITY
A.T. Kearney
Sustainability: a fundamental business challenge
In conversation with Christine Rivera, Principal in the Sustainability practice at A.T. Kearney, Emma
Simmons explores how A.T. Kearney is taking a lead in helping its clients face the challenge.
happens if you engage in sustainable processes, for
example, but your suppliers don’t?) and changes
in national and transnational legislation. These
forces are growing in intensity and it is foreseeable
that a company’s approach to sustainability will,
one day, contribute to its brand value.
A.T. Kearney’s definition of sustainability
aligns with the ‘triple bottom line’ concept: the
balance between economic development,
environmental protection and social well-being.
“It’s about meeting the needs of the enterprise and
its stakeholders while preserving – and possibly
enhancing – the human and natural resources that
it impacts or draws upon.” says Christine Rivera.
The firm has long recognized that sustainability is
broader than the green or environmental agenda
and believes that this recognition is fundamental to
working with clients on these issues. The
collaborative model A.T. Kearney employs,
working closely alongside clients, allows a direct
approach to sustainability issues from within
the client business, while calling upon expertise
and intellectual capital from the A.T. Kearney
sustainability team around the world.
With a longer than 80-year history in strategy
and operations consulting, A.T. Kearney has
hat climate change is happening If businesses are to accept the challenge – and a heritage that positions it optimally to help clients
T
is accepted by all but the most many are – they must find a way to seamlessly address these issues, whether by helping
stubborn, isolated voices around embed sustainable business practices as part of the them develop and implement comprehensive
the world. While individuals and normal course of doing business.” sustainability strategies, or to more closely align
communities begin to find energy Environmental concerns have been the main supply chains to clients’ sustainability agendas.
saving and recycling strategies, businesses are catalyst in the most recent surge of attention paid According to Christine Rivera, “ We are striving to
confronted with the imperative to face their by business to sustainability, but there are further embed sustainability into all our practices. We try
responsibilities in this race against time. compelling external business drivers that are to look at our engagements through a ‘sustainabil-
According to Christine Rivera, rising to this prompting a more urgent focus on it. These ity prism’ and ensure that our recommendations –
challenge can be all but straightforward. “The call include the demands of ever more savvy not just those made as part of a sustainability
to action is about taking steps to ensure that our consumers and shareholders, pressure from project – are, in fact, sustainable. Equally, we may
current consumption and behaviours will competitors already responding to the challenges, try to introduce the concept where it might not
not adversely impact generations to follow. the anticipation of supply chain risks (what have otherwise been considered. It’s becoming
part of the way we think.”
“The call to action is about taking steps to ensure that
our current consumption and behaviours will not
adversely impact generations to follow.”
34 TopMBA CAREER GUIDE www.topmba.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228  |  Page 229  |  Page 230  |  Page 231  |  Page 232  |  Page 233  |  Page 234  |  Page 235  |  Page 236  |  Page 237  |  Page 238  |  Page 239  |  Page 240  |  Page 241  |  Page 242  |  Page 243  |  Page 244  |  Page 245  |  Page 246  |  Page 247  |  Page 248  |  Page 249  |  Page 250  |  Page 251  |  Page 252  |  Page 253  |  Page 254  |  Page 255  |  Page 256  |  Page 257  |  Page 258