Strategy and Sustainability

Marakon works with Executives looking to elevate, accelerate, and better embed their Sustainability agendas into the fabric of their businesses.

Our unique perspective suggests that leading companies understand and know how to tangibly manage for the connections between Purpose, Strategy, Sustainability, and Reputation, while creating long-term intrinsic value. 

We help executives by:

  1. Helping them re-frame their starting point based on a data backed understanding of key global and industry specific environmental, social, and governance issues and opportunities
  2. Working with them to articulate ambitious, value accretive, and measurable sustainability agendas that Business Unit leadership, Corporate Affairs, and Strategy believe in and support
  3. Designing and working together to put in place mechanisms (governance structures, processes, tools, and incentives) for holding the broader business and units to account
  4. Working with the Sustainability Function and Business Units to deliver on tangible and specific initiatives on the back of an acceleration journey

Related Articles

Responding to a Rapidly Changing ESG Policy Landscape

The Biden administration has signaled a strong desire to make environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations more central themes in government policy, corporate disclosure, and investor and corporate behavior. Policies directed at addressing climate change get the most attention, but we expect significant policy shifts across all areas of ESG. These shifts will not only change disclosure requirements, but may fundamentally affect the economics of certain value chains, capital-labor relationships, and the legal risks of corporates. As a result, US corporates need to step up their ESG orientation. One place to start is a simple set of questions management teams can ask themselves to better understand how prepared they are for the expected policy shift.

Sustainability Case Study: North American Utility

More and more CEOs are looking to dial up their companies’ sustainability capabilities in response to the sharper societal and investor focus on the externalities associated with their operations. They recognize the need to embrace a more sustainable and inclusive decision-making process to deliver more positive long-term impacts for shareholders and employees, customers, and the communities they operate in. Yet integrating sustainability in a way that is lasting and additive to the core business is much easier said than done, and it needs to be underpinned by a systematic and deliberate approach to defining the sustainability agenda and roadmap for execution. In this case study, we share a framework and some tools we used to helped a North American Utility successfully elevate and more tightly integrate sustainability with its enterprise strategy.

Beyond ESG: Building more confidence and assurance in corporate sustainability practices

Sustainability and ESG are the buzzwords of the day, and indeed much progress has been made to bring transparency and focus onto these issues in the business world. As capability and sophistication in this space evolve, many companies and investors are understanding the need to move beyond using relatively simple, sometimes self-reported ESG scores to build more confidence and assurance in corporate sustainability strategies and policies. Charles River Associates, via Marakon and its Investigations practice provides an effective supporting capability that enables corporates and investors to do just that.

A total capital approach for developing a sustainability agenda

The gap between what markets value and what society values is closing. Financial markets and investors are increasingly focused on the fact that risks and opportunities linked to sustainability are tangible and can have a significant impact on business performance. By better understanding the relationship between stakeholder and shareholder value in the context of what a company does, leaders can shape more robust sustainability agendas. Once these agendas are progressed via an appropriate approach for institutional change, the company is then well on the path of simultaneous growth of both shareholder and stakeholder value.

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From start to finish Marakon is personally invested in the partnership and relentlessly pursues the right answers and optimal outcomes. From Marakon you will get robust and leading strategic thinking, and a roadmap to implementation. They have set themselves apart within their industry, and we are a better company for having partnered with them.

Philip Yuzpe, President and COO - Sentry Investments

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Marakon applied a disciplined approach to help us navigate our complex questions. They employ a good blend of classic strategy approaches, advanced analytics and a much welcomed sense of pragmatism.

Head of Strategy - Large online brokerage

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The partnership is unparalleled. Marakon helped us to develop the right strategic priorities and build-out the capabilities to deliver against them. In that way we were able to create significant value in the business in a relatively short time — disciplined value creation.

Bridgette Heller – Former EVP and President of Merck Consumer Care

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CEO - Aviva UK

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The Economist

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Fortune