Next level 80 Collins Street embraces innovation - AIRAH
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JUNE-JULY 2021 · VOLUME 20.4
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Next
level
80 Collins Street
embraces innovation.
F E AT U R E
Another
way
As organisations and individuals continue to struggle
with disrupted circumstances, “pivot” may just about
have been the most overused word over the past year.
But as we attempt to recover from COVID-19’s wide-reaching
impacts, Aurecon’s Scott Lemon wonders whether now is
the time to, er, pivot towards a more sustainable future.
In 1999, “pivot” was not exactly a In a short span of time, we’ve seen have contributed to their past successes.
corporate buzzword. Rather, it was restaurants become ghost kitchens, Change rarely fits in. Or putting it
a memorable line from the sitcom a vodka maker create carbon-negative another way, businesses are designed
Friends. The scene was fairly simple: hand sanitisers, and a paper-recycling to resist change.
three friends struggling to get a couch company turn to recycled plastics
However, the world outside of a business
up a narrow staircase, with a frustrated to make face shields.
doesn’t stand still and wait for its five-year
Ross (David Schwimmer) incessantly
Would leaders and executives have had and 10-year plans to shape up. It changes
screaming the famous line: “Pivot!”
the courage to shift the same way that constantly in response to new technology,
Fast forward to 2021 and you’re as likely they have right now without a pandemic? macro-economic and geopolitical
to hear businesses talking about pivoting Maybe not. forces, consumer expectations and a
as you are to see a Friends pivot meme. once‑in‑a‑century biological threat that
Most businesses are not designed to
The world is grappling with a pandemic we now find ourselves extremely terrified
change. To grow and expand, yes ...
and a paralysed economy as businesses of. There is no other choice but to shift
but change? No, at least not drastically.
struggle to recover and stay afloat. gears, but where to?
Businesses are typically designed to
The onset of COVID-19 has forced exploit their current business model In a time filled with limited options
organisations out of their comfort zones to and maximise it while they can. and uncertainty, taking big leaps can
explore ventures they had never previously Their systems and processes are set up lead to huge losses, which we cannot
thought of exploring, and quickly to achieve repeatability, quality control, afford right now. So how can business
implement business practices that would risk mitigation, compliance, customer leaders make sure they are pivoting
otherwise have taken years to change. loyalty and a range of other factors that in the right direction?
FE ATURE
THE TRIPLE owners to realise and acknowledge
that COVID-19 has caused permanent
BOTTOM LINE shifts in customer behaviour.
Budget cuts and changes in priorities
“We need to start thinking about meeting
are very common in times of a crisis like
our customers where they’re at,”
COVID-19. It is more than understandable
Gillis says, “and not expecting
for companies to instinctively focus on
that they’ll come to you.”
staying afloat and keeping their financial
stability in check to survive. But, as we When the pandemic hit, the sales of
know, profit isn’t everything. Homegrown’s sustainable restaurant
company fell from having 50–100 daily
According to the World Economic
lunchbox orders down to two or three.
Forum, to build a more resilient and
Rather than simply tweaking the
sustainable future, we need to achieve
business model, Homegrown invested
the symbiosis of people, planet and
in making permanent changes in its
profit. Financial growth and plans for a
services, and moved to the surging
sustainable future must go hand in hand,
grocery delivery space. To differentiate
not at the expense of the other. Natura
from established corporations,
CEO Roberto Marques put it simply:
it focused on sustainable pantry staples
“We can’t run a business in a dead planet.”
from local producers and farms, which
Ørsted, Denmark’s largest energy aren’t easily found in grocery stores.
company, realised this early on. Amid
the global financial crisis in 2007, the
company transformed its entire fossil fuel
REAL CHANGE
business to renewable energy, and shifted A recent global survey reveals that what
to a far more sustainable business model, people want is real change, for the world
which has now earned them the title of the and their personal lives. In the survey
most sustainable company in the world. conducted by Ipsos of 21,000 adults across
27 countries, 86 per cent of adults said
they want the world to significantly
KEEPING THE FAITH change and become more sustainable and
WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS equitable after the pandemic. They didn’t
want to go back to the way things were.
Although customer loyalty is what
underpins business, it also holds it back. In order to pivot successfully, businesses
While consumers expect reliability must understand and listen intently
and consistency from brands that to what people want and need.
they support so they can trust them,
It’s no longer just the end product that
they also expect them to innovate and
people are concerned about. What’s
offer something new.
important to them is knowing and having
According to Homegrown CEO faith in the entire process, what the product
Brad Gillis, it is imperative for business is made of and how it was produced.
Winds of change:
By the end of the
decade, some of the
world’s biggest oil
companies will be running
more offshore wind
turbines than oil rigs.
FE ATURE
Re>Pal supplies its sustainable pallets to companies
including Unilever, Veolia, Nestle and Givaudan.
“Consumers and employees are now WE, THE PEOPLE
acutely aware of how their lives can
The ability or extent to which
change overnight and how supply
organisations can pivot depends on
chains directly affect them,” says
the investment they have had made
Abbie Morris, co-founder of Compare
in business resilience, and the mindset
Ethics, a sustainability platform that
of its leaders and staff.
connects consumers with verified
sustainable products. In fact, the sales A sense of purpose among employees has C
from Compare Ethics’ site increased been proven to be an effective driver of M
by 150 per cent in June 2020 compared change within a business. According to
with the previous month, suggesting McKinsey, those who feel that they are Y
that consumers are now paying closer contributing to something bigger than CM
attention to supply chains. themselves are likely to perform well MY
and help a company to pivot successfully.
Nevertheless, there’s still so much work It pays to know our “whys”. CY
that needs to be done. Let’s take the
Perhaps, despite all the havoc and agony
CMY
humble pallet, for example. Like plastics,
pallets are actually deemed an essential that the pandemic has inflicted, there K
piece of equipment for many businesses, can be something good to come out of it.
yet there has been little to no consideration Of course, this does not take away from
given to how this critical element pivots to the loss and suffering that has occurred,
a more sustainable model. as many things can never be replaced.
However, if such a wake-up call allows
The Centre for Supply Chain and world leaders, big corporations, and all of
Logistics (CSCL) 2017 Pallet Survey humanity to pay attention and refocus on
Report highlights that out of about what’s truly important, then this can only
140 million pallets in Australia, be considered a good thing.
88 per cent are made from native timber,
making it one of the major culprits Business needs to provide room for
in the quiet crisis of deforestation. change and give itself space to move and
What if manufacturers pivoted to a make adjustments when situations call
more sustainable, recyclable pallet for it. So, when our backs are pressed
such as Re>pal, manufactured locally against a wall, we do what we need to do.
to customer demands, and powered We pivot. ❚
by a renewable energy source? This article originally appeared in
Aurecon’s Just Imagine blog, accessible via
It would be easy to say that building a
www.aurecon.com.au/blog
recycled pallet industry isn’t a global
priority. But last year, if an article had
appeared decrying a world shortage Would you like
of ventilators in the face of a possible to know more?
pandemic, would governments have
jumped to pay attention? Whether or Read the Ipsos global survey at
not we expect industries and economies www.ipsos.com/en/global-survey-unveils-
to “pivot”, “veer” or do a complete profound-desire-change-rather-return-
U-turn, it’s not the action that matters, how-life-and-world-were-covid-19
it’s the vision and the will.You can also read
