Execs say time is always right for sustainable transformation
Ljubljana - Sustainable strategic business transformation offers visible results as early as it is introduced and it is never too late to start, agreed participants of a conference hosted by the Spirit Slovenia agency on Wednesday. Business executives have also welcomed the mentorship programme of sustainable transformation.
According to Tomaž Marovt, CEO of the company Marovt, sustainable business transformation is more important than anything and its significance will continue to grow. "I'm sure that the best time for changes towards sustainable development is the corona period," added his deputy Metka Marovt.
Marko Arzenšek from the company Gabrijel Aluminium said that the programme of sustainable strategic business transformation was an excellent investment in long-term success. "The mentorship of excellent experts of course makes the process much easier," added Simeon Špruk, the head of the company Tekstina.
Leading a company and its employees is a great responsibility not only towards everyone working at the company but also towards the society, agreed the participants of another panel.
According to CEO of textile company Beti, Maja Čibej, workshops organised as part of the process of sustainable strategic business transformation have enabled the company, which has already worked on its open communication, additional progress.
Srečko Potočnik from Roboteh and Luka Topolovec from Drugi Vid agreed that leadership was intertwined with all other processes in the company. By strengthening the sustainable component of business, responsibility increases, which in turn increases the trust of employees and the wider community, they stressed.
The first step towards stable operations is knowing the company's weaknesses, another panel heard. The company Plamtex from Komenda has realised that its great dependence on the automotive industry, which can quickly become vulnerable, is one of its biggest weaknesses, said directors Mišel and Matjaž Zupančič.
The company Equa focussed on improving communication among staff in the process of business transformation. ORO Plastika found its weakness during the corona crisis, as the company only had one strategic buyer from one industry, said CEO Matjaž Furlan.
The boss of M Sora, Aleš Dolenc, stressed in the last panel that a sustainable product was not enough for a sustainable transformation, as the entire business process must become sustainable.
Even companies that are already very sustainable still have many opportunities for improvements, said the CEO of Biosistemika, Roswita Golčar Hrastnik. This was echoed by Andrej Pogačnik from Elea Ic.
Participants agreed that experienced mentors make sustainable transformation much easier and that thus results could be seen quicker.
The programme of sustainable strategic business transformation is also being conducted by the Spirit Slovenia agency with the financial support from the state and the EU Fund for Regional Development.
So far, 56 companies have been included in the programme, said Alenka Hren from Spirit. Today, 35 companies were honoured for completing the first part of the programme in 2020 and 2021.
Companies from the eastern cohesion region can still apply for the programme by 23 April.