After four outbreaks and a prolonged period of social distancing, many Vietnamese have been depleted of their financial and human resources. But there are still enterprises with strong resilience to the pandemic thanks to their sustainable development strategies.

By adopting to sustainability criteria, enterprises have been able to stand firm against crisis and recover more quickly. Sustainable development is a must if enterprises want to survive and expand their reach.

Put simply sustainable development is a corporate management strategy that helps a business adapt to all situations on the basis of harmonising economic benefits, namely revenue and profit, with the interest of their employees and environmental protection.

In recent years, many enterprises have shifted their business strategy from one of profit first to one of responsible business. The reality shows that many enterprises have overcome pandemic-related challenges to maintain operations and sustain growth, becoming a useful support for the government in attaining the dual goal of virus containment and economic growth.

General Director of the Southern Airports Services Joint Stock Company (SASCO) Doan Thi Mai Huong said the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the aviation industry, and as such SASCO has quickly revised its strategy by giving a lower priority to revenue and a higher priority to retaining human resources.

With such a strategy, SASCO has been able to maintain its staff levels amid the complicated developments of COVID-19. The company stated that only when the staff are maintained has it the foundation to restore its normal business activities.

Sharing the same view, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hue, a representative from Aeon Vietnam, said that sustainable development is not only a compass during the normal times but also plays an important role in guiding the company to adapt and restore when facing a crisis.

In order to implement sustainable development effectively, accelerating digital transformation and changing its operation methodology are the right solutions for retailers like Aeon.

The company has enhanced the shopping experience for its users through the Aeon mobile app, employing multi-channel shopping, electronic and automatic payments to best meet the demands of customers.

In order to support enterprises to carry out their sustainable development strategies, respond to challenges and risks, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has created a set of criteria known as the corporate sustainability index (CSI), which has been welcomed by the government and the business community.

With the CSI, enterprises comply with domestic and international practices better, expand production and do business more effectively, take better care of their employees, have a greater sense of their responsibility towards society and better manage risk in times of crisis.

VCCI data shows that in the past three years, enterprises which adopted the CSI criteria all have good prospects of higher revenue and income for workers, increased resilience to difficulty, the ability to maintain operation and supply chains as well as faster recovery capability.

According to many economists, in order to realise a green and sustainable growth strategy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, enterprises have to undergo numerous new challenges to ensure resources and create momentum for growth recovery.

Besides prompt and effective support packages, more bold policies are needed to create a complete legal framework, helping create circular ecosystems in the production and business activities of enterprises.

From a positive point of view, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the catalyst for enterprises to change their mindset. Enterprises now focus more on establishing risk management frameworks and business continuity planning so that when a crisis happens, they can promptly kick off their response to ensure a more sustainable recovery.

Crisis and risk management are effective “vaccines” for enterprises. In fact, sustainable development is a fundamental pillar of any business and production situation. As long as the requirements on sustainable development are properly implemented, it can bring value to enterprises, regardless of whether they face normal or crisis periods.

Source: Nhan Dan Online

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