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2. A Business Casefor CorporateSustainabilityIn 2013, Accenture conducted a survey of 1,000 CEOs in103 countries and 27 industries. They found that 80%of CEOs view sustainability as a means to gain competitiveadvantages relative to their peers. 8 Furthermore, the studyfound that “81% of CEOs believe that the sustainabilityreputation of their company is important in consumers’purchasing decisions”. 9 On the contrary, they found thatonly 33% of all surveyed CEOs think “that business ismaking sufficient efforts to address global sustainabilitychallenges”. 10One reason for this imbalance between acknowledgingthe importance of sustainability and acting on it is pressurefrom the financial markets’ focus on short-termism. 11This clearly emerges from another survey conducted onbehalf of McKinsey & Company and the Canada PensionPlan Investment Board (CPPIB), in which 79% of C-levelexecutives and board members state that they personallyfeel “pressure to deliver financial results in two years orless”. 12 Tellingly, 86% of them note that this constraint is incontrast to their convictions, where they believe that usinga longer time horizon to make business decisions wouldpositively affect corporate performance in a numberof ways, including strengthening longer-term financialreturns and increasing innovation. 13There is however an increasing focus on longer-termthinking: a recent initiative, founded by the Canada PensionPlan Investment Board (CPPIB) and McKinsey, is bringingtogether business leaders from corporations, pensionfunds, and asset managers to promote longer-termcorporate and investment management. 14 More broadly,numerous corporate leaders are taking decisive steps toimplement a longer-term horizon within their companies.For example, under the leadership of its CEO, Paul Polman,Unilever has stopped giving earnings guidance and hasmoved away from quarterly profit reporting in order totransform the company’s culture and shift management’sthinking away from short-term results. 15Our research demonstrates that there is a strong businesscase for companies to implement sustainable managementpractices with regard to environmental, social, andgovernance (ESG) issues 16 . In other words, firms can ‘do8 Accenture (2013).9 Accenture (2013: 36).10 Accenture (2013: 15).11 See Barton and Wiseman (2014).12 Bailey, Bérubé, Godsall, and Kehoe (2014: 1).13 See Bailey, Bérubé, Godsall, and Kehoe (2014: 7).14 See Bailey, Bérubé, Godsall, and Kehoe (2014). More information can be found at www.FCLT.org.15 See CBI (2012) and Ignatius (2012).16 For business case arguments of corporate social responsibility and sustainability, see for example, Davis (1973), Hart (1995), Porter and Kramer (2002, 2006),Porter and van der Linde (1995a, 1995b).9