"What is sustainability and why should I care?"
"What steps do I need to take to implement an effective sustainability strategic plan?"
"How do I measure the impact of our sustainability initiatives that demonstrates business impact and not just cost savings?"

If these are questions you are asking, Zemo Trevathan and Associates, Inc. can provide you the direction you need. We are a group of management professionals dedicated to empowering leaders to make better decisions that positively impact outcomes of the triple bottom-line of social equity, environmental stewardship, and profitability. With the increasing changes in the global marketplace towards more environmentally sustainable models for products, managers in all sectors are eyeing the opportunities to demonstrate value to students, faculty, customers, management, and other stakeholders through outcomes from a sustainability (the so-called "triple bottom-line") approach. The sustainability approach incorporates analysis of value for financial profit or cost savings, impact on environment, and social equity. Many stakeholders in business, education, and visionaries in public services are seeking proof of profits, not just cost savings to mitigate their risk, which can be demonstrated through an analytics process of measurement-- creating an unprecedented opportunity for forward-thinking enterprises that can demonstrate complete value of their product with the triple bottom-line approach. The following are the core services SMI provides companies to begin fulfilling their goals of sustainability: Systems Audit, Strategic Planning and Implementation, and Business case development and Measurement.

Placing your business at the center of a flow of product, SMI's Sustainability Systems Audit determines the current total impact your business is having upon each aspect of the environmental system that includes water, air, land, energy, transportation, waste, etc., as well as the economical and social systems in the community. Rather than auditing the impact of one business alone, the entire system is analyzed. This system is reinforced by suppliers providing cost-effective and convenient access to products and services as well as customers willing to buy the service in its present form, until there is a change of perception within this system. Direct and indirect impacts will be determined for each aspect of the system on the environment and community.

As part of the strategic planning and implementation process, SMI assists in determining changes in the systems flow of products and services as well as the relations along the entire pathway--helping each of the contributors and recipients of your system to appreciate, understand, and improve the quality of these relationships for expanding the circle of the sustainability impact. This social network will change when the vision of the company changes to either adapt to customer requests (marketing response) or to fulfill a vision to reduce environmental impact (personal change response). The customer and the vendor are impacted directly financially but they are also challenged to understand the company's decision and to make a decision for themselves.

SMI guides the process of developing a realistic cash flow analysis and return on investment for systemic change, critical for maintaining commitment to a sustainability strategy. To mitigate the risk of costs exceeding returns, the business case can guide the company through each element of the investment, its potential benefits and risks, costs, and short- and long-term financial impact. With the system and relationship analysis much of the risk can be avoided. The extra cost of the change can be possibly offset with increase of new business, rebates and government subsidies, or other creative solutions. Measurement of outcomes needs to reflect impacts on each element of the triple bottom line to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of the system, relationships, and the business case.