Uncovering an Authentic Purpose Statement to Inspire and Guide Future Growth.

At the heart of Ayala Corporation's engagement with The Purpose Business was the desire to unify its legacy and future ambitions under a clearly articulated purpose and set of strong values, ensuring its continued positive impact on the Philippines and its people.  

Challenge

Ayala Corporation, with a legacy spanning nearly two centuries in the Philippines, has always been guided by a deep-seated ethos of building companies that spur the nation’s growth and enable its people to thrive. As the company approached its 190th anniversary, its leadership sought to articulate its corporate purpose and values more explicitly in order to ensure that its guiding philosophy could be effectively communicated and adopted by future generations of leaders and employees.

Despite a strong sense of corporate identity among employees and leaders, Ayala recognised the need for a unified voice to express its core beliefs and ambitions. The absence of a clear, shared articulation of Ayala's purpose was seen as a barrier to fully harnessing the conglomerate's potential for positive impact, especially in the context of post-pandemic recovery and national development.

In partnering with The Purpose Business (TPB), Ayala sought to ensure that its purpose resonates clearly and meaningfully, guiding the conglomerate and its subsidiaries toward a future where business and social outcomes are mutually reinforcing. The company also recognised that its values should evolve from principles into daily practices and behaviours that every employee could embody.

Solution

To meet Ayala’s aspirations to define a more tangible purpose and a concrete set of actionable values, TPB devised a focused and pragmatic strategy: 

• Defining Corporate Purpose: TPB helped to articulate a clear corporate purpose for Ayala, encapsulating its historical impact and future ambitions. This purpose was crafted to resonate with all stakeholders, aligning Ayala's diverse business units with its sustainability and growth objectives. 

• Clarifying and Activating Values: TPB refined Ayala's values to ensure they were actionable. This involved identifying specific practices/behaviours that would embody these values, making them integral to Ayala's corporate culture. 

• Inclusive Engagement and Facilitation: Through creative facilitation, TPB engaged a broad spectrum of Ayala's workforce, from front-line employees to executives, in meaningful conversations. This approach uncovered diverse perspectives on Ayala's role and impact, ensuring the developed purpose and values were grounded in the reality of its operations and aspirations. 

• Building on Ayala's Legacy: Leveraging Ayala's existing narratives and insights from across the organisation, TPB's strategy was rooted in the conglomerate's legacy, yet focused on future relevance. This included challenging Ayala to think deeply about its unique contribution to nation-building and translating this into a purpose that would guide its path forward. 

Impact

The collaboration between TPB and Ayala Corporation culminated in the development of a succinct, actionable corporate purpose and a set of values that were to be integrated and lived out across the conglomerate.  

The impacts of TPB's work with Ayala were multifaceted, reflecting strides in both internal and external operations, including:  

• Updating recruitment and onboarding processes to better align with its newly articulated purpose and values  

• Aligning internal and external messaging for Ayala’s 190th Anniversary with its corporate purpose. This involved showcasing Ayala's history, legacy, and vision for the future, underlining the continuity of its commitment to the principles it stands for

• Inclusion of Ayala’s corporate purpose statement in the company’s 2024 Integrated Report, while serving as a guiding principle in Ayala’s sustainability and investment strategy  

This work helps to lay the groundwork for Ayala’s long-term goal: to anchor the company's overarching strategy, encapsulating sustainability efforts, future and existing investments and employee engagement, in corporate purpose to ensure that its initiatives contribute meaningfully to societal and environmental well-being, in line with the company’s values. 

“A genuine and clearly defined purpose is fundamental to building trust among our company, our customers, and our broader stakeholder community. With that belief, we collaborated with TPB to ensure our purpose was clear to our stakeholders, actionable for our employees and reflected in our past decisions and actions. We built meaning around the values that bring our purpose to life, building on the insights we gained from the process. 

Our purpose is integrated into our talent management and serves as the overarching driver of our sustainability strategy and continues to inspire our investment decisions. As we celebrate our 190th anniversary and look beyond to the next 190 years, we are eager to continue this journey of building businesses that enable people to thrive – and we are committed to using purpose as our guide as we navigate the evolving landscape and strive to positively impact our stakeholders and our community.“

     — Carissa Feria, Head of Strategy and Transformation, Ayala Land

OCBC sought to refine and rejuvenate its core Purpose, Values and Ambition, aligning its workforce to build upon its legacy of excellence and help the bank to navigate future challenges and opportunities while remaining a vital, positive force in society.

“When the founders of OCBC came together nearly a century ago, the idea was to grow the economy and help the communities in Singapore. We’ve always been clear that we are here to help the aspirations of the people, communities and businesses we serve. It’s etched into our company’s DNA. We worked with TPB to sharpen our purpose and to ensure that it is as true to our people and our brand today as it was when our company was founded, and that it is built to guide us through the challenges and opportunities of the future. We underwent a robust process, from the bottom up and top down, checking that our purpose is embedded throughout our organisation and underpinned by a strong set of values. We are excited to have deepened our people’s connection to our purpose – so that our staff can identify how they implement it, why and when, and in turn help us to live our Purpose, Values and Ambition for the next 100 years.”

     — Koh Ching Ching, Head of Group Brand and Communications, OCBC

Universal Robina Corporation (URC) sought to develop a purpose, values and ambition that reflects their Filipino heritage while driving responsible growth.

Challenge

Marching orders from the board of Universal Robina Corporation (URC) were clear when they embarked on their journey to develop their purpose, values and ambition (PVA). The leading Philippines branded consumer food and beverage conglomerate’s PVA had to

1. resonate and connect with ALL stakeholders and

2. show the way forward for a responsible business. 

The aim was to launch a PVA that brings all its stakeholders, from the production floor to overseas markets, to a clear and collective understanding of why they exist (purpose), and how they can take concrete action (values) towards a shared success (ambition). The PVA must uphold the founder's legacy and align with the PVA of URC’s parent company, JG Summit, to reflect the Filipino heritage through products and relationships and at the same time drive innovation, scale growth and attract future talent.

Solution

The Purpose Business (TPB), together with our strategic partner Within People, designed a collaborative experience to craft a PVA that is inherent to URC’s DNA as a Filipino food group but also globally competitive to mirror the growth plans. To ensure alignment, we worked closely with URC's PVA Steering Committee, led by the group’s CEO, who kept us on track with their objectives and expectations.

To obtain a holistic view of URC’s unique impact, internal culture and long-term vision, TPB and Within People conducted numerous interviews and focus group discussions with employees and senior executives across many of its business units and operating regions, as well as with select investors, suppliers and distributors. Insights drawn from the engagements fed into a series of four co-creative workshops with a team of URC leaders spanning various business lines and tenure to flesh out the PVA. From high potential management trainees to the longest serving staff, iterations were stress-tested to ensure that we landed on a PVA that was second nature and can easily be brought to life.

We also collaborated with URC to create embedding tools to equip them in activating their PVA:

• A leadership guide for managers and leaders outlining the PVA, how it was created, its business case and practices to bring the PVA to life within their teams

• Facilitation training materials for the PVA cascade including how to incorporate this into the orientation process for new hires

• Trained the HR team to facilitate and lead the PVA cascade and activation workshops across the organisation

• A narrative for corporate communications and employer branding including a film brief to translate the PVA into audio-visual stories

Impact

• Cascaded and trained over 10,000 URC employees (90% of total employees) on the PVA across all business units including branded consumer food, agro-industrial and commodities and international business – with feedback strongly reaffirming that employees feel proud, motivated and confident to face challenges knowing that they are valued and cared for.

• Successfully incorporated the new PVA into URC’s talent retention and recruitment strategy as well as in their new-hire onboarding culture training.

• Defined and developed leadership and commercial competencies anchored on the Values and are being used to evaluate URC employees.

• Launched on-going engaging and motivational employee sessions featuring local and international resource speakers to bring elements of the PVA to life.

*Impact tracked as of November 2021 (last month of cascade schedules)

With a vision to “create exceptional journeys that positively shape the future of mobility”, Jardine International Motors sought to develop a sustainability strategy to set group targets, implement action plans and engage employees across Greater China and Southeast Asia.

Challenge

Formed in 2019, Jardine International Motors (JIM) brings together the expertise and talent of the Jardine Matheson Group’s diverse automotive interests. Currently, JIM comprises three leading Asian automotive businesses: Cycle & Carriage in Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar; Zung Fu Motors Group in Mainland China; Hong Kong and Macau; and Tunas Ridean in Indonesia. Collectively, the group has over 10,000 employees and 200 showrooms spread across seven Asian markets.

With a vision to “create exceptional journeys that positively shape the future of mobility”, JIM understood that to be truly exceptional, every journey must also be sustainable.  As a newly formed corporation playing parent to well-established automotive businesses such as Zung Fu in China and Cycle & Carriage in Southeast Asia, JIM understood the need to develop a holistic group level sustainability strategy. The strategy needed to build on all of its businesses’ progress to date, render focus and scalability into the future and consider partner challenges within the automotive ecosystem.

Solution

JIM engaged TPB in 2020 to help kickstart their sustainability journey. To begin the materiality assessment for the Group, TPB benchmarked peers from automotive manufacturing, retail and logistics industries, conducted over 25 internal and external stakeholder interviews along with a company-wide survey and facilitated Senior Executive workshops to ensure alignment of strategy. The final strategy, Sustainable Future 2030, consists of three focus areas -  Resource Management, Employee Development and Stakeholder Engagement. Specific plans and workshops around phasing out single-use plastics and understanding diversity and inclusion were also developed.

To ensure the strategy would be successfully embedded across all its dealerships and that a culture of sustainability would endure, JIM established a clear governance structure, including identifying 60+ Sustainability Champions so that every site had representation and advocacy.

Impact

Sustainable Future 2030 has been launched internally with plans to soon communicate externally to partners and customers. JIM’s first step was to setup the right systems and processes in place to understand their starting point for resource management (waste, water and electricity consumption). The group has set first-year reduction targets for these areas and is working on establishing policies and actions to achieve them, with view of setting more ambitious targets for 2022 and beyond. In Employee Development, JIM has held several workshops and dialogues with different employee groups to progress on their diversity and inclusion initiatives. With Stakeholder Engagement, the group has made strides in supporting local communities and are working with their suppliers and manufacturers to communicate and explore new opportunities together.

Propelled by increasingly stringent reporting requirements for Hong Kong listed companies as well as growing stakeholder interest in enhanced disclosure on ESG topics, ESR sought to streamline its reporting processes and strengthen corporate messaging on sustainability.

Challenge

ESR is the largest Asia-Pacific focused logistics real estate platform by gross floor area. The company develops and manages a network of best-in-class logistics facilities across China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia and India.

For the past few years, ESR has expanded into new markets through various acquisitions and investments. More recently in 2019, ESR completed an IPO on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEx). Sustainability is a key element of ESR’s value proposition for investors, clients and other business partners. 

Propelled by increasingly stringent reporting requirements for Hong Kong listed companies as well as growing stakeholder interest in enhanced disclosure on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics, the company sought to streamline its reporting processes and strengthen corporate messaging on sustainability.

Solution

ESR engaged The Purpose Business with the task of creating a strong and consistent narrative for the group’s first ESG report. We interviewed ESR team members representing all major markets and business functions in order to collect, organise and consolidate information on sustainability initiatives.

Working closely with key stakeholders across the group, we developed data collection templates and helped to analyse and review key performance data for publication.

Impact

The final report published as part of ESR’s Annual Report for 2019 in Q1 2020 complies with the HKEx ESG Guide and makes reference to relevant Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting guidelines. It clearly and concisely communicates the company’s sustainability strategy in order to provide relevant and useful information for internal and external stakeholders.

To read the report, please visit https://www.esr.com/en/esg_report.php .

Under increased pressure from regulation, Filinvest sought guidance from The Purpose Business to release their first sustainability report for their holding company (Filinvest Development Corporation) as well as their real estate (Filinvest Land Inc.) and banking (East West Banking Corporation) subsidiaries.

Challenge

Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC) stands to be one of the most well-recognised conglomerates in the Philippines. Tracing its roots since 1955, Filinvest has far reaching businesses around the country in three major sectors – real estate, banking and power. Its recent investments include infrastructure and environmentally sustainable businesses such as solar power and district cooling.

In 2019, the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released new guidelines that all publicly listed companies must disclose non-financial information on their approach to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. With this regulatory change, Filinvest sought assistance to chart unfamiliar territory in preparing sustainability reports for three of their public companies in 2019: Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC), Filinvest Land Inc (FLI) and East West Banking Corporation (EW).

Solution

The Purpose Business started working with their internal team to better understand the activities and dynamics of the business in order to properly scope the content of the individual reports. From there, we facilitated the data collection process with the three entities in line with the SEC’s key performance indicators.

It was critical to create buy-in from top management for the reporting process and build the case for sustainability. We conducted a workshop for Filinvest’s senior leadership to demonstrate how proactively managing their environmental and social impacts can futureproof long-term growth and improve daily operations. We provided insight on local and international drivers, shared case studies of responsible businesses to stretch their ambitions and discussed the value of reporting as a steppingstone to better ESG integration.

Impact

Although the project timeline coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic causing some challenges with data collection, we were able to adapt by helping FDC, FLI, and EW to focus on developing their unique sustainability stories. The internal team better understood the reporting process and how to streamline their data collection systems for the next reporting cycle. Filinvest now has a clearer vision of which metrics to track as well as a better idea on how they can use these metrics to manage their ESG impacts.

Green Island Cement sought to rally their staff on a common vision. They also wanted to address expectations of external stakeholders by communicating their efforts as a responsible cementing business with their sustainability report.

Challenge

Founded in 1887 at Tsing Chau (Green Island) in Macau, Green Island Cement Company Limited has grown to become Hong Kong’s leading manufacturer and distributor of cement and cement-based products.

In 2017, Green Island Cement (GIC) recognised the need to strengthen its commitment to sustainability. With the cement and construction sector facing increasing public demand for higher accountability on its negative environmental impacts, GIC sought to protect its reputation and establish themselves as a responsible brand and employer. GIC aimed to shape a narrative around addressing the environmental concerns by communicating their efforts in carbon footprint reduction.

They sought to do this by documenting voluntarily, celebrating its sustainability successes to date and improving internal and external stakeholders’ understanding of the positive impacts GIC has made through its innovative approaches to cement production and aggregate development.

Solution

The Purpose Business was engaged to conduct stakeholder engagement exercises to deepen the understanding of the sustainability issues material to GIC through internal workshops, one-on-one interviews and online surveys. Insights from the stakeholder engagement were used to tell stories of GIC’s 130 years of legacy and demonstrate its aspirations towards becoming a responsible cementing business.

These stories, together with the company’s progress and data performance to date, were included in its first biannual sustainability report published in 2017. With the help of The Purpose Business, GIC continued this responsible practice and remains transparent in communicating its progress with the release of its second sustainability report in 2020.

Impact

Through this reporting process, GIC aligned with middle management teams to better understand their roles and take ownership in achieving its united vision of “working together to build a green island.” The stakeholder engagement empowered employees to contribute ideas on how GIC can further innovate to manage its environmental impact with responsible production practices while also attracting new talent. GIC’s biannual sustainability reports also became an effective tool for the company to communicate its sustainability approach with external stakeholders and rebuild trust.

Novetex sought to craft their key messaging around their upcycling technology, The Billie System, that was engaging and authentic, paving the way to firm up their commitment to closing the loop on textile waste.

Challenge

Established in 1976, Novetex Textiles Limited puts innovation at the core of their business as a leading textile manufacturing company. Keen to meet the increasing demand for sustainably made products, the Hong Kong-based miller introduced The Billie System – a patented system combining new and existing technologies to create a waterless solution for recycling textile waste, lowering harmful effects to the environment.

While the original idea behind The Billie System was to help manage Novetex’s own textile waste, the company realised there was more to do to address the environmental and social impacts stemming from the production and consumption of textiles and the disposal of textile waste. With around 300 employees in China and other parts of Asia, there was a unique opportunity to scale up its upcycling operations and create a bigger positive impact. The challenge was to look for the right partners to source enough quality textile waste for expansion to be economically and commercially viable.  

Novetex also wanted to make sure that it had a clear understanding of all the sustainability claims around its manufacturing processes. More importantly, the company wanted to communicate this carefully and authentically – engaging all audiences it reached while staying true to the core values driving Novetex since day one. From certifications to technical specs of the process, Novetex envisioned proving both the merits and the challenges of its upcycling journey with transparency, accuracy and credibility.

Solution

Novetex engaged The Purpose Business to review both The Billie System and its overall supply chain and operations as the foundation for building its key messaging and potentially expanding its operations. With expertise in sustainable supply chains, our advisors took stock of Novetex’s initiatives and identified gaps and opportunities.  Starting from a baseline review of all existing documentation, certificates, tests and performance metrics, The Purpose Business presented a series of recommendations on how Novetex could improve the credibility of its facilities and processes.

The Purpose Business also assessed the criteria for The Billie System’s textile input and worked with a third-party marketing communications firm in structuring how the company was to convey this initiative in a manner that is clear, authentic and aspirational.

Impact

The Purpose Business helped craft the key messaging around Novetex’s Billie System – outlining how the business practice is environmentally responsible while encouraging the company to acknowledge its limitations as well. The team also helped to articulate the challenges surrounding the operations and delivered recommendations on the actions to take to promote a circular economy in the textile industry.

To upscale their upcycling operations, Novetex partnered with hospitality industry leaders including The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels (HSH) to collect old textile items from linens such as bedsheets and blankets to uniforms. The company then engaged The Purpose Business to outline a take-back policy and a set of protocols to ensure that the textile donations consistently meet the criteria and are suitable materials for The Billie System.

ReThink aimed to create an inaugural two-day event that would help businesses in Hong Kong accelerate change towards a sustainable future.

Challenge

ReThink came to The Purpose Business with a vision to develop a new type of sustainable business event for Hong Kong. Bringing together their experience in producing events with the sustainability expertise of The Purpose Business, ReThink aimed to create an inaugural two-day event that would help businesses in Hong Kong accelerate change towards a sustainable future.

In recognition of the role of NGOs in informing and activating sustainable business in Hong Kong, ReThink wanted to ensure that the partnership and collaboration between corporates and NGOs was clearly evident within the event.

Solution

ReThink engaged The Purpose Business to design and deliver a high-level workshop for 14 sustainable business leaders in Hong Kong. This workshop, the ReThinkTank, identified the key challenges and opportunities facing companies in their journeys to embed sustainability into their business as usual practices.

Following the workshop, The Purpose Business was delighted to receive an expanded brief from ReThink. Using insights from ReThinkTank and their understanding of the sustainability practices in both the private and NGO sectors, The Purpose Business designed the ReThink conference framework and principles of the initial programme, which included securing tier-one speakers. In particular, each of the different conference sessions were designed to emphasise actionable shared learning at every stage of the business cycle.

The project delivered the completed initial programme and framework, in a format easy to update by ReThink’s in-house team according to changes in speakers and sponsors arrangements.

Impact

The audience-driven, action-focused approach provided a solid foundation from which ReThink is set to deliver its inaugural event and its growth plans for 2021 and beyond. The Purpose Business’s experience and understanding of the industry landscape and organisational challenges and ambitions has helped secure ReThink as a headline name in sustainable business in Hong Kong.

Learn more about what sustainability means to ReThink here.

Volvo Ocean Race* believes in racing with purpose. With a stopover in Hong Kong, they wanted to celebrate achievements in sustainability and foster a meaningful dialogue for sustainability excellence for future events.

*This event has since been rebranded as The Ocean Race

Challenge

Held once every three years, Volvo Ocean Race* is the world’s premier offshore sailing competition. For the first time, the race route included a stopover in Hong Kong in 2018.

There was immense support from the Hong Kong community to progress and celebrate the nearly 40-year competition through a summit and workshop that communicated the growing expertise and commitment in sustainable event management.

Collaboration

In collaboration with The Hong Kong Jockey Club and Volvo Ocean Race, The Purpose Business hosted and facilitated a sustainable event management workshop on-site at the Volvo Ocean Race Village, communicating valuable sustainability expertise to industry leaders in Hong Kong. These included key stakeholders, sustainable solution suppliers, government officials, tourism board members, recyclers, composters, caterers, bar operators, club and event professionals, NGOs and sustainability groups.

As part of the workshop, participants had the opportunity to tour the race village to see how the variety of waste reduction and recycling initiatives were being implemented. This included using washable tableware, compostable food packaging and banning single-use plastic water bottles across the site as part of the race’s call to action to #TurnTheTideOnPlastic.

Impact

The inclusion of this programme saw support from a range of key partners which created the opportunity to not only celebrate current achievements in sustainability, but also foster conversations for sustainability excellence in future events.

Learn more about the successes and challenges of the Hong Kong stopover via the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 Sustainability Report on pages 146, 151 and 216.

Century Pacific aimed to create a holistic sustainability strategy to be fully integrated with their business operations, including identifying key environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities, key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets.

Challenge

Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF), listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, is one of the Philippines’ largest food processing, manufacturing, packaging and canning companies. The Group’s commitment to sustainable growth is anchored in its core purpose “to nourish and delight everyone, everyday, everywhere.” Their products are distributed throughout the Philippines and sixty-two countries worldwide.

CNPF launched Mission InSpire in 2018 to fulfil their promise: “We are a sustainable and responsible global company of entrepreneurs that nourishes and delights our customers with, healthier food and beverages through manufacturing excellence, nutrition expertise, trusted brands and passionate people”. Over the years, CNPF has implemented various programmes to help promote a greener Philippines, demonstrating leadership in plastic neutrality and tuna traceability. Moving forward, CNPF aimed to create a holistic sustainability strategy that would be fully integrated with their business operations. They also wanted to identify key environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities, key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets.

Solution

CNPF engaged The Purpose Business to help develop its sustainability strategy for 2020 and beyond. To understand current state of play, TPB reviewed CNPF’s sustainability report and related documents and benchmarked international and local industry peers. Interviews with internal and external stakeholders were then conducted to understand the sustainability issues most important to the business and communities in which CNPF are present. Following this, TPB facilitated a two-day Responsible Business Forum for both CNPF and Shakey’s Philippines (a CNPF entity also working with TPB to enhance their sustainability strategy), further capturing ideas and generating excitement around these potential initiatives.

The Purpose Business also helped bucket initiatives and ideas into four main pillars of CNPF’s sustainability strategy, outlining clear commitments, targets and KPIs per pillar. A governance structure was established to further ensure these commitments are integrated into the company, with clear roles and responsibilities.

Impact

Mission InSpire officially launched CNPF’s efforts to set a clear sustainability roadmap for the next five to ten-years.  Over sixty-five employees and a dozen guest speakers attended the Responsible Business Forum, marking  the first time CNPF engaged all levels of management to discuss sustainability initiatives and brainstorm action plans. Over three hundred ideas across twenty sustainability themes were presented – from plant based food offerings, to renewable energy, to working from home initiatives.  The Responsible Business Forum identified Sustainability Champions, helping to create CNPF’s sustainability governance structure.  The entire engagement provided CNPF with a clear path forward, integrating sustainability into business operations for the next five to ten years. 

Click here to learn more about what sustainability means for Century Pacific.

Shakey’s wanted to build on their existing initiatives to create a holistic sustainability strategy to be fully integrated with their business operations.

Challenge

Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. owns and operates a chain of fast food restaurants in the Philippines, offering pizza, chicken, pasta, soups, salads and desserts.  In 2018, Shakey’s launched Mission InSpire to enact their vision of “being the preferred and dominant family casual dining restaurant in the Philippines, and successful in our chosen overseas markets, serving pizza as our core product”.

Over the years, Shakey’s has demonstrated leadership in areas such as plastic neutrality and community advocacy through their Love ‘Em Down’s job employment program for individuals with downs syndrome. Shakey’s wanted to build on these and create a holistic sustainability strategy to be fully integrated with their business operations.  During the course of Shakey’s engagement with The Purpose Business, the need to set a resilient sustainability strategy became more apparent when the Philippines went into lockdown due to COVID-19.

Solution

Shakey’s, through their majority shareholders at the Century Pacific Group, engaged The Purpose Business to help develop its sustainability strategy for 2020 and beyond. The scope of engagement included reviewing Shakey’s sustainability report and related documents, interviewing internal and external stakeholders and benchmarking industry peers. The Purpose Business then facilitated a two-day Responsible Business Forum for Shakey’s various stakeholders, presenting findings, capturing ideas and generating excitement and buy-in around potential initiatives. 

The Purpose Business also helped organise initiatives and ideas into Shakey’s existing sustainability framework of Pizza, Planet and People, and further refined this by setting a one, two, five to ten-year roadmap with clear commitments, targets and key performance indicators. To address COVID-19 challenges, TPB worked with Shakey’s to identify initiatives they can pursue during and after the lockdown and helped create a governance structure to ensure these commitments are further integrated into the company.

Impact

 Mission InSpire officially launched Shakey’s efforts to set a clear sustainability roadmap for the next five to ten-years while the Responsible Business Forum socialised and identified sustainability initiatives the company was most excited about.  Over sixty-five employees and a dozen guest speakers attended the Responsible Business Forum, marking the first time that Shakey’s, together with Century Pacific Food Inc., engaged all levels of management to discuss sustainability initiatives and brainstorm action plans.  Over three hundred ideas were presented across twenty themes – from plant-based food offerings, to renewable energy, to working from home initiatives.  The Responsible Business Forum also helped identify Sustainability Champions, supporting the creation of a clear governance structure.  The entire engagement provided Shakey’s with a clear path forward on how to integrate sustainability within their operations in the short, medium and long term.

Click here to learn more about what sustainability means for Shakey’s.

HSH wanted to transform the business by understanding what sustainable luxury will look like in the next decade as well as understand what the business implications of this evolution would be.

Challenge

Incorporated in 1866 and one of the first companies to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH) operates a number of the world’s finest luxury hotels under The Peninsula brand as well as a number of strategic real estate and tourism assets.  As 2020 marked the beginning of a new decade, HSH remains committed to upholding their long-term commitment toward sustainable luxury. They wanted to transform the business by understanding what sustainable luxury will look like in the next decade as well as the what the business implications of this evolution might be. 

HSH engaged TPB to curate and facilitate a full day workshop amongst senior leadership to help guide the conversation on objectives and direction for their enhanced sustainability strategy.

Solution

What began as an agenda that focused on unpacking and further articulating the direction of their environmental and social commitments, expanded into a holistic look at how sustainable luxury will show up in the hospitality industry come 2030 and beyond. TPB worked closely with HSH’s senior leaders to focus on further business integration with a regenerative and proactive approach to develop the new sustainability strategy.

Throughout the day, an underlying objective was to cultivate ownership and confidence around the new sustainability commitments and ensure all participants feel a sense of shared responsibility and accountability to delivering on the final strategy.

Impact

The workshop not only delivered on the intended objectives, but also shed light on new topics and commitments as well as presented a platform for every participant to communicate their insights and ideas. At the end of the full day workshop, the senior management felt that their individual desires to move forward came together through a concerted effort and greater sense of ownership to execute the final strategy.

To take the 2019 Green Sevens campaign one step further, HKRU wanted a solution to replace single-use plastic cups over the entire three-day tournament

Challenge

2019 marked the 6th consecutive year Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) has run the Green Sevens campaign during their annual Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens (Rugby Sevens) tournament. There has long been a focus on recycling at Rugby Sevens, though this year HKRU aimed to go one step further with the introduction of reusable cups to replace the single-use plastic cups.

However in Hong Kong, no sporting event with 40,000 spectators per day had implemented a deposit paid reusable pint cup system. Key stakeholders that needed to support the idea included The HKSAR Government through the Environment Bureau (ENB), Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD); co–title sponsors Cathay Pacific and HSBC; and official suppliers Carlsberg Hong Kong, Swire Coca-Cola Hong Kong and Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong; as well as other food and beverage concession servers.

Solution

In addition to maintaining the event’s usual recycling initiatives (e.g. plastic, paper and food), the HKRU made a significant investment in the purchase of 250,000 reusable cups, made from fully recycled plastic with a lifespan of five years. They were collected, washed, sanitised and reused over the entire three-day event.

In 2019, TPB advised on the Green Sevens campaign, supporting HKRU with monitoring and reporting on the campaign’s environmental performance. TPB’s primary role was to coordinate with the many stakeholders involved and assist in engaging volunteers and NGOs through tailored trainings and workshops.

Impact

Over the course of the event, 130,000 reusable cups were in circulation. There were a total of 180,000 washes across the three days, and thereby avoided significant volumes of single-use plastic cups going to landfill.  

The Green Sevens didn’t end there – the reusable cups have gone beyond the Rugby Sevens. They have been used at the Global Rapid Rugby games in Hong Kong and are available for hire via the social purpose organisation, BottLess, for use at other events so that they, too, can reduce their reliance on single-use plastic cups. In addition to tackling single-use plastic cups, the HKRU also banned plastic straws and partnered with Food Angel to redistribute half a tonne of uneaten food after the event.

Gammon Construction sought the help of a trusted partner to facilitate deeper engagement and ensure a robust new approach was realised

Challenge

Gammon Construction Limited is a Hong Kong based construction and engineering contractor with operations and projects in and across China and Southeast Asia. Having achieved many of the aims of the 2020 Sustainability Roadmap and with the ongoing evolution of the construction market landscape, Gammon recognised the opportunity to hit pause and reflect if the sustainability strategy was optimal. This joint venture – privately-owned by Jardine Matheson and Balfour Beatty – wanted to ensure its approach for sustainability was well embedded in the corporate approach and supported their desire to maintain a market leading position. To do this, Gammon sought the help of a trusted partner to facilitate deeper engagement and to ensure a robust new approach was realised.

Solution

Through participating in internal stakeholder meetings, reviewing of previous practice and overlaying sector and market understanding, The Purpose Business supported Gammon in the development of their evolved approach to sustainability, Responsible Growth – 25 by 25. The new approach is anchored in four areas: safety, environment, value chain and people, all with innovation as a uniting concept. The Purpose Business also helped to align the new strategy to key international frameworks like the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The strategy is a crisp direction-setter mainly targeting 25% improvements across a range of objectives to be achieved by 2025.

Impact

The collaboration proved value-adding in several ways. The Executive Committee of Gammon was heavily invested in the entire process, and as a group, ensured the Responsible Growth – 25 by 25 strongly aligned with the business priorities, including vital areas such as improving efficiencies and safety through off-site construction.

First State Stewart Asia aimed to enhance their investment stewardship approach with a methodical process to evaluating portfolio companies’ ESG efforts

Challenge

First State Stewart Asia (FSSA) is an investment management team that specialises in equity funds and manages over US$27 billion across Asia and emerging markets. In recent years, there has been an increase in investor interest to understand how companies manage ESG issues. Fuelled by this and recognising the value in responsible investment, FSSA aimed to enhance their investment stewardship approach with a methodical process to evaluating portfolio companies’ ESG efforts.

Solution

FSSA engaged The Purpose Business to develop a knowledge management tool that would help analysts and portfolio managers have a deeper understanding around ESG issues as well as facilitate more meaningful discussions with their portfolio companies. The tool needed to address not only the issues with the most direct financial impact to the business but also be sensitive to specific factors that inherently influence individual businesses, such as regulation and risk. TPB developed a tool to organise ESG issues that considered both internationally recognised frameworks such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s approach to materiality as well as a company’s existing business strategy, geographical context, impending regulations and potential opportunities.

In addition, due to the brevity of face to face meetings, TPB undertook the challenge of distilling the information for succinct but comprehensive discussions around the company’s most pressing and imminent ESG issues.

Impact

The final knowledge management tool was rolled out to selected pilot companies across different industries within FSSA’s portfolio. It will further be populated for other companies in hopes of facilitating more impactful discussions as well as galvanising them to better understand the implications of their ESG activities. The tool also helps to build capacity within FSSA’s team, advancing their aspirations around responsible investment.

Chow Tai Fook sought to streamline their reporting process, enhance sustainability communications and pursue sustainability that guides into business approaches

Challenge

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group (“Chow Tai Fook”) is one of the world’s leading jewellery groups and is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The Group’s commitment to sustainable growth is anchored in its core values of “Sincerity • Eternity” with the “Smart+ 2020” strategic framework in place to promote long-term innovation in the business, in people and in culture. Its retail network covers Greater China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and the United States. Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group has been investing considerable efforts to look into the long-term sustainability of its operations. When reviewing their sustainability journey, the Group realised that there were opportunities to further drive sustainability efforts – beyond reporting and community philanthropic contributions to a more holistic sustainability strategy. The company sought to streamline reporting process, enhance sustainability communications within various departments and business units and pursue sustainability that guides into business approaches.

Solution

To mark its 90th Anniversary, the Group envisioned driving sustainability with a long term strategy, which includes a set of goals to be achieved by its centennial year, and engaged TPB and Fuji Xerox to bring it to fruition. TPB conducted an internal online survey, interviewed internal and external stakeholders, and benchmarked international and local industry peers, while Fuji Xerox provided a data solution service, iESG, to strengthen data governance and key performance management.  A series of stakeholder engagement exercises deepened our analysis on material topics and informed a materiality assessment, which eventually formed the base of Chow Tai Fook’s sustainability strategy. The project team further shaped the sustainability strategy with reference to the vision, mission and core values of Chow Tai Fook and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

To help Chow Tai Fook facilitate the resources needed to achieve the goals, four priority areas were identified: 1) responsible sourcing; 2) craftsmanship, innovation and technology; 3) resource efficiency and carbon reduction and 4) people focused. Insights from the stakeholder engagement, materiality assessment and data performance were also included in Chow Tai Fook’s 2019 Sustainability Report, meeting the standards of the HKEx ESG Guide.

Impact

“Our Centennial Commitment”, which is the sustainability strategy provides a base for Chow Tai Fook’s 10-year journey and sets the way forward to embrace the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainable development in pursuit of its core values – “Sincerity • Eternity”. Sustainability Champions, who are internal experts from the four priority areas appointed by their Sustainability Committee to translate the strategy into action plans. Using iESG, the Champions visualised data trends and analysis to help them make informed decisions and understand progress on targets. The TPB and Fuji Xerox project team worked collaboratively and purposefully to help Chow Tai Fook bring life the ambitions of the four priority areas.

Hong Kong-based investment and holding company First Pacific wanted to more tightly identify the material issues that were particularly important to their investors

Challenge

Having published their first sustainability report for the year 2016, Hong Kong-based investment and holding company First Pacific wanted to more tightly identify the material issues that were particularly important to their investors. With a head office in Hong Kong, but operations all throughout Asia, First Pacific was keen to understand investors’ perspective on issues across the company’s value and investment chain. The company also wanted to strengthen governance within their ESG (environmental, social and governance) impacts, and build ways to further embed sustainability thinking within its head office staff and the wider group.

Solution

TPB analysed documents from First Pacific and its investee companies to identify the key ESG impacts and issues, particularly in terms of those highlighted by Hong Kong Exchange and GRI reporting standards.

To widen and deepen insight on prioritisation, TPB conducted a materiality exercise, interviews with a range of key stakeholders including investors, investee company representatives and First Pacific head office employees. Examining these two pieces of research together, TPB identified the most significant environmental, social and governance concerns across First Pacific’s breadth of influence. The results of the materiality assessment helped create a solid foundation for the company’s ESG Reports for 2017 and 2018, whilst also enhancing First Pacific’s understanding of emerging ESG trends and risks.

Impact

The results and insights from of the stakeholder interviews were shared with senior representatives for the investee companies at First Pacific’s inaugural sustainability working group, which was convened and facilitated by TPB in 2017 and again in 2018.

The findings helped First Pacific identify opportunities to strengthen ESG impacts within the corporate infrastructure. Following this first piece of work, TPB also advised on updates to key policies, and designed and delivered a training workshop for all staff in the Hong Kong head office. This reinforced First Pacific’s commitment to sustainability by engaging employees and helping them understand how ESG impacts their everyday work.

Metro Pacific Investments Corporation sought to strengthen its approach to ESG, particularly as part of its investor engagement practices

Challenge

A leading infrastructure conglomerate in the Philippines that serves millions of people each day, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) sought to strengthen its approach to ESG, particularly as part of its investor engagement practices. Understanding the need for a fresh perspective to further improve their ESG reporting, MPIC sought to make its disclosures more streamlined and robust and key messages more concise and audience-appropriate for the investment community.

Solution

After having first been invited to review their reporting baseline, MPIC also invited TPB to assist the company in preparing their full 2017 sustainability report. The result of this report led to multiple engagements to strengthen overall ESG disclosures, such as continued training, capacity building and investor-focused reporting. With expertise in managing data across various operating companies in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, TPB developed the narrative that well-positioned MPIC’s contributions to sustainable development, and anchored the report to comprehensively address investor expectations.

TPB also worked with MPIC in its first CDP and Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) submissions, equipping the investor relations team with the capacity to manage disclosures in the coming years. In addition, TPB provided ESG training for key decision-makers across MPIC’s operating companies.

Impact

Over the course of multiple engagements, MPIC has strengthened its ESG disclosures and fulfilled requirements across GRI, CDP and DJSI. This enables their reporting to be responsive to key audiences and communicate their material impacts, risks and opportunities. Better navigating the universe of ESG investment frameworks, MPIC also participated in CDP and DJSI for the first time in 2018, and will continue to disclose its impacts on climate change on these platforms.

TPB celebrates its continuous partnership with MPIC to further advance its ESG reporting and disclosure.

World-class airline, Cathay Pacific, sought to reduce single-use plastic waste in onboard operations while ensuring that the overall plane weight would not cause higher fuel emissions

Challenge

As a world-class international airline, Cathay Pacific along with its subsidiary Cathay Dragon, have been exploring ways to reduce waste and in particular that of single-use plastic. With a fleet of over 200 aircraft connecting Hong Kong to some 250 destinations in 54 countries or territories worldwide, the convenience of single-use plastic has been adopted in many ways as part of the onboard and ground based operations. The challenge Cathay faced particularly for onboard operations was not only reducing single-use plastic waste, but ensuring that any alternatives will not increase the overall weight of the plane which would result in higher emissions from fuel usage.

Solution

TPB was engaged to help with a number of projects within this waste reduction initiative. One of the first was to help develop a strategy which focused on both reducing single-use plastic and enabled Cathay to apply the strategy to other materials to be better prepared in analysing alternatives. A simple statement like: “Plastic can be useful but how much do we really need?” inspired a broader approach to the standard 3 R’s of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Cathay added a new R, Rethink, to encourage people to first stop and think about the real need for any plastic, before then deferring to the 3Rs. Read about the 4Rs here.

Another project was around the theme of “you cannot manage what you don’t measure”. TPB worked with Cathay to review items regularly loaded onto the passenger section of the aircraft, such as meal trays, headsets and blankets, to determine if the item itself was made of plastic and whether it was a single-use item or came wrapped in single-use plastic packaging. This resulted in a focus list of high volume items for both customer facing and non-customer facing operations. This list has been used by the Sustainability team to engage with other Cathay teams to look at potential alternatives to these single-use plastics.

Impact

Through the Rethink part of the 4Rs, different teams became more aware of how and why single-use plastic items were used as well as why they were wrapped in plastic.  What became clear was that some single-use items were no longer required irrespective of whether they were plastic or not.

Beyond the impact of changing how single-use plastic was used to serve over 35 million passengers each year, Cathay also looked at its use by the 26,600 employees which resulted in all single-use plastic straws, stirrers and cutlery being removed from their headquarters operation. While Cathay Pacific hasn’t served plastic straws onboard flights since the 1980s, they were still using plastic straws in the lounges and plastic stirrers on flights and in lounges.  With removing plastic stirrers and straws from their flights and global lounges they will avoid using over 32 million single-use pieces of plastic each year starting from 2019.

Click here to view Cathay’s latest video on single-use plastics and leftover food entitled, You Asked Us: Sustainability.

AES Vietnam sought to improve communications on how they are enabling growth through sustainability performance

Challenge

A global Fortune 500 company, AES is an energy solutions provider with a focus on accelerating sustainable development. Operating one of the largest foreign direct investments in Vietnam’s energy sector, the AES Vietnam team sought to improve communications on how they are enabling growth through sustainability performance.

At the onset of commercial operations of its award-winning power project (Mong Duong II), the company adopted sustainability reporting in 2015 according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards. The company also looked for ways to effectively engage stakeholders to harness their world-class technologies to further support development in Vietnam.

Solution

AES Vietnam sought partnership with TPB right at the start of their sustainability journey. We worked together in the preparation of the 2015 and 2016-2017 sustainability reports to communicate authentic stories that capture its operations and speak to key audiences. Throughout the reporting cycles, TPB engaged a cross-functional committee, championed by the CEO and driven by the Plant Manager, to develop the report themes and understand GRI disclosure.

Diverse stakeholders of the Mong Duong II project were consulted, ranging from the local community to contractors to business partners, whose views were captured in AES Vietnam’s narrative.

TPB also supported the company’s ambitions to map contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shared in the 2016-2017 report.

Impact

AES Vietnam has produced high-quality sustainability reports that communicate the story of a strong, competitive, and inspired local team—defined by values and committed to sustainability.

Born from repeat engagements between TPB and AES, with a consistent shared enthusiasm, the reports communicate material impacts, management approaches, and performance milestones that showcase the company’s world-class stature.

The company’s 2015 report was shortlisted for Best First Sustainability Report, and the 2016-2017 report shortlisted in the Best Stakeholder Reporting category at the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards.

The reports also contribute to how AES is seen to support the sustainable development agenda among the National Government and the country’s private sector. AES has been recognised as among the Top 100 Most Sustainable Enterprises in Vietnam in 2016 and 2017.

Shangri-La sought support to engage their stakeholders to verify ESG issues and compliance standards

Challenge

With an aggressive growth and expansion strategy, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, under the Hong Kong listed Shangri-La Asia Limited, has kept its commitment to demonstrating progress in sustainability through ESG reporting over the years. In 2015, it introduced a Responsible Business section in its Annual Report and departed from issuing stand-alone sustainability reports to be more practical, effective and efficient with its disclosures.

This focus shifted efforts to better prepare for the stricter reporting guidelines, such as the GRI Standards which were imminently coming into force. Shangri-La decided that early adoption was going to be a wise decision for building internal readiness and capability.

Solution

TPB was engaged in 2016 to conduct stakeholder engagement and review materiality of ESG issues to ensure better compliance and true referencing of the GRI Standards. Suppliers, corporate clients and a mix of senior leadership from head office and at the hotel levels were interviewed to gauge their impressions on the company’s sustainability performance. Discussions informed not only the report content but where the company could go with even more meaningful activation of its strategy.

TPB has since supported Shangri-La in succeeding reports. The 2017 Responsible Business section covered the ESG performance of 95 hotels.

Impact

Shangri-La has remained the sole constituent in the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index from the Hotels, Resorts & Cruise Lines sector and listed in the Hang Seng Sustainability Index since 2012. It also continues to disclose to key reporting platforms such as the UN Global Compact, and CDP.

Swire Properties looked to make a change in its ninth sustainable development report to launch their new 2030 sustainable development strategy

Challenge

In 2016, Swire Properties Limited (SPL) looked to make a change in its ninth sustainable development report. Unlike previous reports, SPL wanted this edition to not only showcase the company’s stellar performance across the focus areas, but also use this opportunity to launch the sustainable development vision and their new 2030 sustainable development strategy (“SD 2030 Strategy”).

Solution

TPB was engaged to help prepare the report narrative with content prepared by SPL to ensure integrity and alignment with GRI G4 and the HKEx ESG Guide. A punchy and factual short version “brochure” was also released to complement the long version of the report.

The report narrative was shaped around the five pillars of the company’s new SD 2030 Strategy: Places, People, Partners, Performance (Environment) and Performance (Economic). Underpinning these pillars were concepts of innovation and experimentation, communication and engagement.

TPB was pleased to be part of building a report that will be instrumental in engaging various stakeholders to understand the new strategy and garner support to successfully implement the SD 2030 strategy.

Impact

The narrative helped to amplify SPL’s existing methodology and approach in a more relatable and impactful way to stakeholders . TPB carried on assisting SPL in the preparation of its 2017 report, which the company reports to have had over 3,000 readerships. Positive comments were attributed to its reference to the UN SDGs and the short version summary, which effectively communicated a complex sustainable development story. SPL’s sustainable development reports have also garnered accolades from HKICPA, Occupational Safety and Health Council and a number of global and regional awards, including:

MerComm | Annual Report Competition (ARC) International Awards – Aug 2018

Gold (1st Prize) in Specialized Annual Report: Sustainability Report – Asia, Mid-East & Pacific

Gold (1st Prize) in PDF Version of Annual Report: Sustainability Report – Asia, Mid-East & Pac

League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) | 2017 Vision Awards – Jul 2018

Silver (3rd Prize) – Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Silver (3rd Prize) – Sustainability Report – Asia-Pacific

Trinity aimed to develop a standalone report to demonstrate its longstanding commitment to sustainability and compliance with new regulations

Challenge

Trinity Group has made a mark as one of China’s largest menswear retail networks. The Group manages four international menswear brands, namely Gieves & Hawkes, Kent & Curwen, Cerruti 1881 and D’URBAN.

In 2016, Trinity sought to develop a standalone report to demonstrate its longstanding commitment to sustainability and to comply with newly issued regulations from the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong governing environmental, social and governance disclosures.

Solution

The Purpose Business worked with the management team at Trinity to identify the environmental and social impacts of their operations and sales activities in Greater China and Europe, as well as their approaches to brand management and supply chain management. This analysis formed the basis for Trinity’s first Environmental, Social Governance Report, in which each of the main sections of the report focused on the Group’s four corporate values of being ethical, being a good corporate citizen, respecting the environment and respecting communities.

TPB designed a reporting framework to help guide Trinity to demonstrate goal progress in the years to come and also provided training for ESG data collection and KPI calculations for the Group’s key departments.

Following the 2016 report, TPB was invited and commissioned to write the 2017 report.

Impact

The release of Trinity’s 2016 and 2017 standalone ESG reports has helped to strengthen sustainability stewardship within the organisation. During 2017, Trinity enhanced its system of environmental data collection and implemented a number of sustainability initiatives including, among others, establishing an Animal Welfare Policy to ensure the humane treatment of animals in its supply chain.

Trinity believes in Operating with Integrity and is working to integrate sustainability initiatives throughout its business, including into its Code of Conduct that serves as a comprehensive policy and guide for day-to-day business conduct to serve customers and suppliers.

UnionBank sought meaningful engagement with stakeholders to better understand key issues, and enhance their approach to sustainability

Challenge

As a leading financial institution in the Philippines, UnionBank sought validation on their sustainability approach initiated in 2016. This required further understanding and insights from internal and external stakeholders to better understand key issues and support the bank’s approach.

A refreshed framework of UnionBank’s focus areas would further improve their sustainability agenda. Additionally, the bank was preparing to publish their first standalone sustainability report according to the newly launched Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards.

Solution

The Purpose Business was invited to work with UnionBank’s sustainability team to undertake a series of steps towards validating the sustainability agenda – the first being to develop a stakeholder engagement plan. This gauged understanding of how the approach, ‘Elevating Communities through Smart Banking’ resonated with the bank’s stakeholders.

Based on the findings from the SE plan, TPB validated UnionBank’s material issues that helped to shape their sustainability focus areas. Furthermore, a sustainability governance structure was mapped out with key performance indicators outlining clear roles and expectations.

Insights from the SE plan findings were also included in the GRI Standards report, which served as the basis for a continued stakeholder engagement beyond 2016.

Impact

The work between TPB and UnionBank’s sustainability team saw four major accomplishments:

1. A clearer understanding of “Elevating Communities” and “Smart Banking” from stakeholders

2. A more focused sustainability strategy by articulating a three pillar approach: Purpose, Planet and People – which guided content for “Driven by a Higher Purpose” sustainability report

3. Development of the sustainability framework that brought together the bank’s most material economic, environmental and social issues

4. The sustainability governance framework allowed for better alignment on targeting KPIs and future goals

TPB also ensured that the report encompassed the evolved messaging as well as complied with GRI Standards.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels wanted to find a sustainable business solution that is true to their brand and culture

Challenge

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH) has long been committed to building their business to be sustainable for the long term. Recognising the increasing pressure that environmental and social issues have on commercial operations, HSH wanted to engage issues experts to work with its internal teams, to find a solution that is true to the brand and the culture.

HSH charted a roadmap with an actionable plan towards responsible growth that would highlight and strengthen the group’s overall commitment to sustainability.

Solution

Recognising that sustainable luxury is a challenging concept, HSH invited The Purpose Business, to develop a starting point to address food waste and single-use plastics.

Through teamwork and collective insights, a 3-step approach was implemented towards a roadmap: 1) understand the greatest areas of impact, 2) explore different options that met service and quality standards and 3) further collaborate with other sustainability leaders & experts to tackle the industry’s most material issues.

Impact

A roadmap towards HSH’s 2020 vision has been set, in which single-use plastics across all operations will undergo a process of reduction and replacement with sustainable alternatives alongside an increase in recycling.

Through this plan and dialogue and collaboration with like-minded partners that inspire, HSH continues to strive toward achieving a sustainable future.

MTR Corporation wanted better ways to engage with the Hong Kong community, and strengthen their stakeholder engagement strategy for environmental NGOs

Challenge

With over 5.5 million people riding the MTR every day, the MTR Corporation sought for better ways to engage with the Hong Kong community.

Having worked closely with MTR Corporation over two reporting cycles from 2014-2015, as well as conducting stakeholder interviews for their 2015 sustainability report, TPB was invited to strengthen their long-term NGO engagement strategy.

Solution

To capture a sense of community amongst daily riders, The Purpose Business looked to shift the traditional report format into a dynamic storytelling strategy. Focused on human connection, the concept, Life of the City, was created and executed as a sustainability report and interactive microsite.

TPB designed and facilitated two workshops to instigate a trusted space for environmental NGOs to understand MTR’s business model, positioning and overall strategy. In the same forum, MTR was led to the insights that drive NGOs to champion certain issues and consider collaborating on generating solutions.

Impact

Following the workshops, MTR has continued to collaborate with environmental NGOs to gauge feedback for their annual sustainability report and overall strategic performance.

With the aim to build strong relationships with environmental NGOs over time, MTR promises to continue improving on key issues including climate change and waste management, amongst others.

Universal Robina wanted to put purpose at the heart of their business transformation, to support their growth in ASEAN and Oceania

Challenge

For over 60 years, Universal Robina Corporation (URC) has been a leading snack foods and beverages company in the Philippines. With growing presence in the ASEAN and Oceania markets, URC realised the need to guide their vision and business strategy towards one that places sustainability at its core.

With over 13,000 employees, full scale operations in 12 countries and product exports across the globe, URC was met with various roadblocks. The first step to overcoming these challenges was to gain group-wide alignment on the need for change across management levels and business units, with sustainability as the driving force. The second step was setting up internal processes and implementing the brand’s first ever sustainability strategy and report.

Solution

The Purpose Business engaged with URC’s senior management and executive teams across different functions to develop their sustainability strategy. Part of this was conducting a comprehensive materiality assessment, and through workshops, peer benchmarking, stakeholder interviews and focus group discussions, the “Purposeful Transformation” strategy was born.

With an emphasis on five key focus areas for change, including natural resources, people, products, supply chain and economic performance, URC’s sustainability strategy ignites a process of purposeful transformation, propelling the company as an industry leader in sustainability.

Impact

As the company continues to grow, sustainability will play a more critical role in the business strategy and culture. URC has since identified and developed more sustainable ways to create value, such as waste synergies across the group and offering healthier products from their brands.

Following the launch of the Purposeful Transformation strategy, the company has seen a boost in stakeholder and investor confidence, with resolute support for the company to embark on a journey of sustainability leadership.