SustainabiliUtyat Staples - Values that Move Us

Summary from the Front End of Innovation Confernce in Boston, May 2008.

Sustainability is not something that has come to Staples as a marketing cover, but the result of values that were at the company’s core from the beginning and surfaced as they saw an opportunity to blend market sensitivity with good business strategy and decisions. Their focus on sustainability has evolved as part of the culture, involving everyone from bottom to top. This has helped Staples become the world’s largest ecommerce company with global sales in excess of $20 billion.

It has evolved into market driven solutions with short and long term benefits. Staples, a 22-year old company, operated 1400 stores worldwide. Sustainability goals represent significant benefits for their customers and their investors. Buckley outlined a number of goals which involve cooperation of their global supply chain – both secondary and tertiary vendors. Twenty-five percent of the products they sell are under the Staples brand. These result in waste reduction for the entire supply chain and permit the company to insist on end of life solutions for products like electronics. Targets also include a 7% carbon reduction from 2001 to 2010 in spite of continued growth.

Goals include overall 15% reduction in energy use, 20% green power use, investment in new technologies, construction of LEEDS certified buildings, increasing the size of average orders and overall reduction of carbon impact.

These goals are being achieved through education of the company, its customers and suppliers. Additionally, philanthropy programs in the form of youth venture programs include stipends, micro finance and social entrepreneurship which demonstrate the organization’s commitment to sustainability.

Office products do make a difference. Staples’ offering of products and services make it easier for customers to do the right thing. Anticipating rising competition for resources like forest products and energy, Staples has encouraged suppliers to make social, economic and environmentally responsible decisions. Resulting strategies include reduction of paper-based catalogs (10% per year), raising recycled content of paper products to 30% post consumer waste and 50% FSC certified wood fiber, developing products like hanging file holders of 50% recycled paper and 50% reclaimed cotton fiber from the waste from blue jeans manufacturing.

Energy is also a major opportunity to extend sustainability. A simple strategy like limiting the speed of their delivery trucks to 60 mph resulted in a savings of 540,000 gallons of diesel fuel last year. Staples also partnered with 3rd party solar energy suppliers to install solar panels on roofs of its stores and warehouses. A 300,000 sq. ft. distribution center in Ontario, Canada has achieved 85% off grid energy use which reduces the dependence on volatile energy sources.

This transformational business behavior is the result of a company culture which encourages innovation from the bottom up. Instead of viewing situations as compliance requirements, the company cultivates opportunities to set new standards for innovative solutions.

RETURN TO: Front End of Innovation Speaker List