Recent Release | 13 Jan 2022
Sustainability as a transformation catalyst: Trailblazers turn aspiration into action
Thought Leadership Team
Oxford Economics
IBM’s Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics surveyed just under 2,000 executives in 32 countries in 2021. Key executives included Chief Sustainability Officers and Chief Innovation Officers, among many others. We wanted to find out the impact of acting on sustainability strategy: does it hurt innovation or upend the path toward digital transformation? We found that this new corporate priority—the sustainability agenda—can actually be a catalyst for transformation and innovation.
Becoming a sustainable enterprise is not easy. Many corporations are committed to sustainability, but only a few have a clear strategy to achieve those goals. Moreover, lack of data, technological barriers, and customer resistance all pose significant barriers to sustainability initiatives. Integrating digital transformation and sustainability initiatives can be a powerful lever to encourage progress.
About the team
Our Thought Leadership team produces original, evidence-based research made accessible to decision-makers and opinion leaders. Principals for this project included:
Tom Ehrbar
Senior Editor, Thought Leadership
+1 646 668 5794
Tom Ehrbar
Senior Editor, Thought Leadership
New York, United States
Tom Ehrbar sits at the centre of the editorial and production flow for all Thought Leadership studies, overseeing the firm’s primary research activities and managing the group’s extensive global editorial network of more than 500 researchers, writers, and analysts. Tom has worked on a range of research programmes, from global talent and diversity studies to surveys of financial advisors and wealthy investors to global country risk indicators.
Tom joined Oxford Economics in 2012 after two decades at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), where he managed a team of editors focused on cross-border trade and finance. While at the EIU he also contributed to client research papers on topics ranging from a review of labour trends in the Mozambique mining sector to the prospects for private equity in Latin America. He is the editor of Business International’s Guide to International Licensing (1992). Tom holds a BA in English from Kenyon College.
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