Harvard Business Review
Businesses today face increased pressure from regulatory bodies, consumers, political activism, and global supply chain dependencies to embrace ESG frameworks in their business strategy and daily operations. However, the dilemma arises out of a perceived dichotomy between ESG strategy and outcomes versus business strategy and goals. Converting ESG strategy into a well-executed roadmap that aligns with the overall business strategy, delivering clear economic value remains a fundamental challenge, due to the dichotomy between strategy, risk, causality, and sustainability with data acting as the centrifugal force.
Solution:
Leaders should boldly innovate and fearlessly experiment with embedding sustainability in their corporate goals by leveraging strategy simulation through a data-driven and AI-enabled platform that unlocks risks, calculates value, and highlights key interdependencies across functions in a safe environment.
This platformization of high-fidelity risk and strategy simulation will help organizations unlock value through a net new business model that weaves sustainability in the flow of work and helps the business make more ethical choices, bring better consumer experience, and make the planet a better place to live while taking care of shareholders’ interests.
Benefits:
Platform-led modeling will drive faster, better, and more data-led, inclusive decisions for leaders at scale.
In addition to leaders, when mid-managers and executives witness the power of platform-led models with AI and ML functions built into the decision-making processes, it leads to the democratization of the hitherto elite “strategy functions and processes”, leading to an increasingly more sustainable business.
The heatmaps and causals emanating from platform-led modeling and simulation lead to clarity and greater transparency around the green value creation process, attracting investors' interest.
Platform and data-led strategy simulation will be the new normal for enabling sustainability and addressing the current dichotomy between climate action and profitability.
Chandan Chowdhury is a Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems (Practice) at the Indian School of Business (ISB). He is also the Executive Director of the Munjal Institute for Global Manufacturing and the Punj-Lloyd Institute of Infrastructure Management at ISB.
Additionally, Professor Chowdhury serves as a Member of the Board of Governors at IIM Sambalpur and Lamrin Tech Skills University.
Before joining ISB, Professor Chowdhury worked in the corporate sector and was associated with three major multinational companies, where he held positions such as Managing Director and Country Manager. He served Dassault Systèmes for over five years, initially as Managing Director, India Geo, and subsequently as Vice President, Global Affairs.
During his last academic appointment, he was Professor, Dean (Academy), and Chairman of the Board of Research at IIM Mumbai (formerly known as NITIE- National Institute of Industrial Engineering, established as a joint initiative between the United Nations and the Government of India in 1963).
He is passionate about leveraging technology to make the world a better place. He served as an expert panel member at NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India, Government of India), helping to develop the Manufacturing India@2035 roadmap. He is also Chairman of the Technical Committee (Management and Productivity) at the Bureau of Indian Standards.
Professor Chowdhury is currently leading several research projects of national importance, such as ‘A Decade of Infrastructure Development in India: trends and Insights’, ‘Challenges and Opportunities for accelerating MSME’s growth’, ‘Making India a Skill Capital of the World,’ ‘India’s readiness for the 4th and the 5th Industrial revolution,’ and ‘Future of Jobs’.
He holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and a PhD from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
He holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and a PhD from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
