Good for business…business for good

Three short steps to becoming an impactful family business

Every journey starts with a single step. Ours was to speak to several family businesses to understand why they decided to embark on their impact journeys, the challenges they faced and how they’re progressing towards their goals.

We got many valuable insights. But we also saw that family businesses are perfectly placed to inspire larger companies worldwide to be a force for good. The information we gained helped us create three clear steps that have been turned into a compass to becoming an impactful family business.

On this page you will find our three clear steps to help family businesses understand how to become a force for good along with stories of change to inspire you on your own impact journeys.

Good for Business… Business for Good Compass

A practical workbook guide

Maybe you’re wondering how your business might achieve its purpose and maximize its impact. Perhaps you’ve started your journey but got diverted on the way. Or you might be wondering how you can ingrain positive impact in your business for years to come. Whatever your reasons for reading, you’ve come to the right place.

While the compass guides you logically through each step, we know every business is at a different stage on the road to becoming a force for good. So, feel free to read the compass from start to finish, or to peruse the chapters of greatest interest. There’s no wrong way to go. And remember, if you feel you need some one-to-one support, UBS is here to help. Just get in touch and we’ll accompany you on your journey.

Ready? Let’s get started.

You can also get a copy from your client advisor.

Comprehend

Understanding the need to change

Before tackling an issue, you first need to understand it. That means recognizing the drivers demanding on businesses to make a positive impact:

  • Compliance and regulation
  • Stakeholder demand
  • Employee engagement

It’s equally important to understand the opportunities that committing to – and communicating – your values and goals can bring to your family business:

  • Win over customers with new products and services
  • Manage costs over the long term
  • Attract and keep top talent

Discover the questions you need to ask yourself.

Ask your client advisor for a copy of the Compass.

There’s a growing awareness among companies that if they want to attract capital, they need to engage transparently with investors, and act on their concerns.
Michael Baldinger, Chief Sustainability Officer, UBS

Family businesses on their journey to achieving impact

Alessandro Garrone

Executive Deputy Chairman, ERG

"Perhaps the hardest part was trying to change traditional mindsets within the previous generation."

Marcelo Behar

Vice President, Sustainability and Group Affairs, Natura &Co (Avon, Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop)

"There's a lot of beauty in the world. The biggest challenge now is working out how to adopt practices that will regenerate the world's living systems."

Michael McCain

President and CEO, Maple Leaf Foods

"It's not enough for businesses to talk about sustainability. Figuring out what to do is the easy part. But actually getting it done – that's where the real work starts."


Patrick Firmenich

Chairman of the Board, Firmenich

"Our core values have always been there. What's important to us hasn't changed. What we call sustainability now, we used to call a standard of ethics, but for us, it's the same."

Julie Smolyansky

President and CEO, Lifeway Foods

"The time is now for business leaders like me to speak up, lead and scale our values."

Jim McCann

Jim McCann

Founder and Chairman, 1-800-Flowers.com

"What's really changed is our perception of what our community and customers want and expect from us."


Pedro Carvajal

Pedro Carvajal

CEO, Carvajal

"We said we're not the government and we can't replace it. We're a foundation that just wants to help create a better society – and you're the best people to tell us how to do that. From that moment, we started earning people's trust and confidence."

Ton Goedmakers

Ton Goedmakers

CEO, Vebego

Giuseppe Santagada

COO Germany/ Switzerland, Vebego

"It's like the butterfly effect, where one small change leads to a massive impact. Someone sitting on a train will have a positive experience. And as they get off, they'll pass that positivity on to other people. The impact can be huge. And I think it starts with us."

Sid Amalean

Sid Amalean

Head of Sustainable Business, MAS Holdings

Amanthi Perera

Head of Social Sustainability, MAS Holdings

"It's about having the courage to face challenges head on and to do what it takes to create meaningful change – that's what drives us at MAS"


Pedro Carvajal

Andreas Jacobs

Former Chairman of the Board, Barry Callebaut

"I think I was only able to push the company to get there because we were key shareholders and I was chairman. Without that family influence, we probably wouldn't have approved such projects."

Portrait of Florian Funck

Florian Funck

Chief Financial Officer, Franz Haniel & Cie

"For us, it's about being in business for a very long time – not just succeeding for the next five years. It's not a game about winning or losing. It's about staying in the game."

Portrait of Johan H. Andresen

Johan H. Andresen

Owner and Chair, Ferd

"We want to attract great people who can change things. I'm not Plato's philosopher king, Warren Buffett or Elon Musk. I don't know where we're going. But I attract people with great values and potential. And, basically, I let them loose."


Portrait of André Hoffmann

André Hoffmann

Vice Chairman, Roche

"We need to change how we measure impact. We measure profit. But profit is just a concept and a system we've invented to define success. If we only measure money, we're only capturing a fraction of human activity. We're missing all the unpaid positive work we do, like running clubs and caring for our children. These activities are the essence of our social fabric. But no one's measuring them."

Ton Goedmakers

Yancey Hai

Chairman, Delta Electronics

"A lot of people think sustainability is a waste of money. We needed to prove that saving money means making money."

Ho Ren Hua

Thai Wah Public Company

Ho Ren Yung

Banyan Tree Group

Ho Ren Chun

Family Office

"We're here to stay and we're here for the long term, to weather crises and global events for multiple decades."


Continue your journey

The world’s challenges are too complex to tackle alone. Only by working together can we hope to solve them for good. Like you, we want to lead by example. We’ve started our journey to making a positive impact, and we’d love you to join us. So what do you say? That sounds like a good move to us. To find out more about how UBS can help make your family business as impactful as possible, please contact your UBS Financial Advisor.

For more insights, please take a look at our positioning paper.