University students help Proton achieve sustainability goals

As part of Proton’s sustainability efforts, we partnered with Jönköping International Business School, JIBS. The university was pleased with the initiative and immediately decided that our needs and assignment could serve as an entire course. The aim of the assignment is to give Proton a more in-depth understanding of what areas of sustainability we should focus on, based on our stakeholders’ expectations and requirements.

By Emma Ohliw /

Svedberg

early 80 students visited the production units in Skillingaryd and Värnamo on one occasion. They were split into groups and given a tour where they learned about the businesses. CEO David Gustafsson presented the group and Proton’s Sustainability Manager Maria Thom described and clarified the students’ assignment.

“It is clear that today’s young people are dedicated to sustainability and care about the climate,” Maria said. “This was a group of students with a true Proton spirit. It takes courage to ask hard, very concrete, questions about a company’s sustainability measures, and those are just the type of people we think are needed in the workforce today if we really want to make a change.”

The course is called “Organization Theory for purpose and profit” and it includes anonymous in-depth interviews with some 50 of Proton’s stakeholders, divided up according to the group’s business areas. The stakeholders were very positive to Proton’s initiative, which will hopefully lead to even more sustainable business.

“The climate is important to everyone,” says Janis Aprubs. “We’re going to be seeing more and more consequences of our actions if we don’t do something now. The population is growing faster and faster, so we need to conserve our resources and take care of the planet we live on.”

His classmate Anton Johansson agrees.

“If companies don’t work with sustainability or demonstrate the will to do so, they won’t be interesting to me as employers when I graduate.”

And what was the result of the students’ interviews with Proton’s stakeholders?

The students were split into 16 groups, which each reported their results in a fullday event with lots of insightful presentations and concrete recommendations about circularity, recycling, transports and choice of materials. The clearest focus areas were about the communication of the sustainability measures and transfer of knowledge.

Communication creates value

It was obvious that the stakeholders wanted a lot more information about Proton’s sustainability measures. They want to know which sustainability goals we work with, what results we’ve achieved and what our requirements are of them as stakeholders. They also urged us to tell more about the progress we’re making in sustainability, which might encourage more companies to focus on the area.

Transfer of knowledge

The interviews revealed that many stakeholders do not feel they have enough expertise in sustainability. They feel uncertain about how to approach the issue, and above all where to start. The students suggest that Proton invite them in to meetings, workshops, networking events or conferences where we bring together a variety of stakeholders to highlight specific sustainability issues. This would give Proton a forum where we can spread our knowledge and the information we want, while the participants can learn from each other. The students also recommended that we use our employees more, also through workshops, to take advantage of innovative ideas and knowledge that surely exist internally.

“Sustainable entrepreneurship is a relatively new approach, where we focus on sustainability in various parts of a company’s operations,” says Pierre Sindambiwe, Ph.D. and external teacher at Jönköping University/JIBS. “It is extremely valuable to us as a university and in the Sustainable Enterprise Development programme to work closely with the business community to give the students insight into how things work in the real world. Giving them a clear, concrete assignment from a company like Proton also creates significant added value.”

When asked why sustainability is important, the students were clear.

The students encourages Proton to communicate our sustainability measures online, in newsletters, in social channels, in presentations and also through various networks. They also recommend us to be transparent and modest in our communications, to remain credible so we can succeed in our sustainability measures.

“We are very grateful for the help and engagement of JIBS and above all the students who brought us these insightful, honest recommendations,” says Maria Thom, Sustainability Manager at the Proton Group. “It is important for us to work closely with the schools and the students, as they are our future. And we’re extra pleased to discover how unwavering they are, how they see more opportunities than limitations, while it is very clear that sustainability is a focal issue for them.”