Business’s Commitment to Sustainable Development Goals: An analysis using the Five Ps framework

There has been a long-standing demand on businesses to play an increasingly larger role in sustainable development. This demand is for issues that contribute to the creation of a sustainable world; ranging from poverty alleviation to climate change. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were unanimously adopted by 193 UN member states in September 2015 and calls upon the central and diverse role that the private sector can play to deliver on the SDGs during the 15-year period, 2016-2030. This paper has two major contributions: First, it analyzes member companies of Business Call to Action (BCtA), an international initiative launched at the United Nations in 2008, to identify SDGs that are most impacted by the private sector. Second, the global analysis draws attention to the role of the private sector in addressing the sustainability challenges in five geographical regions of the world, through their contributions to the SDGs. Using the ‘five Ps’ framework, the results show that some SDGs are more impacted than others, thereby implying that these SDGs will substantially benefit from the success of the private sector while others could be left behind. The findings provide practical recommendations for businesses and stakeholders to use BCtA members as role models to integrate specific SDGs into their business activities and thereby contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.