Sjoerd Vijfvinkel and Nasser Bouman - Founders of VNBconsulting
Saturday, 23 January 2010 | Spin-Offs and Start-Ups
The Journal Europe Future Leadership Institute invited Sjoerd Vijfvinkel and Nasser Bouman to portray their start-up VNBconsulting.
Start at the Erasmus School of Economics
In August of 2008 our journey started with an International Scientific Research Project at study association EUREOS of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. This project constituted the organization and management of a scientific research project abroad (outside of the Netherlands) and the organization of a symposium where the research results would be presented. In addition, the research results and our general vision were to be published early 2010 in a book. One of the big challenges of this project was the fact we would have to finance the research, the symposium and the publication of the book ourselves by contracting investors and sponsors.
At first we formed a team of motivated and high potential students of the Master Programme Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Organization Economics at the Erasmus School of Economics. We brought together 13 people with an international background. Collectively we chose our research topic and a destination outside Europe for the conduction of the research. After some preliminary research and heavy discussions we came to the conclusion that the most interesting topic would be ‘sustainability in the business environment'. Sustainability was rising in interest both in society as well as in the business community. 'Sustainability' seemed to be a cost increasing activity, especially for SME's (Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises). Most of the frontrunners in exploiting a sustainable business were aware of the marketing power of a sustainable image; for many organizations this even seemed to be the prime reason of undertaking sustainability related activities. However, there are also many efficiency gains and alternative ways to design and manufacture products which are good both for the environmental aspects as for the financial aspects of the organization. This interested us in answering the question why not everyone is already heavily involved with exploiting a sustainable business. We therefore proposed the research question: For whom does it pay to be sustainable? The scope of the research was focused on the relationship between the profitability of the small and medium sized manufacturing organizations and the accompanying level of environmental sustainability. This implies a search for interaction effects: What general characteristics of a firm influence the relationship between sustainability and financial performance.
The research project
The most suited area for our research seemed to be Shanghai, China. The self proclaimed world financial capital of the future was clearly of interest to us when researching a topic like sustainability. In the end, the magnitude of the Chinese economy and especially the future Chinese economy implies that if China does not pay attention to sustainability, all the efforts of the rest of the world will be almost futile. Furthermore, comparing the results of organizations located in Shanghai with organizations located in Rotterdam would bring a new view on the matter. We therefore decided to execute the research in Rotterdam as well. Such a comparison between two areas (that have been twin cities for 30 years) would provide us with more insight from a practical point of view as well. These areas have several similarities, but also show many differences.
After determining the research topic and area the biggest challenge turned out to be the funding of our project. The whole project would only be executed if sufficient funds were gathered through sponsoring. We had a few months to realize this and especially in a recession year this was proven to be a difficult task. The first most important aspect when contacting organizations about this is to be prepared. Before contacting potential partners we looked carefully at what the specific organization was doing and what we could give them in exchange for sponsoring. For a government organization this could mean research on a topic that is closely linked to their strategy (sustainability). For commercial firms this could mean contact and awareness of their firm. Other firms might like to have a general connection of their firm with the Erasmus University or the topic of sustainability. When contacting these organizations the most important step is to organize a meeting with your contact person. When you have an appointment you can convince them of the quality of the project and, more importantly, you can directly react to the desires of the people at the other side of the table. When doing this, it proved important to be flexible. During multiple conversations with one of the potential main sponsors we decided to undertake the same research in Rotterdam as well. Besides being interesting from a research perspective, the choice to do the research in Rotterdam as well enabled us to attract a big sponsor. In the end it all comes down to whether individuals of the potential sponsor are willing to participate in the project. We were able to acquire more money then we projected what enabled us to organize a bigger symposium then originally planned.
During the acquisition of funds, the research also had to be set up. A questionnaire was constructed and we had to determine which firms to contact in China and the Netherlands. In February of 2009 we were about to leave for two and a half weeks to Shanghai. We had planned some interviews up front with managers at Chinese firms but not nearly the amount we were aiming for. We then decided to take a different approach. During our trip we split up in teams of 2 or 3 people and just knocked on the door of every company we could find. During our stay the plans were discussed from day to day to search for a somewhat random sample and at the same time a representative group of the region Shanghai. Most of the time the first person we ran into was the guard, who often did not speak any English. Luckily, many were reluctant to send a foreigner away because foreigners usually mean business. Therefore the guard usually called a manager or owner who could speak (some) English. We asked this person to participate in the research and a lot of times they were willing to do so. The fact that in Chinese (or Asian) culture it is not easy to say no helped us a lot in this respect. But most of the time people were sincerely eager to show what their business is about. Just like many Chinese, they want to show the world what is going on in their country. After all, a lot is happening in China. There is a vibe of change and prosperity in China and especially in the city of Shanghai.
In total around 180 Chinese firms participated in the study and around 170 in the Netherlands. The next step was to do tests with the obtained data to see whether more sustainable firms are performing better or worse compared to less sustainable firms. The general conclusion of this study was that more sustainable firms have a higher probability to have a higher profit compared to less sustainable firms. We also found that firms may use sustainability to enhance their performance in distinctly different ways. More detailed research results can be found in our book that will be published early 2010.
The symposium
From this point on (May of 2009), we were with the two of us again. We started writing the book and at the same time started with the organization of the symposium. Besides our own presentation at the symposium, we wanted to have other people within the field of sustainability to give a presentation. With the acquired funds we were able to organize a much larger symposium than anticipated. In this regard, we were aiming high. We understood that the first important thing to do was to attract a big name. If one big name is participating, other renowned names will be more willing to participate as well. And indeed, that is what happened. Professor Michael Braungart, the founder of the Cradle to Cradle concept and renowned expert in the sustainability field, has a chair at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and after a few e-mails he said that he would be willing to present at our symposium. After professor Braungart became part of our program, the symposium all of a sudden had the image of a big symposium and it became much easier to arrange other speakers and a suited location. In the end, Michael Braungart, Andre Veneman (director Sustainability at Akzo Nobel), Ashok Bhalotra (CEO Kuiper Compagnons), Gert-Jan van Wijk (initiator at The World We Work In), Dr. Nancy Kamp-Roelands (director Corporate Responsibility at Ernst & Young), Stef Kranendijk (CEO Desso) and Adriaan van Engelen (director Stimular) all agreed to participate in the program of the symposium.
The next step was to market the event. Through free publicity we were able to market the event in numerous online and printed newsletters, agenda's and internet sites. The fact that the topic of the event is sustainability helped a lot in this regard. Many people at various organizations are eager to help the exposure of sustainability. The free publicity actually worked so well that we had to close subscription one week before the event. We had over 320 subscriptions even though only 280 places were available. The symposium took place the 14th of December 2009 in the Van Nelle Ontwerpfabriek in Rotterdam, which is a monumental building. This was the ideal location since they had recently received the Green-Key award for being a highly sustainable building. In total more than 250 businessmen/women, scientists and students attended the symposium and the large majority was very positive about the event.
An entrepreneurial venture
When making the preparations for the symposium we were also thinking a lot about what to do afterwards. With a Master degree and some practical experience in business we would have no huge problems with finding a suited job. We, however, decided to take a more risky path by starting our own business. Certainly for university graduates during a global economic downturn this is not the conventional thing to do. The reason for us to become entrepreneurs was twofold. First of all we were looking forward to working independently of someone else's ideas and determining our own strategy. This also brings about a much greater challenge in the sense that you have to do everything yourselves. As an entrepreneur you are fully responsible for the success or failure of your organization. But this also automatically means that every effort that you put into the firm is aimed at benefiting you and not someone else's organization. Certainly starting up a business is more risky compared to working for a boss. But we definitely encourage other people to do the same. Even if your business does not succeed, you will certainly learn from the experience. Many people will learn more from starting up a business that might fail compared to working in a successful organization.
Another reason for us to engage in our own venture is a market demand. During our company interviews about sustainability we recognised that many SME's were interested in the topic of sustainability but often did not have the knowledge or resources to really do something with it. There is currently a large amount of firms that see the importance of implementing sustainability into their business but do not know how to. Our business, named VNBconsulting, will anticipate on this demand by providing advice about the potential of firms with respect to sustainability related activities. By integrating our own knowledge with the knowledge of other players in this field we have developed a systematic method to analyse the activities of a firm. After this analysis we will display the options were the firm can undertake sustainability activities. This could be for instance in procurement, the production process or the logistics of the business.
What distinguishes us from our competitors is the fact that we provide our advise with a clear financial view; we keep the business perspective as an objective tool in our work and we understand the restrictions that firms may face in becoming more sustainable. Many SME's just want to know: ‘What does it pay and what is the return?' For many things like efficiency gains a financial scheme can transparently be given. But for many other things this is more difficult. More productive employees or a better company image can clearly result in better financial performance, but how much this gain will be is difficult to determine (beforehand but also afterwards). Convinced of these non tangible results being good for the firm as well, next to the direct financial gains, we strive for implementation of sustainability as a business philosophy.
For more information about our services visit our website: http://www.vnb-consulting.nl/
Sjoerd Vijfvinkel
vijfvinkel@vnb-consulting.nl
+31 (0)6 11 12 87 13
and
Nasser Bouman
bouman@vnb-consulting.nl
+31 (0)6 55 77 07 35
