Developing a successful sector sustainability strategy: six lessons from the UK construction products industry

Sector sustainability strategies can provide frameworks to help business sectors identify and manage economic, environmental and social risks in an integrated way, and unlock opportunities to improve competitiveness and enhance reputation. They can also help trade associations to become more effective champions for their members; however, little research has been undertaken on their development. Current best practice guidance simply provides frameworks for managing the strategy development process. To add to this guidance, the context, purpose, process and content of three strategies from the UK construction products industry have been investigated. Strategy context and content were found to be unique; it is therefore not considered feasible to develop a generic sector sustainability strategy. However, six lessons have been identified with respect to strategy purpose and process, which may improve the chances of success of a sector sustainability strategy.