the celeres way

In times of sustainability and in particular the necessity of “financial sustainability”, (financial) communication itself must make an entrepreneurial contribution to sustainable corporate success. This is the only way for communication to have any meaning.

In day-to-day business, communicators often lack the time to strategically look ahead. celeres sharpens the focus on opportunities and (critical) challenges that will result from the direct effects of geopolitical (G), ecological (E) and technical (T) change on their business model. A sustainable (equity) story fulfils an important protective function against, for example, activist investors and NGOs – and forms the basis of a company’s reputation.

G. E. T. your Sustainable (Equity) Story: from Profit Maximization to Value Optimization

The sustainable “behaviour” of companies is becoming a critical acceptance factor for economic action. It will affect all market participants. In order to be effective, sustainability must manifest itself in the attitude of managers and employees in their everyday behaviour. Top managers do not lead companies, but people. Creativity, collaboration and communication distinguish people. The managers play an important role in the communication: their behaviour sets the central accents. Sustainability is a permanent leadership and management and therefore communication task. Sustainable transformation requires innovative techniques and products (i.e. progress), working in new collaborative (and not only cooperative) structures and a new form of corporate communication that is aligned with the new (!) equity story of the company. Sustainability can only be achieved with strong communication. The new paradigm goes hand in hand with the perspective that the long-term profitability of the company can be harmonized with environmental protection, social justice, ethical responsibility and integrity. In short, sustainability and profit are not mutually exclusive. If investors align their investments more closely with the criteria of environment, social and governance (ESG), companies will have the opportunity to make profitable use of ecological and social aspects. To achieve this, convincing (financial) communication is needed in order to be able to implement and assert one’s own interests in the social environment as well.

Communication leads to (corporate) success

Analysts, investors and merger partners today do not just look at the balance sheets when making decisions. Individuals in management as well as the overall reputation of the company are moving more into focus.

The message is quite clear: Those who are successful because they operate ecologically and communicate this in a sustainable manner demonstrate their sustainability. The idea of turning the niche sustainability factor into the standard of the investment business is innovative, exciting and forward-looking. A company can convert its environmental performance into stock market performance – provided that it communicates purposefully on all channels in order to reach its stakeholders. Professionally designed communication processes are an important key to realising a sustainable financial economy. This starts in the company, where the benefits of change must be understood and where change must be lived and experienced. The prevailing ideology of top-down and one-voice management communication in companies limits their success in a multimedia world of constant change.

Communication reduces and restructures information. It sensitizes and makes clear the importance of sustainability for the economic success of the company and for each individual. It creates understanding, demonstrates the applicability of sustainability measures and documents the tangible benefits.

celeres sets the course for a success-oriented perception in the relevant dialogue groups.

Looking ahead strategically

We help our clients to be heard and followed in the new communication culture in which the “logic of consensus” is changing into a “logic of conflict”. Today it is no longer the goal to reach the broadest possible majority, but to manage “conflicts” and to mobilize one’s own supporters for positions and individuals.

Fields of consulting

Legitimacy and Legality
If a company clearly defines its sustainable management not only as a duty to behave legally but also as an ethical necessity, it can arm itself against the expectations of idealists and ideologues and does not have to be driven by partial interests. The socio-political-ecological framework conditions make a “politicization” of corporate positioning inevitable.

Finding (re-)the Purpose and Defining a Sustainable Business Strategy
People are looking for meaning and become proponents of companies and brands that are not only reliable and trustworthy, but also stand for something bigger. The company belongs (also) to the customers who should/would like to buy its products. They need positive association impulses. Sustainability is therefore an essential part of the business and communication strategy.

Sustainable (Equity) Story: new content, new target groups
The equity story should be strategically comprehensible, have innovative dynamism and rarity value, show potential growth and increasing market share, milestones for profit returns, operational improvements and dividend payouts. In addition, the social, media and regulatory factors influencing sustainable investors must now be taken into account and valued. A Sustainable (Equity) Story fulfils an important protective function.

celeres is your (business) partner

Necessary changes must be initiated today in order to have the right (financial) communication and culture in time for a successful sustainable transformation.

celeres is your partner for the cultural implementation of sustainability, financial sustainability in the language, values and attitudes of managers and employees.

Our claim

Purpose

As a value accelerator, CELERES supports companies in all decision-making processes in the course of social and macroeconomic transformations. We preserve and create values – market values, corporate values, cultural values, social values. We make companies and management fit for the future.

Vision

The stock market rewards sustainable companies. The far-sighted, proven anchoring of corporate reputation, corporate social responsibility performance and data privacy & security are decisive success factors. Compliance with ecological and social principles along the entire production and value chain is decisive for a company’s position in the market.

We support entrepreneurs and companies in their upcoming challenges. In this way, we help to restore the values of the social market economy and corporate responsibility to the importance they deserve in society. Our holistic consulting approach follows a clear objective: We want to enable decision-makers and decision-making bodies not only to recognize developments at an early stage, but also to play an active role in shaping the best possible and sustainable success of the company – or even to initiate them themselves.

As a performance component, our portfolio comprises an analytical framework. First, we measure the influence of the company’s reputation and existing CSR activities on the company’s performance. Secondly, we determine which measures are to be derived to increase value development. And thirdly, we conduct a social due diligence to check, for example, whether sustainability measures would be appreciated by the relevant stakeholder groups.

Mission

CELERES pursues embedded consulting: our consultants become part of your team. With systemic consulting, coaching and training, we enable your organization to maintain its strategic and communicative course and position itself for the future. We think beyond the usual consulting categories of lawyers, investment bankers, management consultants and controllers. Because we believe that in order to optimally anticipate and manage the increasing demands, expectations and risks in the context of internal and public perception, something else is needed:

CELERES Senior Advisors

CELERES consultants are distinguished by their ability to understand and understand economic, political and social developments. Instead of just seeing a part of the picture, we always look at the big picture. We are a team of business economists, auditors, tax consultants, political scientists, sociologists and philosophers who have been dealing with entrepreneurial challenges and future trends for 30 years. Our claim is simple: We want to lead our clients to success and that requires honest and open dialogue. We bring in a change of perspective in order to find new ways and approaches for companies. We are clear. We mean what we say. We are committed and reliable partners.

Get in touch

Harald Kettenbach

Partner

0151 42 66 39 41
h.kettenbach@celeres.de

Pascal Frank

Managing Partner

0173 925 4762

p.frank@celeres.de