Why water management is a strategic concern

As water supplies face growing pressure, businesses must rethink how they manage one of their most critical resources.

In this article published Aug. 13, 2026, in the MIT Sloan Management Review:

Companies must shift from treating water as a utility to elevating it to a strategic priority. Doing this well may require them to establish cross-functional teams to gather all relevant managerial perspectives and tap into diverse expertise. Crucially, they must engage with key stakeholders, including suppliers, regulatory authorities, nonprofits, and academia, in order to get the full and evolving picture.

Executives should familiarize themselves with the key issues and the specialist language used to discuss matters such as water abstraction and withdrawal, water basins, water stress levels, and so on. At a minimum, they need to assess the direct and indirect water footprints involved in running their businesses before gauging the extent to which this dependence is threatened by emerging water trends.

— Veronica Villena, Loui Olivas Chair in Management and associate professor of supply chain management