Environmental Strategy, Sustainability And Corporate Social Responsibility

Green Environmental Business | Strategy To Use Our Mother Nature – Green Enviroment Turn To Golden Business Opportunity

We wish we could say that finding Eco-Advantage will be easy. But like excellence in any form, you have to work for it. We know this runs contrary to the message in many of the books and articles about “green business." Ever since a few leaders like 3M demonstrated the .Payoffs of eco-efficiency, going green has been portrayed as a sure thing. Unfortunately, not every environmental effort produces win-win results. Developing innovative products, bringing them to market successfully, keeping customers happy, and other elements of business success are difficult enough. Adding an environment...

Companies find many ways to talk about how they handle environmental and social issues. Some focus on "triple bottom line" performance or sustainability. Others frame their work in terms of corporate social responsibility, stewardship, citizenship, or environment, health, and safety. Any of these approaches can serve to galvanize action and create Eco-Advantage. The key lies in execution—including environment and social issues in business operations. But each company needs to find the language and organizational structures that work within its own culture. At the operational level, managi...

What Does A Company Seeking Eco-Advantage Look Like?

We studies dozens of companies during our four years of research. A few have not evolved in their thinking since the 1970s. They are still grousing about legislation and complying with it grudgingly. Others have begun to see the business opportunities in going "beyond compliance." A few have embarked on bold new initiatives to provide solutions to the world's environmental ills—like GE's plan to sell renewable energy, efficient power generation, water purification, and much more. The companies who "get" the interface between environmentalism and business—the ones that are on their way...

Why Small Business Should Care??

What about small business. Can they sit this one out? In a world, no. Here are six reasons why: Laws that once applied only to big business are encroaching on smaller enterprises. Even bakeries and gas stations must now comply with clean air regulations. Small companies often have an edge in innovation. Of the more than $1, 00 billion in R&D money that each year is plowed into the i tin tech" marketplace, the bulk goes to new, smaller ventures win historically have produced more breakthrough products and services. Going after the consumption choices of individuals remains difficu...

Who Should Care Our Earth And Environmental Business??

For some enterprises, a new green perspective will be trans-formative, leading to fresh thinking, new markets, profitability gains, and increased value. For others, the environmental lens may emerge more gradually and modestly, as another critical element of corporate strategy. With time, these companies may find long-term, sustained advantage, but not dramatic immediate gains, front being green. For the big, heavy industries, the gains are closer to being assured. But smaller and "cleaner" companies will find surprising benefits as well. In today's world, no company, big or small, operatin...

Environmental Strategy, Sustainability And Corporate Social Responsibility

Companies find many ways to talk about how they handle environmental and social issues. Some focus on “triple bottom line” performance or sustainability. envormental Others frame their work in terms of corporate social responsibility, stewardship, citizenship, or environment, health, and safety. Any of these approaches can serve to galvanize action and create Eco-Advantage. The key lies in execution—including environment and social issues in business operations. But each company needs to find the language and organizational structures that work within its own culture.

At the operational level, managing sustainability issues, no matter what the company calls them, works best with a defined focus. Thinking about environmental challenges alongside social issues such as health care, poverty alleviation, or how to serve the “bottom of the pyramid”—the untapped market of the world’s poorest people—quickly becomes daunting. Our research suggests that the skills needed to manage environmental issues and social concerns are quite distinct. For example, what’s required to ensure that a company complies with air-pollution permits, say, will have little similarity to what’s needed to develop a strong employee wellness program.

Moreover, the environmental agenda has a concreteness that’s often lacking on the social side. Obligations under the law are generally much clearer in the environmental realm, as are the opportunities for gaining a competitive advantage while doing the right thing. This is not to say that social issues are unimportant. Indeed, some are moral imperatives.

As Professor David Vogel of Haas Business School has demonstrated, however, the business case for taking up the social agenda is much harder to establish. For all of these reasons, we focus on defining the strategies and tools companies can use to take advantage of environmental opportunities.

Why Social Issues Can’t Be Ignored?

While environmental and social issues pose different kinds of challenges, they both connect to corporate reputation. Any company that thinks it Ali cover shortcomings in social performance with strong environmental results is kidding itself. Wal-Mart, for example, is a legitimate green leader, with large-scale initiatives and measurable results across its operations, from store energy use and fleet efficiency to product packaging.

But it won’t win any prizes for corporate responsibility if it falls short in the public’s eye on basic social issues such as wages, health care, and labor relations.