bs3916 thinking about management 11:green business

BS3916 Thinking about Management

11:Green Business

BS3916 Thinking about Management11:Green Business

Population growth

• The context for green business is world population growth which is outstripping the growth in resources

• World population is approx : 6.0 billion (2000) 7.5 billion (2025) ~ projected

• The More Developed Countries consume disproportionately more resources

BS3916 Thinking about Management 11:Green Business


•every year equals the population of Russia

•every month equals the population of Cuba

•every week equals the population of Mississippi (with the world's big cities growing by a million people in this period, according to the World Bank in 1993--"as if another New Orleans grew from scratch every seven days")

•every day equals the population of Atlanta

•every hour equals the enrollment at the University of Oregon


Was Malthus right ? [1 of 2]

• early 19th C. population theorist

• ‘Populations increase geometrically (e.g. 2,4,8,16,32 etc) but food supplies increase arithmetically (2,4,6,8,10)

• Population will periodically be brought into balance with mass starvation, disease,war…


Was Malthus right ? [2 of 2]

• Some would hotly dispute the mathematical assumptions built into the theory (see Percival,R. ‘Multiply and be Fruitful’ www.khcc.org.uk.la.mult.htm)

• A counter argument is that since animals and plants reproduce in much shorter time periods than man, the theoretical growth of food production is of a higher geometric order than that of human population…


Green business is conducted…

• In accordance with some people’s values

• It is good business i.e. ultimately more profitable, finds the right niche market etc.

• It is responding to the expressed needs of consumers


Examples

• Honeywell has realized savings of $4.6 million a year and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 37,000 tons annually by better managing its buildings' energy use.

• AT&T credits employee telecommuting with saving more than 80,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. The company also estimates that its telecommuting initiative will save $2.3 million in reduced real estate costs over five years.


Examples

• Honest Tea, a small, Maryland-based beverage company, purchases the peppermint for its organic tea product from a business located on the Crow reservation in Montana. In its first nine months, the company sold more than 175,000 bottles of its First Nation Tea, which has resulted in about $10,000 profit for the Crow community. Rather than take their recipe in exchange for yearly kickbacks, Honest Tea buys the peppermint from the reservation and is trying to help them to develop a sustainable and profitable business.


Growth of green business

• 30 years ago ‘green business’ was a sleepy backwater catering for a small band of ‘health food fanatics’

• Now a $8 million industry in the USA

• Hartmann survey of 26,000 consumers revealed that.. ~ 1/3 had purchased organic foods in last 3 months ~ 60% open to the idea ~ 10% disinterested


Corporate response

• People will spend 8% be7yond the cost of an item for energy-efficient majotr appliances

• and 6% more for recycled paper, cars that are one third less polluting

• McDonalds with 24,000 restaurants spends more than $3 billion on recycled-content products


Running green business [1]

Building Design and Renovation

• Make your own facilities as green as possible (e.g. Library extension)

• Build demonstration facilities [field offices, job-site trailers, other facilities when you have public visibility]


Running green business [2 ]

Transportation and Travel (i)

• Encourage employee use of public transport

• Encourage car-pooling

• Provide for bicycle and pedestrian commuting

• Pay employees not to drive

• Provide for telecommuting



Transportation and Travel (ii)

• Use teleconferencing

• Allow flexitime for traffic peak smoothing

• Provide higher mileage allowance for fuel efficient cars

• Buy energy efficient vehicles

• Choose green hotels when on the road



Purchasing

• Buy recycled paper

• Buy energy-efficient office equipment

• Buy reusable dishes, utensils, hand towels

• Buy second hand office furniture

• Buy natural or low toxic cleaning materials

• Buy ‘green’power



Business Operations (ii)

• Avoid wasting energy after hours

• Establish a company wide ‘green team’



Business Operations (i)

• Recycle

• Promote ‘paperless operations’

• Use respnsible cleaning operations and materials

• Practice low-impact landscaping

• Maintain equipment to keep in optimal working order



Assessment of Impacts and progress

• Calculate the company ‘carbon balance’

• Develop a plan to reduce carbon emissions

Education

• Educate employees

• Inform suppliers, customers etc.



Off-site measures (i)

• Incorporate environmental issues into business planning

• Encourage employee participation in local environmental initiatives

• Play a proactive role in the local community

• Work with other businesses in bringing about environmental change



Off-site measures (ii)

• Establish a progressive corporate giving programme

• Provide ‘pro bono publico’ services

• Consider offsetting environmental impacts (e.g. sponsor tree-planting to offset in-house carbon emissions)

bs3916 thinking about management 11:green business

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