revised cd conference paper-melville miranda- 20th oct 08 doc
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1Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008
Community Development with Green Strategies for Development
Abstract
This paper will discuss the significant issues concerning the global environment, with
particular emphasis given to the problems of large corporations and their notions of global,
national, and local sustainability. Although the four possible strategies discussed are
hypothetical, it will be argued that a significant and undeniable association exists between
organisational processes and products/services. Thus, it will be shown that a sustainable
world can be developed by using green strategies for development.
1. Introduction
... the health of a community involves simultaneous consideration of the needs and goals of
the groups inhabiting the community, and examination of the conditions of life that either
enhance or impede their health of the community itself. In other words, it is a balance
between aspirations and health-related needs of individuals, groups, and the whole population
within the context of the environment McMurray (1999:9).
Community has been defined in terms of spatial and non-spatial boundaries. Christenson and
Robertson (1980), for example, propose that community has four significant factors that
define its nature. Thus, a community is: (a) people; it is (b) found within a geographically
bounded area; it is (c) involved in social action; and (d) it involves physical ties with both
community members and the actual place in which the community exists. Globalisation,
however, which has driven capital accumulation, is anti-ecological, and, in consequence,
harmful for communities. This is because of the current practice of race to bottom, which
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2Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008involves firms relocating to countries most keen to attract capital investment, despite the
environmental issues caused. As result, communities face significant health implications due
to environmental degradation.
Greening, according to various scholars, has been framed in terms cost reduction, risk
reduction, and reengineering (see, for example, Newman & Fowler, 1996). Rarely, however,
is greening linked to technology or strategy development, which means that the majority of
community organisations fail to recognise opportunities that potentially offer significant and
staggering possibilities for sustainability. Nevertheless, four levels of sustainability have been
clearly identified, which include: (a) quality of life and values; (b) species extinction and
human rights; (c) health and life expectancy; and (d) human survival at the basic level
(Marshall and Toffel, 2005.
Although the term sustainability, therefore, appears to be beyond a simple definition, it still
portrays the notion of environmental conservation alone as being a complicated and
problematic goal due to its practice being both socially and politically charged. Paehlke
(2005), for example, argues, as a social scientist, the concept is centred in economics, public
policy, and ethics rather than biological sciences. In accordance with ones perspective,
therefore, sustainability could be identified as an anthropomorphic enterprise in which both
the sciences and community development work as tools toward larger social goals, or the
environment, social sciences, and community development could be seen as being relatively
equal partners.
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3Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008Within such a context, therefore, this paper will creatively discuss community development
green strategies for development by primarily considering current notions within community
development with particular emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CRS) and
sustainability. Following this, consideration will be given to four important factors. These are:
(a) eco-efficiency; (b) compliance leadership; (c) eco-branding; and (d) environmental cost
leadership. These green strategies, as this paper will demonstrate, will promote community
wellness and community sustainability.
1.2 The Legacy of Poor Stewardship
In the last three weeks, the amount of ice melting in the artic has been completely
unprecedented. In only six days an area the size of the US state in Florida disappeared; in the
week before that, an area almost twice the size of Britain disappeared. Its melting 10 times
faster than previously recorded. Experts are now saying that if we dont act with urgency, the
entire ice cap could be completely gone in less than 23 years. Despite all the scientific
evidence about climate change, inaction still ruled among governments and business. Climate
change was not scientific, political or ideological. Its about survival (Al Gore, cited by
Doherty & Wilkinson (2007:10).
It is clear that humanity is facing significant questions concerning the future of the planet
and, in consequence, that of the survival of the human race. No longer can communities
believe in the vision of limitless resources that was once offered by the ideology of
industrialising progress, but, instead, humanity is faced by the spectre of environmental
catastrophe. Human population growth, urbanisation, the accelerating exploitation of natural
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4Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008resources, as well as the results of long-term environmental degradation, now threaten the
extinction of unprecedented numbers of life forms (Meadows et al., 1992).
The impact of environmental degradation falls disproportionately on the poorer nations and,
in particular, on socially disadvantaged groups within both nations and regions (Cannan,
2000). At thegloballevel, current research clearly identifies that the impact of global climate
change will fall most heavily on developing countries, such as the island nations of Oceania
and areas of the Indian sub-continent (Bruce et al., 1996; Wasson, 2000). Crop production,
for example, is expected to be reduced, whilst, conversely, many developed countries will
gain production potential. Fisher et al., 2001). This is in contrast to the major emitters of
green house gases being located in the temperate zones of the northern hemisphere. It is
important to remember that the resultant dislocation and poverty occurs locally and
differently, possibly from the interaction of several global issues (Eriksen, 2001). Indeed,
some critics have argued that an emphasis on the global dimension of environmental
problems is itself a form of imperialism (Mater, 1999) and that equity concerns have been
swept aside in the effort to achieve climate policy protocol (Buttel, 2000).
At a regional level, the environmental degradation river systems provide a perfect example of
the way in which sources are separated and the way in which these cause significant
problems that have far-reaching consequences. The damage caused by downstream land
clearing, pollution, and large dams, for example, occurs hundreds or even thousands of
kilometres from the source. Thus, in Australia, salinity problems, which are widespread
within the Murray-Darling Basin, have been more damaging in South Australia, where they
have seriously affected the water supply in the lower part of the basin. Another example can
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5Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008be seen in East Africa, where countries such as Mozambique and cities such as Nairobi are
bearing the brunt of river regulation and of inequity in water resources planning and
development (Tecle, 1997). The ecological footprints of large urban areas, therefore, extend
many hundred of miles into surrounding countryside, affecting air and water quality and
consuming scarce resources. Often this reflects the social and economic divide between city
and country.
Environmental degradation is also evident on a local level, where the growing geographical
dimensions of inequality in large cities promote environmental injustice. The presence of now
unwanted military land in Sydney clearly illustrates this point. In the western area of Sydney,
which is primarily working-class, there exists a large abandoned area that belongs to the
Australian Defence Industries (ADI). Currently, it is home to the wild population of
Australias icons, emus and kangaroos, as well as many other less known flora and fauna. The
ADI site, however, has recently been zoned for major housing developments, which,
according to many ecologists, will lead to the extinction of these populations (Doherty, 2000).
Conversely, military land in the more affluent areas around Sydney Harbour have been fully
protected, due to them being used as political mileage by both the state and national
government. Arguably, this reflects the halo effect, which involves placing different values
on ecosystems depending on their location, social status, and the political influence of
residents. Thus, in the western area of Sydney the popular sociocultural representation
portrays it as other and degraded (Powell, 1993:16), a concept which has been extended
to bushland within the western suburbs (Benson & Howell, 1990). This, in turn, provides a
convenient rational for developing the demand for housing on a scale that would be
unacceptable in other regions of Sydney.
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6Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008There is also considerable evidence showing that the nature of environmental degradation in
new industrial developments also militates against environmental justice. In the area
surrounding Botany Bay in Sydney, which was the first site of European colonisation in
Australia, there is a hight concentration of hazardous industries such as petrochemicals. This
is because each new development proposal is effectively treated on its own merits rather than
being treated within the notion of the cumulative risk assessment. As a result, this has the
effect of further increasing the concentration of such industry, thus increasing environmental
impacts, such as air pollution, heavy transport, and hazardous waste dumps, in areas that are
relatively small. Again, this results in a continuous cycle of social, economic, and
environmental disadvantages.
As shown by these examples, the overall lesson is that, whatever the scale being considered,
the polluter and those who benefit from environmental degradation often do not pay for the
damage they cause especially when the polluter is a developed country, region, or suburb
with a relatively high economic status. This is in sharp contrast to the ideal of distributive
justice, which is based on equity, fairness, and the notion that those benefiting from
environmental damage should meet the costs. Instead, what occurs is a strong correlation
between social, economic, and environmental injustice those spheres that are considered as
the three pillars or triple bottom line (Yencken & Wilkinson, 2000).
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7Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 20081.3 Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not
understanding it (Upton Sinclair).
The modern debate concerning CRS and sustainability, which is believed to have begun it the
early 20th century, is a response to growing concerns pertaining to the business practices and
principles of large corporative powers, through which a number of issues concerning the
concept of CRS were addressed. Ida Tarbell, for example, wrote The History of the Standard
Oil Company (1904), which helped to influence the Supreme Court of the United States to
dissolve the corporation on antitrust grounds. Similarly, the Jungle (1906), written by Upton
Sinclair, enabled the introduction of legislation such as the Meat Inspection Actand thePure
Food and Drugs Act. These are all relatively recent examples of attempts to mandate socially
responsible behaviour in large corporations (Gibb Dyer et al., 2006).
Although there have been numerous attempts to both define and study CSR (for example,
Wartick & Cochran, 1985; McWilliams & Siegel, 2001; Whetten et al., 2001; Margolis &
Walsh, 2003), H. R. Bowens influential notion that business people should pursue those
policies, to make those decisions, or to follow those lines of action which are desirable in
terms of objectives and values of our society, would appear to essentially capture its concept
(Bowden, 1953, p.6). This concept of CSR proposes that a societys corporations, whose very
survival is dependent upon public sanction and support, have a responsibility, even an
obligation, to be economically and socially accountable members of society and to act in
ways that are publicly responsible (Wartick & Cochran, 1985).
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8Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008Previous research relating to CSR, has suggested that the performance of corporations, in
relation to their degree of social responsibility, should be evaluated in accordance with two
dimensions: (a) Positive and effective social initiatives, such as charitable giving, through
which the corporation proactively attempts to improve society, and (b) the corporations
ability and effectiveness in avoiding situations and activities which may cause social
concerns, such as polluting the environment. Those corporations who fail to accomplish
either one or both of these, should, according to the theorys proponents, have to face
economic, social, or legal sanctions from both their stakeholders and their communities
(Godfrey, 2005).
Although Bowen, among others, have effectively argued that there is a moral dimension that
supports CSR (Rawls, 1971; Donaldson, 1982), which is based on the principle that
companies should do good because it is the moral, or right, thing to do, some have
proposed that it is also the profitable or cost effective thing to do (Waddock & Graves, 1997).
On the other hand, however, a number of recent studies addressing this subject have
suggested there is an extremely tenuous association between CSP and corporate financial
performance. This, consequently, has raised the question: Should there be an attempt by
corporations to benefit society ... if there is not apparent financial gain for the corporations
shareholders? (Gibb Dyer, 2006). Some people, such as Friedman (1970), have suggested
that directors who try to do good rather than helping the company do well are in violation
of their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. In consequence, therefore, proponents of this
view argue that a corporations director should only practice social responsibility of it helps
to increase and/or maximize shareholder wealth. Ethical behaviour should not, therefore, be
determined by moral imperatives, but by the market (Friedman, 1970).
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9Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008Corporate Social Responsibility raises twin issues that are central to the economics of civic
policy. The first is whether and to what extent the egocentric dealings of individual economic
representatives in a market economy, especially in relation to those companies that are there
purely for profitable reasons, will be able to further the common good. The second regards
the issue of what actually can be achieved, either by individuals or corporations, to enable
both private and public interests to be brought more closely into line, and, in particular, to
make enterprise profitability a better indicator of social welfare (Ahmed Riahi-Belkaoui,
1999, p.27).
This relatively new approach to CSR is, in part, a reaction to recent world development, or to
what is perceived as such. It argues that a fresher and more expansive conception of the
social responsibilities of companies is now needed throughout the globe, not only because of
the way in which the world has changed, but also because of the planetary issues facing
contemporary society. Corporations are seen as having to respond to new challenges, new
demands, and new possibilities and opportunities for proactive action. In this situation,
according to these new theorists, it is insufficient for corporations to think, either primarily or
exclusively, in terms that only take into consideration profitability and owner-interest. In fact,
to do so is considered as being entirely self-defeating, in that it goes against the true long-
term interest of shareholders, and could, effectively, endanger both the future of capitalism
and the market economy. Contemporary corporations should, therefore, engage themselves in
explicit commitments that respect and uphold accepted values and goals, and which take into
account the interests and views of concerned stakeholders, while also demonstrating through
unequivocal actions that such commitments are genuine.
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11Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 20081. The continuing public and official concern in relation to environmental issues, in
particular the possible risks from the greenhouse effect, which has founded the
notion that all policies and actions should be focused on the objective of
sustainable development.
2. With the rise of so many large corporations, in particular MNEs, public opinion
tends to be either suspicious, or even hostile, towards private companies in
general, but especially in relation to profit-motivated behaviour and market
economy.
In recent years, however, four further factors have arisen. These are:
1. The development of shareholders theories, which address both business ethics
and corporate governance.
2. The effects, both real and supposed, of globalisation.
3. The growing influence, strength, and assertiveness of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), which include conservation and environment groups,
consumer associations, organisations concerned with economic development in
poorer nations, movements for social justice, human rights groups, organisations
representing indigenous groups, and a whole wealth of different religious groups.
The majority of these, who have greatly increased their effectiveness through the
Internet, are extremely suspicious, if not openly hostile, towards private
companies in general, and MNEs in particular.
4. The way in which leading companies have been subject to well publicised,
aggressive, and harmful campaigns, which were led by NGOs.
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12Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008Corporations throughout the world, therefore, have come under the spotlight in recent years
concerning social responsibility. During the mid-1990s, for example, the Royal/Dutch
Group faced criticism over its operations in Nigeria and the Brent Spar episode; several
corporations, including Nike and Reebok, faced issues concerning salarys and working
conditions in their overseas plants; while MacDonalds, among other things, was accused of
consciously encouraging bad forms of eating habits that posed serious health risks. In
certain cases, as with Shell for example, many corporations have faced expensive and often
humiliating sanctions (Besser, 2002, p.47).
The majority of these cases were in response to a shift in attitude among members of the
public and some shareholders. Public opinion, particularly in relation to conservation issues,
has progressively become more openly critical of national corporations, businesses in
general, and, in particular, towards the MNEs. Corporations, in consequence, have become
increasingly subject to new expectations, new forms of questioning, new pressures, and new
demands in relation to both their goals and policies. In addition, both the profitability and
growth of modern corporations tends to be far more dependent upon its reputation, and on
the general attitude of the general population, which includes employees, regarding its
conduct. The central focus of this, relates to the way in which a corporation treats its staff;
its health and safety record; its impact on the environment, indigenous groups, and local
communities; its demonstrated and verifiable concern for human rights; and, the way in
which it deals with buyers, suppliers, partners, and overseas governments in particular
those whose behaviour is often a cause for concern. Within all of these issues, corporations
are now subject to permanent and often antagonistic analysis, while any practices that are
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13Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008considered as being acts of misconduct or failures can be effectively given instant
worldwide exposure (Atkins, 2007).
The notion of sustainability is currently considered as forming the basis, the very foundation,
of the way in which CRS is viewed and defined by most if not all of the many firm, business
organisations and outside commentators have endorsed it (Henderson, 2001, p.18).
Corporative social responsibility is, consequently, presently considered as being an essential
part of sustainable development. A growing number of corporations have, therefore, made
explicit commitments in relation to this understanding. For example:
Ethical trading and respect for human rights are core inherited values at Cadbury
Schweppes where we have long sought to treat our suppliers justly. We not only
believe that this is the right thing to do, we know it also makes sound business
sense. Good practice in our supply chain underpins the integrity, sustainability,
quality and safety of our products (Cadbury, 2007).
At Kimberly-Clark, we continue to show our commitment to health and hygiene
by developing new categories, products and technologies to better the lives of
people around the world. Over the past several years, our global company has put
forth great effort and resources toward upholding our duty as a fiscally
responsible, environmentally diligent and socially compassionate corporate
citizen. We have advanced Sustainability through all levels of Kimberly-Clark
from the production line to the executive boardroom striving to make it a part of
all that we do. Kimberly-Clark is determined to make Sustainability a critical
foundation for driving product and technology advancements, and for enhancing
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14Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008the health, hygiene and well-being of people every day, everywhere (Kimberly-
Clark, 2005).
As the Report explains, this challenge has three parts: to provide the massive
amount of extra energy needed to fuel development and reduce poverty; to keep
supplies secure from disruption; and to do this in socially and environmentally
responsible ways. Helping meet this challenge, while continuing to provide
competitive financial returns, is at the heart of the commitment we made in 1997
to contribute to sustainable development (Shell, 2006).
Present concepts of achieving sustainable development, therefore, is to define it with
reference to three essential dimensions. These have been categorised as economic,
environmental, and social, which requires the integrations of social, environmental and
economic considerations to make balanced judgements for the long term (Atkins, 2007);
or, as the idea of sustainable development, which gives equal weight to economic progress,
environmental protection, and social responsibility (WBCSD, 2000). This concept and
understanding of CSR, is widely considered as being a framework, or basis, for portraying
the practical implications of CSR commitment for corporations. Businesses are charged
with organizing and directing their activities towards sponsoring and promoting sustainable
development within all three dimensions, and to establish for this purpose an explicit
accounting and reporting process, so that the net contribution to all three goals can be
identified and at least roughly assessed (Henderson, 2001, p.20).
As previously stated, however, for many firms the pursuit of corporate sustainability remains
difficult to resolve with the objective of increasing shareholder value. By starting with legal
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15Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008or moral arguments for enterprise actions, however, managers inevitably underestimate the
strategic business opportunities associated with this important issue. To avoid this problem,
therefore, managers need to directly link enterprise sustainability to the creation of
shareholder value. The global challenges associated with sustainability, viewed through the
appropriate set of business lenses, can help to identify strategies and practices that contribute
to a more sustainable world, and simultaneously, drive shareholder value, which this author
defines as being the creation of sustainable value for the firm.
Sustainability implies a linking of problems of consumption and poverty with pollution,
resource degradation, and conflict, the solutions, thus, suggesting the need for novel linkages.
Regarding sustainability, science cannot exist in a vacuum, but must interact with politics,
with policy, and with governance issues that reach into peoples daily lives. For example,
Houston and Lucas (2007:3) report that climate change poses a real and serious threatto
Victorians 2000-kilometre coastline (authors italics). The authors cite the Victoria Coastal
Strategy Report (2007), which forecasts: (a) that low-lying coastal terrain will be inundated
more often and with increasing severity; (b) that sandy shorelines will retreat at 50 to 100
times the increase in sea levels, and that systems will rapidly move inland; (c) that salt water
will move further into coastal wetlands, subsequently causing significant and serious damage;
(d) that marine and coastal plants and animals will become extinct; and (e) that coast towns
will be more vulnerable to fires caused by rising temperatures. Thus, communication between
community sectors and business, which too often exists as compartmentalised units, is
crucial. Environmental scientists, in consequence, can no longer be content with merely
doing good science, but should ensure that discussion and persuasion becomes an essential
part of the scientists role.
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16Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008
Noted environmental thinkers, economists and commentators, however, have long observed
the linkage between economic and population growth, and environmental decline. Recently,
for example, the focus of environmental debate has concerned issues such as the ultimate
possibility of the Earth absorbing continuing increases in effluent from factories (Suzuki,
1990:106). Having identified a direct relationship between effluent and industrial growth,
therefore, Suzuki calls for a negative economic growth as the solution, due to his belief that
economic growth must lead to increases in the use of energy and physical resources. Is this
how the future must be if we are to live within our ecological means? The answer to this
question, however, will significantly depend on our ability to de-couple economic activity
from energy and resource consumption.
1.5 Decoupling Growth and Environmental Degradation
When considering historic and current patterns of economic growth, it would appear that
researchers such as Suzuki (1990) and Trainer (1993) are right. Rising incomes were linked to
increasingly intensive patterns of energy and resource usage, environmental degradation and
pollution. Furthermore, they are still linked to absolute increases in the level of pollution,
resource and energy use. However, the trend from the 1990s indicated a decreasing intensity
of resource and energy use in industrial economies has become strongly apparent. For
example, a worldwide decline in manufacturing as a proportion of the economy has been
accompanied by an increase in service and information-based industries.
Long-term analyses of industrialised economies now show that the amount of physical
material and energy required for the unit of economic activity is decreasing. Technological
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17Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008improvements in energy, material use, and production processes have meant that we can do
more with much less, but we have yet to reach our full potential in doing so. However, the
ability to use energy and raw materials more efficiently, and to reduce or eliminate pollution
from manufacturing processes, shows that this trend can be accelerated. This would ease the
likely impact of production on the environment, as well as reducing the costs of
environmental protection. Increased recycling and closed loop production processes, for
example, would put the human race on the road to ecological sustainability by substantially
reducing the amount of energy and resources passing through the worlds economy.
It is evident, however, that technology alone is not sufficient to effect a decoupling of
economic growth from energy and resource usage and pollution. Changes in lifestyle and the
way we do things in the economy will also have a significant influence on the overall level of
environmental impact of a given measure of economic activity. In addition, many would
question whether there is indeed a necessary linkage between further general improvements
in material standards and human well-being in industrialised economies. In the authors view,
this is where the decisive debate should be: how to break the nexus between economic well-
being and resource consumption. In this context, therefore, the question of being for or
against economic growth becomes somewhat moot.
2. Community Development With Green Strategies.
2.1 Eco-efficiency
Porter (1990) reemphasised that productivity is the key element for organisations to gain
competitiveness. Community organisations should be able to transform costs into profits by
identifying concealed opportunities for innovation, thus leading to more efficient
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18Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008organisational systems. In later work, Porter and Claas van der Linde (1990) asserted that
organisations should promote resource productivity in the form of material savings, increase
in process yields, and better utilisation of by-products, because waste consists, fundamentally,
of an inefficient use of resources. In their view, therefore, companies would only need to find
hidden opportunities to profit from environmental investments and eventually transform such
investments into sources of competitive advantage.
By the end of the 1990s, Lovins, Lovins and Hawken (1999) readdressed resource
productivity issues from a more technical perspective. They demonstrated that by using eco-
design and eco-efficiency measures, the potential of a new set of community practices to
enhance productivity is so considerable that a new economic system may emerge from its
application. The authors, furthermore, substantiate their arguments by presenting examples
from organisations that are increasing the productivity of natural resources by shifting to
biologically inspired production models, moving to a solution based community model, and
by reinvesting in natural capital. Such practices would promote what the authors call Natural
Capitalism, where regulatory and market mechanisms eventually succeed in making
organisations internalise environmental costs. Since cost reduction is crucial, however, most
community organisations working on eco-efficiency strategies do so without much fanfare.
However, financial constraints may not detract them from implementing a much simpler and
less bureaucratic EMS than the ones using the guidelines of ISO 14001. Community
organisations supplying a relatively small number of other firms may choose to avoid the
costs of EMS certification and instead invite their clients to audit their systems. Overall,
community organisations focusing on this strategy will develop capabilities to continuously
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19Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008increase the productivity of their organisational processes while decreasing the environmental
impact and costs associated with them.
Through the reconfiguration of the industrial systems, such strategies and practices ca be
pushed beyond the physical borders of community organisations. From the perspective of
industrial ecology (den Hond, 2000) individual manufacturing processes are seen as parts of
broader industrial systems, which should be optimised according to the ecological principles
of efficiency. In practical terms, waste, by-products, and energy from one community
organisation can feed processes in another, forming closed-loop systems. The application of
industrial ecology requires not just interdependent flow of materials, processes, and energy
inside an industrial cluster, but also entails new forms of collaboration between member
firms. Even though the complexities involved in the design and implementation of closed-
loop systems limit their diffusion, collaborative schemes in the USA, the Netherlands, UK,
Sweden, and Australia are showing positive results (Hardy and Graedel, 2002).
In general, terms, eco-efficiency practices can generate some level of savings in virtually
every community organisation. Particular circumstances will result in some being rewarded
more than others. Preliminary empirical evidence, for example, suggest that eco-efficiency
strategies have greater potential to generate competitive advantage in community
organisations that supply industrial markets, face relatively high levels of processing costs,
and generate wastes and/or by-products. Many community organisations in the food and
beverage industries fall into this category. In such circumstances, since final consumers may
not pay for environmental protection, the focus on an eco-efficiency strategy simply makes
community-business sense. By humbly working towards eco-efficiency within the
community organisation as well as beyond its own borders, process-intensive community
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20Melville, Miranda
Community Development and Ecology: Engaging sustainability throughCommunity Development Conference 2008, Melbourne
26-28 March 2008organisations will be saving money while decreasing the environmental impact of their
processes.
2.2 Beyond Compliance Leadership
Some community organisations not only want to increase the efficiency of their
organisational processes, but they also want customers and the general public to acknowledge
their efforts. They are willing, for instance, to spend money in their certification of their
EMS, subscribe to business codes of environmental management (Nash and Ehrenfeld, 1997,
pp.487-535) and invest in unprofitable environmental improvements. They are also willing to
pay to publicise these efforts.
The adoption of schemes such as the CERES Principles,1 the Global Compact, or the
Global Reporting Initiative can eventually differentiate community organisations from
competitors as well as producing some positive outcomes for the firm (CERES, 2008).
Community image, for instance, might be enhanced, influencing a positive public opinion
about organisational practices
For community organisations supplying products or services to other corporations
(industrial markets), beyond compliance practices such as certified EMS have a clear value
for the client organisation. EMS certification represented a first-mover advantage for a
relatively short period. However, by 2002, it became a mere license to operate in the
industry. Nonetheless, as in almost every sphere of management, competitive advantage is
1 Ceres (pronounced series) is a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other publicinterest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate
change.
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adopt more ambitious practices, the beyond compliance frontier moves further, and what was
once a differentiator (such as a certified EMS) becomes normal and non-competitive
practice.
Organisational processes that go beyond compliance might exert indirect influence on the
image of a community organisation and eventually affect the shopping behaviour of
consumers. The decision by Shell, for example, to dump the Brent Spar oilrig in the North
Sea created a clear image problem that resulted in European consumers boycotting their
products (Dickson and McCulloch, 1996). The Brent Spar case showed that the Shells
environmental performance was becoming increasingly important to stakeholders, which
contributed to a change in Shells rig disposal policy as well as its communication strategy.
The company now considers environmental reporting as being an essential communication
tool to address such concerns. Thus, by pursuing a strategy based on voluntary standards of
environmental excellence, Shell has demonstrated leadership among companies that have
significantly improved the image consumers and shareholders have about their operations
(Kolk, 2000).
Yet the Bret Spar case also showed that consumer response to community organisational
practices is more prone to happen around a specific concern. Therefore, in order to respond to
a particular environmental matter that relates to production processes, the community need to
be sensitised. Among the multitude of variables influencing consumer behaviour,
environmental concerns become important to consumers when a charismatic leader or a
controversial event mobilises public opinion. (Orsato and Clegg, 1999:263-279).
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2.3Eco-Branding
Marketing differentiation based on the environmental attributes of products constitutes the
most straightforward strategy. In the 21st century, ecology-oriented products and services
represent a defined market niche explored by community organisations worldwide. In
Sweden, where consumer environmental awareness is remarkably high, one of the largest
retailers of food and domestic products developed a creative way of differentiating a portfolio
of eco-products. Coop Sverige, the owner of 373 Konsum and 43 Forum hypermarkets (city
supermarkets with a clear orientation towards ecological excellence), created an ecological
brand, Anglamark, to communicate the image of environmental responsibility of food and
domestic products (from 20 products in 1991 to 309 products in 2004) (Renato and Ostrom,
2004).
In broad terms, a firm differentiates itself from its competitors when it provides something
unique that is valuable to buyers beyond simply offering a low price.(Porter, 1985: 120).
However, community organisations that intend to generate competitive advantage from
strategies based on eco-branding need to observe three basic pre-requisites: (a) consumers
must be willing to pay for the costs of ecological differentiation; (b) reliable information
about products environmental performance must be available to the consumer; and (c) the
differentiation should be difficult to be imitated. Consumers, therefore, need to perceive a
clear benefit for their purchase. In the case of industrial markets, the benefits are normally
translated into cost savings, better performance of the product, and cost reduction at risk
management. For instance, equipment and machinery that consumes less energy and
reprocess by-products might reduce the costs of the operation for the client. The vendor can
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gains during product use. In case the community organisation is not working in a price-
sensitive market, a price premium can be obtained. In consumer markets, the attributes
associated with products allow companies in charge higher prices for eco-branded or eco-
labelled products. Hence, in both cases, industrial and consumer markets, it is essential that
the consumer is willing to pay for ecological differentiation.
Credible information is the second pre-requisite for environmental product differentiation.
Scandinavian countries, in particular, constitute a demonstration case of the increasing
importance of eco-labelling. In Sweden, more than 3 200 products use the KRAV eco-label
for organically grown food as a way to differentiate themselves from competitors.
Community organisations and corporations are able to charge between 10% to 100% higher
prices than similar products that are not certified by KRAV (Haidenmark, 2000). The fact that
KRAV is accredited by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and is
controlled by the Swedish Board of Agriculture confers a high degree of credibility to
products with this label. This credibility was the rationale for Anglamark food products.
Another requirement for environmental product differentiation involves barriers to imitation.
If product environmental differentiation is to be successful, environmental innovation should
not be easily replicated. The innovative marketing strategy of the Swedish supermarket chain
characterises this pint. Although competitors could easily replicate most products sold
through Anglamark, imitating the eco-brand is impractical
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2.4Environmental Cost Leadership
Obtaining a price premium for ecologically oriented products may be the natural solution for
many companies. After all, if being green costs more, a differentiation strategy is the only
way out for the company to pay off ecological investments. This is acceptable when niche
markets are readily available for them to obtain price premiums, but what about the vast
majority of markets with reduced scope for differentiation? Does this mean that products or
services that can only compete on price will never be able to offset environmental
investments? Take the packaging industry for example. Although there is some scope for
differentiation, competition is heavily based on price. Regulatory measures, such as post-
consumers taxes, have been on the rise in developed countries and are only expected to be
higher in the coming decades. In other words, packaging material will have to be competitive
on price andenvironmental performance.
The combination of low margins with the saturation of mature markets in many industrialised
countries increases rivalry and places packaging manufacturers under extreme pressure to
reduce costs. Add to this reality an increasingly demanding customer and a constant
tightening of environmental regulations. For community organisations operating in such
context, focusing on radical product innovation, such as material substitution and
dematerialisation, makes more business sense than focusing on incremental process
innovation.
The case of Chemical Management Services (CMS) is instructive in this respect. CMS
emerged out of the need factories have to manage large amounts of chemicals used in
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working in rural communities reliant on the beef industry.
3. Recommendations
Models of sustainable development
This section reviews briefly the two predominant models of sustainable development from
the sustainable development literature. This will help define how this paper conceptualises
ESD and how this relates to sustainable societies. The two models of sustainable
development are, first, overlapping system model of sustainable development (Three Pillars
Model), and second, nested system model of ESD (Russian Doll model)
Overlapping system model of sustainable development
The major problem with overlapping system model (also referred to as the three pillars
model) is that it does not recognise that our economic and social systems must operate within
the constraints of the eco-system (State of the Environmental Advisory Council 1996). These
models generally promote a balance of ecological/environmental social and
economic/business interests (World Business Council for Sustainable Development).
Development approaches based on this type of model are less likely to meet one of the three
core objectives of ESD in Australia, which is to protect biological diversity and maintain
essential ecological processes and life-support systems (Ecologically Sustainable
Development Steering Committee, 1992:8).
The problem is that the earths ecosystems and the environment are crucially important to this
and future generations, thus needing to be balanced with economic growth, which is usually
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consequence, need to be given higher priority in order to ensure that human activity systems
(social and economic) do not continue to do significant damage to them (Czech, 2000). An
example of this is the Australian Governments refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in relation
to greenhouse gas emissions, something that is mainly due to the possible negative impact on
economic over the next decade (Hamilton 2003). This indicates a higher priority being given
to economic by the Australian Government than to the prevention of further damage to the
atmospheric ecosystem
The version of sustainable development or sustainability that is reflected in the overlapping
system model tends towards weak sustainability as defined by Bell and Morse (1999). Weak
sustainability equates to a sort of economic sustainability where the emphasis is upon
allocation of resources and levels of consumption, and financial value as a key element of
system quality. The Bell and Morse (1999) definitions of weak and strong sustainability
points towards either end of a continuum. At the weak sustainability end, ecological factors
predominate. Ecological factors are often not measurable in financial terms and include
measures of soil erosion, biodiversity, dry land salinity and so on. The nested system model,
discussed below, reflects more of a strong sustainability approach
The nested system model of ESD
The nested system model recognises the constraints imposed by the earths eco-systems. The
1996 Australia State of Environment Report describes the nested system model as: --- the
decision-making model needed for an ecologically sustainable future for Australia. It
recognises that that the economy is a sub-set of society, since many important aspects of
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totally constrained by natural ecology of our planet. It requires integration of ecological
thinking into all social and economic planning (Ecologically Sustainable Development
Steering Committee 1992: State of the Environment Advisory Council 1996, Ch 10, 12).
This holistic perspective, which recognises the limits imposed by earths ecosystems
on social and economic systems, indicates that we need to move beyond the triple bottom line
for business, which is based on the overlapping system or three pillars model.
3.1 Conclusion
This paper has discussed the problems of the global environment and has made
recommendations for a better environment. The boundaries between the four possible
strategies are hypothetical. In reality, there is an undeniable relationship between
organisational processes and products/services. After all, products have to be produced in one
way or another, and gains in process productivity can be transferred to products. Hence, if
interactions occur in reality, why should anyone consider the theoretical distinctions between
processes and products/services as presented in here?
Although subtle, there are indeed very practical reasons to make such distinctions. Finding
opportunities beyond the low hanging fruit requires a more detailed analysis of the
elements involved in competitive environmental management. By definition, analysis refers
to the breakdown of an issue into its components. In this case, the separation between
processes and products/services allows for the identification of the trade-offs between
strategic choices available to managers in community organisations. This, according to Porter
(1996), is a fundamental condition for strategy: a sustainable strategic position requires
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management, betweenstrategic focus on processes or products/services.
Similar to the experience of Total Quality Management (TQM), proactive community
organisations will do their best to reduce their environmental impact. However, if
environmental issues are to be seen as business issues, then good community organisation
citizenship is not enough. If strategy is about doing better by being different, as Magretta
(2003) put it, then an environmental strategy requires more than doing well. Managers,
therefore, will need to identify the areas in which the community organisations can focus
their environmental efforts in the pursuit of competitive advantage. Fundamentally, they have
to ask: Who is valuing my environmental investments?
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