While the "greening of the supply chain" has been in the works for decades, the movement has really taken off in 2010. In the last few months, a number of corporate giants have announced new initiatives that pressure suppliers to do much more to measure and manage their environmental impacts. The big guns asking the questions include Pepsi, P&G (more in a future post), and IBM.
I recently spent two nights at the lovely, high-end Westin hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. When I first entered my room, every lamp and light in the place was on...plus two radios...the hotel is forcing its customers to face two conflicting messages, one conservation-oriented and one theoretically welcoming, but blatantly wasteful.
After a long weekend of family and sun, centered around our annual rite of Americana, I've been thinking about what a modern declaration of independence would look like. What is the modern tyranny that controls our lives?
One of the hottest concepts in strategy and management today is the idea of open innovation. Gone are the highly secluded R&D departments funded by a single company...In its place, in theory, are hubs of collaboration capturing ideas from customers, academia, or some guys in a garage somewhere.
It's so refreshing to see one large company, Sony, set a goal of zero environmental footprint by 2050. The company has dubbed this mission its "Road to Zero."
I just saw a recent episode of The Simpsons (best show ever?) about renewable energy. As usual, they're take on things is funny, poignant, and pointed.
Last week I enjoyed listening to Bruce MacGregor, Managing Partner of design giant IDEO, at the Sustainable Brands Conference in Monterey, CA. His talk was focused on how you drive change.
Tonight's speech on the oil spill was a real disappointment for those who believe a clean energy future is perhaps the only path to job growth, public health, national greatness, and freedom (from dependence on a ecologically and economically destructive fossil fuels).
The nightmare is not over and the repercussions in terms of regulations and the future of BP are far from certain. But it's high time to start sifting through the wreckage for some learning so we can avoid similar catastrophes...Here are my top five lessons, running from geopolitical and philosophical to corporate-level branding and strategy.
Last week I got an interesting view on how enterprise software giant SAP is pursuing a green agenda. Sustainability was a core theme at SAP's annual meeting SAPPHIRE NOW, a large gathering of over 16,000 CIOs and tech professionals.