What is a green strategy? Over the past decade, concepts that focus on environmental stewardship have emerged, challenged our capacity to be self-aware, and established a common global imperative to respond to critical issues that arise from worldwide climate change and natural resource conservation. Seldom before has the need for large-scale transformation been so clear, yet the necessary actions to take been so difficult to define. ''Global warming'', ''green house gasses'' and an individual's ''carbon footprint'' have become common terms heard on news and science reports on a daily basis. Still, these are not terms that are discussed in most company newsletters, announcements to the investment community, or at shareholder meetings. Enterprises are changing in ways that improve the environment, and that change is accelerating, yet very few companies have established an enterprise-level ''green'' strategy. Many projects that benefit the environment undertaken by corporations in the past were the result of new legislation, community pressure, or customer safety concerns. In fact, tremendous progress has been made through legislation in many countries to reduce automobile exhaust emissions, lower pollution through the traded carbon credit program, and improve safety by eliminating the use of lead-based paint. The examples are numerous, and the credit for making these changes is spread across all of society's stakeholders, from lawmakers to corporate executives and consumer advocates. However, with the evidence that science is showing us about the acceleration of global warming, there is a growing consensus that transformations to protect the environment should be more pervasive and larger steps are needed. There is also ongoing recognition that government regulation should play a role in achieving effective change, but that it is only one of many forces that will drive the needed change into the future. Even now, it is not difficult to envision a time in the near future where governments, individuals, and enterprises all play an important role in protecting the environment. It may challenge our imagination to envision a ''chief green officer'' sitting at the table with a company's CEO, CFO, CIO and COO. However, developing an enterprise-level ''green'' strategy is easier to imagine, and many companies are already headed in that direction. A green strategy for an enterprise-public or private, government or commercial-is one that complements the business, operations, and asset strategies that are already well understood and often well articulated by the enterprise. A green strategy fundamentally helps an enterprise make decisions that have a positive impact on the environment. The principles that form the basis of a green strategy should lead a business to make decisions based on solid business logic and make good business sense. The three principles shown in Figure 1 could be the tenets of any company's enterprise-level green strategy.
Purpose -It is clear that the trend toward measuring and managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on a global scale is not slowing, even though different countries and geographic regions are approaching the issue with different points of view and different levels of vigor. Along with an increase in measuring and managing GHG emissions, enterprises around the world should expect to see a higher level of independent assurance and audit reporting needed. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the challenges and opportunities that accompany GHG emissions accounting and auditing, as well as the supply chain and operational dependencies that are different from traditional financial auditing. Design/methodology/approach -This paper explores the challenges and opportunities from measuring and auditing GHG emissions, and contrasts audits of sustainability information with more traditional financial auditing. It also explores some of the issues in supply chain and operational dependencies that are important in measuring and auditing GHG emissions and are different from more traditional accounting practices. Findings -With the importance of processes to independently audit GHG emissions and natural resource consumption expected to grow in the future, it is important to understand how past experience with financial accounting and auditing can play a role in shaping the future for environmental stewardship. This paper shows that there are a number of key differences between financial and carbon auditing, which must be considered as enterprises begin to consider how to best support increasingly important sustainability reporting. As more publicly traded firms voluntarily issue sustainability reports and new legislation drives a greater need for standardized carbon accounting, so too will the need for auditing GHG emissions grow. This paper explains that GHG auditing will require cross-functional skills with operational and process knowledge, accounting capabilities and an understanding of how operational data correlates with estimates for GHG emissions. Originality/value -Much existing work addresses why, where, how, and who should be measuring and managing GHG emissions, but little attention is being given to the unique challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve reporting transparency. Independent auditing of GHG emissions has maintained a low profile while reporting is voluntary and standards are not fully agreed upon. However, with the possibility of legally binding legislation on the horizon, enterprises that are prepared to audit their GHG emissions and resolve issues early will be well positioned from both a compliance and market-competition perspective.
PurposeBusiness initiatives that improve environmental impact are increasing in number and the trend continues to accelerate. However, there is a growing consensus that transformations to protect the environment and conserve natural resources should be more pervasive and much larger steps than those already being taken are needed. Among the difficult challenges that business leaders and practitioners face today is to understand the driving forces that encourage environmental sustainability in the context of their own operation. This work articulates the key drivers of “green” activities that support environmental stewardship, and their relevance to business management.Design/methodology/approachEnvironmental stewardship is positioned as a growth area, business leaders are already taking action to apply environmental sustainability principles, and each key driver of environmental stewardship is discussed separately. A rationale for each driver is provided, business management implications are articulated, and real world cases for what businesses are actually doing in the marketplace are described.FindingsThis work defines the drivers of environmental stewardship for business leaders, and connects those drivers directly to management implications and real world, actual cases of business activity. With this approach and framework, businesses can easily use the same approach to identify which drivers they are responding to, and which others may have gaps that represent a competitive risk if no action is taken.Originality/valueBusiness leaders and practitioners can use insights provided in this work to better understand the driving forces behind environmental improvement actions, and better align their own initiatives to achieve higher business value and environmental stewardship. Without understanding the driving forces behind their actions, businesses are likely to sub‐optimize their transformation initiatives and fail to realize the expected value.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show that some of the critical questions that top executives from electronics companies ask are not unique to their industry and, in fact, are the same ones that confront executives across a variety of industries and virtually all company sizes. Questions that address issues of product complexity and the breadth of product offerings, how to respond to competitive forces, and how to meet the challenges that come from shortened product lifecycles and shrinking the time it takes for products to ultimately reach the marketplace are all relevant across multiple industries. Still, the electronics industry is one that is experiencing an especially unprecedented degree of change spurred by the increasing complexity of end products, higher competitive intensity, and shorter time to commoditization.Design/methodology/approachThe article provides the methodology and tool set needed to develop and assess a product portfolio map, determine changes needed to marketing and sales focus as well as future actions to take in order to sustain higher profitability and return on investments. It includes: definition of the key dimensions and characteristics of the six key zones for product, sales, and marketing; summary of product, marketing and sales focus by zone; key challenges and actions that an organization can undertake for each zone; and methodology to apply the framework and develop an actionable transformation roadmap. This answers key questions such as: Does the current coverage align with existing core competencies? Which zone has the most profitable products? If playing in every zone which business should be divested? If there is heavy emphasis on one zone what does it mean for M&A strategy? Where do the top 100 customers map in the framework? What looking at product and technology roadmap going forward, which zones do we start entering?FindingsThis article provides a framework that enables businesses to ascertain their current state and identify actions appropriate to achieve a desired future state. It provides insights that lead to an actionable transformation plan.Originality/valueMost companies in the electronics industry are executing multiple strategies based on acquisitions, sales transformations, new product introductions, and cost cutting measures to deal with the situation. However, the success rate of these strategies leaves significant room for improvement at many companies. So what is the answer? As is often the case when many variables need to be considered simultaneously and the competitive environment is complex such as this, it is important to establish a structured way to approach the challenges at hand. In this case, the key elements to consider are the customer experience, the product portfolios, and sales and marketing competencies. Achieving the right level of interaction and focus among these elements is critical to achieving success. This article provides a new and insightful framework to enable a structured analysis of the multi‐variable system.
The Wisconsin (USA) Lakes Partnership is a coalition of academic, advocacy and regulatory entities focused on ensuring effective conservation of the State's natural and water resources. This report summarizes a successful application of the Partnership concept through a case study describing the process that led to the development and implementation of a River Protection Plan for the Mukwonago River Watershed. In addition to the actions of individual landowners, a planning programme sponsored by special purpose units of government, funded in part by the State of Wisconsin and in part by non‐governmental organizations, and conducted by a regional planning authority in partnership with local universities and governmental agencies led to the development of the Mukwonago River Watershed Protection Plan, the contents of which were validated and guided by stakeholders through a Watershed Team and ad hoc Advisory Group. The Watershed Team secured and provided in part the necessary financial support for the conduct of the planning programme, while the Advisory Group identified concerns and validated recommended responses to address the shared issues of concern. The resulting watershed protection plan sets forth a strategy for the maintenance and protection of the high‐quality water resources of the Mukwonago River Basin.
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