Marketing

Other than the obvious need to protect the planet, explain why companies should be interested in developing and implementing sustainability strategies even if such strategies are more costly in the short term.  Give at least one specific example of a company engaged in sustainability implementation.

        When operating any kind of business the goal is to ultimately withstand the tests of time. Sustainability is defined as the ability to continue a defined or specific behavior indefinitely. In the business aspect sustainability is often defined as managing the triple bottom line - a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet.   Sustainability may have originally started out as just a trending thing to talk about doing but with current research many business decision makers have found that there are true advantages to joining the sustainability club. Some of these advantages are Improved Brand Image and Competitive Advantage, Increased Productivity eventually leading to Reduced Costs, Attract Investors and Reduce Waste.

        Take a second and think about this: When you go shopping would you be more likely to buy from a company that takes steps to reduce its environmental impact? Studies have shown that many consumers (more than 50%) actually take this question into consideration and they prefer to buy from companies that are environmentally conscious. Being a sustainable business improves your brand’s image because your brand becomes associated with something positive allowing consumers to feel even better about purchasing your product. This new positive brand image may consequently give you a nice competitive advantage over the competition who may not have switched to being sustainable. According to an article written by Michael Rogers, Colgate’s public awareness ad about water conservation during the Super Bowl suggest that they are becoming more sustainable and are advising their consumers to do the same. “We can live without electricity or paper–people did just that for millennia–but humanity cannot exist without water, especially potable water.”

        Initially becoming a sustainable business may become costly and the benefit of switching may not be recognized initially. For example if a business wants to save on energy they could switch to solar energy and turn off lights and machinery when not in use. I say that it may be costly at first because of the investment that will have to be made to make the switch. Employee productivity will likely increase because of the resource conservation and because of the new positive attitude the company has taken on. With this benefit company decision makers must have a positive outlook on the potential in order to withstand the struggle.

        Attracting investors is another benefit because once again people love to be involved with positive things and being sustainable is a very positive venture. Investors look for companies that have a track record for either being profitable or for having high potential and if a company has a negative brand attached to it because of something as simple as not switching to a more sustainable way of life it may cause investors to back off. Lastly reducing waste is probably the largest benefit. Something as simple as having recycling bins for your employees can save billions in plastic and paper production and even switching to electronic pay stubs instead of paper stubs can save many trees from being cut down conserving our forests.

        Sustainability is the new wave for businesses to catch especially as more of the younger generations start making purchasing and employment decisions. The decision to switch may cost a bit at first but the return on investment can be out of this world!

Freidman puts a lot of reliance in the term Flatteners to describe the forces that are shaping the globalized world of the twenty-first century.  In your essay, demonstrate how some of these Flatteners have helped or are helping to globalize a specific industry of your choice

        Before the world was “flat” it was round. During the era when the world was “round” people were limited with how much information they had access to based on the development of their country. If a country was poor then they wouldn’t have access to technology and information like richer countries had. In The World is Flat Friedman concludes that the world is “flat” on his visit to Infosys Technologies Limited in India. Friedman took notice of the campus’s advanced technology. To his amazement they had things like glass-and-steel buildings and large flat-screen tv’s. Friedman observed that the playing field had been leveled over the years allowing countries like India to compete for global knowledge and employment. Friedman concluded that there were 10 main flatteners of the world that are still flattening us out today. I believe that there are 3 main flatteners that have and is revolutionizing the media industry: Netscape or 8/9/95; Open Source; and The Steroids.

        “Netscape went public at the price of $28. Netscape and the Web broadened the audience for the Internet from its roots as a communications medium used primarily by “early adopters and geeks” to something that made the Internet accessible to everyone from five-year-olds to ninety-five-year olds. The digitization that took place meant that everyday occurrences such as words, files, films, music and pictures could be accessed and manipulated on a computer screen by all people across the world.” –via, Flat World Business This flattener was one of the stepping stones for changing the media industry. Netscape was one of the first internet browsers that helped people connect to the internet. Of course in the early stages there wasn’t much to be found on the internet but this led to the planting of the seeds that would birth the way we obtain knowledge and search for anything our wildest dreams could think of.