The company being reviewed is an information technology company that has been traditionally focused on the manufacture and sale of computers and related equipment and services. This company affirms the traditional definition of sustainability from the World Commission of Environment and Development as “… the ability of current generations to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.” The following review discusses the evolution of their sustainability principles and broad plans for implementation.
In the 1980s the environmental concerns were primarily pollution control and prevention with a focus on reducing emissions from existing manufacturing processes. During this period the company made significant improvement in pollution control and prevention, risk management, and facility improvements such as reducing toxic materials and emissions. In the 1990s the focus shifted to product stewardship, which emphasizes earlier intervention to minimize environmental impacts associated with the full life cycle of a product. The product stewardship function focused on developing global processes for tracking and managing regulatory compliance issues, customer inquiry response systems, information management, public policy shaping, product take-back programs, green packaging, and integrating “design for the environment” and life cycle analysis into product development processes.
Today the company realizes that pollution prevention and product stewardship have become baseline market expectations and that to be an environmental leader in this century, a company needs to integrate environmental sustainability into its fundamental business strategy. This company realizes that it must redefine its core business utilizing the principles of the 3 “E’s”: Environmental, Economic and Equitable (social) sustainability.
The reasons for this strategy include the following:
Meeting customer and market expectations
Improving market access
Increasing cost savings
Creating market opportunities
Enhancing brand image
Leveraging competitive advantage
Increasing shareholder value
The new strategy has 2 overarching goals for the enhanced program: 1: Improve environmental performance in today’s products and processes (Deliver sound and consistent baseline environmental performance.)
2. Invent tomorrow’s sustainable businesses. (Reinvent the current business models and examine whether the company wants to be in the business of selling disposable products or in the business of selling product services.)
The result of these goals was a decision to focus on 3 strategic priorities:
a. End-of-life product solutions
b. Energy efficiency
c. De-materialization
The implementation plans include:
1. Executive-level commitment to environmental sustainability
2. Publicly-stated future goals
3. Consistent metrics linked to environmental performance
4. Strategic partnerships
5. Solid Internal and external communications and marketing
Each of the above points contributes to the ability to invent entirely new solutions that address complex societal needs. Recognizing the finite resources of the earth and its limitations, this company is transitioning to sell services rather than products and reanalyzing its fundamental business models to make dramatic shifts. The idea is to sell solutions to problems rather than introducing more potential problems with less negative impacts.