Green Anxiety? Apply Business Basics First
APICS magazine’s “The Business Behind Green” by Tim Becker reveals a “green anxiety” in corporate America due to the increased media coverage of all things green. Responding to “green anxiety” can be hazardous especially when business basics are not applied to green projects; i.e, running the numbers and aligning green projects with corporate strategies.
The article encourages doing project business cases, i.e., running the numbers, but also cautions consideration of some unique factors, for example:
“[Only] a small number of customers will pay a significant premium for green products; the vast majority will not. A recent study of wood products found that most customers switched to green certified products only when the price premium dropped to 2 percent. Likewise, most customers will not accept an inferior product simply because it is green.”
The importance of alignment with corporate strategies and values is illustrated by the case of corn-based ethanol. There are ethical issues involved with using a food crop for fuel:
“Experts estimate the amount of corn needed to produce the fuel to fill the tank of a sport-utility vehicle is the same amount needed to feed a person for an entire year.”
These types of ethical conflicts are inherent in most environmentalism. Companies that forge ahead, blind to the impacts, can sabotage their own strategies.
Overstated and overstating ecological claims and looking beyond today’s focus on climate change will be addressed in my next post.
Do you have “green anxiety”? Has it caused your company to forget to apply business basics to green projects?
Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL.
