Hack:
Sensibility is in Sustainability

By Tarun Kumar Mann - Student at TERI University

March 20, 2011 at 8:05am

sustainability

balanced scorecard

environmental standards

Moonshots

Focus the work of management on a higher purpose

Experiment more often and more cheaply

Summary

The time has come when Mahatma Gandhi said "We cannot possibly keep on encrouching mother nature and whatever we do even in business enterprise has to be sustainable in every respect". As we are growing we are using more and more of resources which has already resulted in shortage from the supply side, causing rise in prices of raw materials every year. Organization must plan for future giving the environment, society and economic growth equal importance.

Problem

Performance measurement

Mostly organisation keep meauring the performance using various tools and techniques. This makes the process cumbersome and time consuming.

Lack of awareness.

Largely organisation does'nt know how to make a business sustainable. They consider only some elements and treat it just as an equation. Sustainability is qualitative than quatitative. First the management and then the employees needs to be motivated and educated about sustainable practices.

Far too much importance given to meet the growth target.

In lieu of setting higher and higher targets organisation puts too much pressure on their employees, utilizing resources in an inefficient manner and eventually it's the society that has to face the brunt of wrong doings. Target definately needs to be set but it should be feasible and achievable keeping the capability of the man power.

Negligence towards environment

Each year temperature of the globe is rising by approximately 0.74 degree. Its a responsiblity of organization to keep a check of its carbon footprint and try to minimize the negative impacts on the environment.

Negligence towards society

Due diligence is missing before setting up plants and multi-storied corporate houses. Its a responsiblity of organization to keep a check of the impact on the society.

Futuristic strategy missing

Generally strategies are laid to have competitive advantage which is short term. This leads to rising sales figures, increasing global footprint but this doesn't wok at all time. A strategy which is about both market penetration and market creation is missing.

Solution

Balanced Scorecard.

A very famous line 'What gets measured, gets Managed'. Financial, internal business process, customer, learning and growth needs to be measured in-situ the vision and strategy of the organisation. Balanced scorecards can be a very good tool for measurement.

Carbon market can be used to generate incentives.

CDM projects brings in additional return as compared to conventional return on investment. Carbon credits can used as an effective tools to generate incentives. This can become a mechanism for the marketers to increase the brand value.

Awareness campaigns can help build relationship amonst employees.

Todays generation wants to bring change, this is the common goal. Firstly the employees should be made aware of how to carry out campaigns. Secondly employees having similar interest would be formulated as team leading enhanced relationship amongst them.

Product Stewardship

An increasingly popular tool for reducing landfill waste is so-called „Product Stewardship‟. Product stewardship is about designing products with the end in mind and realizing that a company‟s responsibility does not end at the time of sale. The objective is to encourage manufacturers to design products with fewer toxics, to make them more durable, reusable and made with recycled materials.

Environamental Standards

1. The EU directive on the eco-design of energy-using products (EuP).
2. RoHS compliant
3. REACH Regulation (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of CHemicals)
4. GHS compliant {Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS)}

Practical Impact

Using a measured approach would help in acieving all targets.

Setting objectives and methods that be compared amongst the departments. Since this would be a single program with multiple threads a comparitive analyses can be done w.r.t the industry and their competitiors.

Increased money inflow.

Carbon market can be very good investment area, which would yeild return increasing the money inflow from the investment made. (Carbon market was worth of 121 billion euros in 2010)

Employee satisfaction.

Internal business process evaluation would come out with results dealing with problems faced by employees, these problems can be rectified before the next evaluation. The parameters of the evaluation is transparent to employees.

Customer Satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is the prime concern for organizations. A streamlined process would help in achieving the targets. Moreover the customer would be satified that the brand they are consuming is organic in nature, has not been manufatured by harming the enviornment.

Contribution towards a better future.

Following sustainable practices would lead to a bright and properous future. Sustainable production would help in sustainable consumption.

Economies of scale.

Using more and more non-conventional resources would help in acieveing economies of scale. Several governments are giving subsidies for setting up renewable power plants and manufaturing equipments for the same.