The following is an excerpt from my latest white paper, The Greening of Procurement: How Social Consciousness is Re-Shaping Procurement Practices:
Do Cannibals With Forks Constitute Progress?
Taking his cue from Polish poet and aphorist Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, John Elkington’s book titled Cannibals With Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business, attempts to answer the question “is it progress if a cannibal uses a fork.”
I am certain that the aphoristic character of Lec’s writings were not lost on Elkington when he decided to use the “cannibals” analogy as in many ways it symbolizes the at times vague certainty of the importance of sustainability. Or to be more precise doing something because it is supposedly good for you without really quantifying what the “good” actually is.
This is an important distinction as the substantive elements that drive corporate decision-making can and in fact does change based upon financial imperatives and the realities that drive them.
For example, industry watchers often refer to Ford Motor Company’s historic tendency to backtrack on previous commitments such as the promise to improve the fuel efficiency of their SUV vehicles in 2000 and a 2005 pledge to build 250,000 hybrid vehicles.
In 2003 the SUV efficiency initiative was abandoned as was the hybrid production pledge in 2006. This of course has caused many to question their most recent promise to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% between now and 2020.
There are of course a number of questions (as well as interesting answers) regarding the Ford vacillation between being a self-serving corporate pillager of the environment and a socially responsible global partner in the emerging world of “sustainable capitalism.”
Excerpt End The fact is Pete, that there are a variety of factors of influence that drive an organization's transition from awareness to actual practice. The 2007 EcoMarkets Survey indicated that the chasm between these two points is still significant.
Without sounding like a promotional piece for my paper, my extensive research has produced a 45 page document which includes actual case study references (i.e. Ford and Kodak), government statistics and marketing initiatives on the part of specific sectors to incoportate green into their product or sevice offerings.
I have provided the link to the excerpt in its entirety. If you like what you read, there is a link to acquire the paper itself.
Links:
To obtain referenced link, please contact the author.
To learn more about this author, visit Jon Hansen's Website.
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