business

MBA Programs Going Green

- Adam Clare

Big businesses use a lot of resources to function, and some of the largest businesses are based solely on the exploitation of finite resources. The increased environmental awareness since Al Gore’s movie has impacted interest in the relationship between the environment and business operations. Now, MBA schools have classes that focus on the greening of businesses.

Most business schools say that although interest in these courses and programs is probably going to peak and then drop off a bit, the need to study and understand how business impacts the environment will never go away. And business schools are the ones shouldering the responsibility to train a new generation of MBAs who are equipped to make sound decisions. “We don’t want to be in the business of chasing fads,” says Forest Reinhardt, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, where environmental considerations and case studies have been woven into the fabric of many courses. “We would not be making these efforts if we thought this was the flavor of the month.”

Perhaps the closest parallel to B-schools’ current interest in sustainability, the environment, and social issues is the push to add ethics to the MBA curriculum following the collapse of Enron in 2001 and the era of corporate scandals that followed. However, unlike that effort, which never resulted in full-blown business ethics programs, sustainability appears to be a trend that is carving out significant space for itself in the curriculum.

Financial Reason to Green Your Business

- Adam Clare

Being green is good, and it’s even better when being a green business brings in more green.

Creative Finance Options Abound
There are numerous ways to gather the resources to make onsite projects happen. Thanks to the grid, energy service companies can provide some or all of the financing needed. The grid also enables creative partnerships. For example, in partnership with Xcel Energy, Colorado’s Aspen Skiing Company recently financed $1.1 million for a 147-kilowatt solar energy array. Of the energy produced, a third goes to a local school, and two-thirds is sold back to the grid, with profits given to Aspen Skiing Company.
There is a good chance you will find financing for onsite renewable energy projects by exploring partnerships with foundations or exploring funding available in carbon markets for carbon-offsets projects.

Turn a Lack of Resources Into a Strength

- Adam Clare

happy

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek has some advice for people who are questioning a jump into something new because they question if they have the resources to do it. Granted, he’s talking about starting a business, but I think that his advice can be applied to everyday living as well. He argues that by concentrating on what you have, you can do better – basically think positive to turn a lack of resources into a strength.

Excuses not to jump into the unknown are a dime a dozen. In the case of entrepreneurship, the “I don’t have” list — I don’t have funding, I don’t connections, etc. — is a popular write-off for inaction.

Little do most people know how often lack of resources is the ingredient that creates great companies.

It forces you to be clever, to dissect problems instead of throwing cash at them, and to innovate instead of imitating better-funded competitors.

Starbucks Actually Helps

- Adam Clare

Starbucks is a massive international coffee chain that is infamous for putting their own coffee shops across the street from one another. They also have a reputation that they drive local independent coffee shops out of business, it seems this reputation is undeserved.

Slate has an article examining how Starbucks helps small coffee shops by giving them new customers.

The first time Herb Hyman spoke with the rep from Starbucks, in 1991, the life of his small business flashed before his eyes. For three decades, Hyman’s handful of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores had been filling the caffeine needs of Los Angeles locals and the Hollywood elite: Johnny Carson had his own blend there; Jacques Cousteau arranged to have Hyman’s coffee care packages meet his ship at ports around the world; and Dirty Dozen leading man Lee Marvin often worked behind the counter with Hyman for fun. But when the word came down that the rising Seattle coffee juggernaut was plotting its raid on Los Angeles, Hyman feared his life’s work would be trampled underfoot. Starbucks even promised as much. “They just flat-out said, ‘If you don’t sell out to us, we’re going to surround your stores,’ ” Hyman recalled. “And lo and behold, that’s what happened—and it was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

Stockholm Syndrome

- Adam Clare

from wikipedia The Toronto Star has an article about how Stockholm is dealing with traffic. They are going to vote on permanently implementing a congestion charge like London’s. They performed a pilot test for the charge and people hated the idea, then people saw the benefits of a congestion charge and opinion switched quickly.

The article does a bit of comparing and contrasting with Toronto, but concentrates on the good policies that Stockholm has adopted.

“”We have too many cars and too few roads,” says Soderholm. “We had to do something. Traffic was growing worse and people were getting more and more annoyed. For the Social Democrats, the environment was the primary concern. For the conservatives, it was to make Stockholm more attractive to business.”

The charges were in force from Jan. 3 to July 31. Though there were many exemptions, most drivers had to pay a fee ranging from $2 to $3.50, to a daily maximum of $10, every time they drove in and out of the designated zone. The fee applied Monday to Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The cost of the trial, about $500 million, was paid for by the national government.
Needless to say, the majority of Stockholmers were adamantly opposed to the fee when the idea was first raised last year.
“Resistance was highest before the program started,” says Gunnar Soderholm, Stockholm’s deputy chief executive officer. “Basically, the Green Party forced the ruling Social Democrats to support the congestion zone. A lot of Social Democrats thought it was political suicide. The media had also been strongly opposed to it, but switched immediately. People could see with their own eyes what the benefits were — better traffic and environmental conditions.”

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