Trade and Media Publications

At least the hotel chain (Intercontinental Hotels) is responding to consumers’ professed increasing support for green products and services, right?

Some studies find that more than 80% of consumers say they will make personal sacrifices to address social and environmental issues. However, when actually buying goods, consumer support for environmental products largely evaporates.

This article was picked up or shared by the following media outlets: QZ.com NakedCapitalism.com Reddit.com Medium.com Qoshe.com Morningstar.com Facebook.com Vox.com and others. 

Quarterly July-September 2019 Issue pages 30-33

As the world economy started gathering momentum in 2017 and 2018, the volume of sea-borne trade began trending upward, albeit from a low, following the anemic recovery of the previous decade.

While prospects for the industry are positive in the next few years, trade protectionism and the possibility of trade wars are still concerning.

“Is the bike-lane fever breaking?” None seemed to address the argument. It is unconscionable to restrict the movement of hundreds of thousands of car users in the name of making life more convenient for a few hundred bicyclists.

There are only two ways for the world to avoid what most scientists refer to as disastrous global warming. One way is to stop economic growth, which would be immoral, while the other would require us to deploy our greatest natural resource.

Warren Buffett said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” It has been more than two decades now since a 1996 issue of Life magazine depicted a Pakistani boy sewing a Nike soccer ball, reportedly for six cents per hour. After the story, the company lost more than half its market capitalisation in just one year – it took Nike six years of demonstrated social responsibility to recuperate.

More companies are banning straws to burnish their environmental credentials. MIT’s Yossi Sheffi writes the impact of such measures is just a drop in the ocean.

For most companies, sustainability is not a case of "profit vs. planet" but a more subtle issue of people looking for jobs and inexpensive goods versus others who seek a pristine environment. Here's how your supply chain can satisfy these conflicting motivations to achieve both economic growth and environmental sustainability.  

MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi has just published, along with Edgar Blanco of Amazon, the definitive book on sustainability in business. For supply chain enthusiasts like me the topic is endlessly complex and compelling, but arguably too big to pin down systematically. This new book, Balancing Green, does it. It is deep and technically credible, but also readable and loaded with familiar names and stories. Most importantly, it tackles the question of sustainability without a preconceived agenda.