Strategy and sustainability

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Had a couple of interesting contacts on this last week. Seems senior executives in general certainly ‘want to do what’s right’, but face two difficulties. First, it’s not as obvious as it seems to know what the right thing is to do [think of the debates about exploiting cheap labour vs. destitution and poverty]. Secondly, it’s hard for CEOs to make the business case for doing things that seem to be just costly. We can help on both issues.

First, my ...

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Wal-Mart = ‘Environmental Protection Agency’?

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Sloan Mgmt Review highlights a New York Times article on Walmart’s toughening stance on environmental sustainability. It also points out the inherent conflict in this – that W. relies on selling ‘stuff’ in vast quantities. Yet even so, their leverage over suppliers may make them a very effective ‘Environmental Protection Agency’. 

This is an intrisically unsustainable activity, but the headline reminds me of some discussions with the David Bent of Forum for the Future, which is working hard to ...

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