ABSTRACT
Consider some examples of how businesses are adapting their traditional strengths – R&D, risk management, market prospecting, brand differentiation, management systems development and the like – to an emerging set of commercial, social and environmental challenges that might otherwise be handled under the mantle of social responsibility, environmental sustainability or corporate citizenship (the inclusive term used here):
• In light of pricey energy and the threat of global warming, GE launched its “ecomagination” campaign and is investing US$20 billion in technologies to reduce its customers’ energy consumption and carbon emissions;
• Drawing on its open-sourcing philosophy, IBM conducted an electronic “values jam” to engage its employees about the company’s values and today hosts online jams with customers, suppliers and subject-matters experts in fields of health, transportation and urban life to identify “innovations that matter – for the company and the world”;
• Faced with flat sales in mature markets and local competition in the developing world, P&G, Nestlé and Unilever devised new business models to deliver purified water, affordable cleaning products and fortified foods to the “bottom of the pyramid”; at the same time, they are working to increase the environmental friendliness and healthiness of ingredients in the full range of their consumer offerings;
• Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson is tackling the dire nursing shortage; Cisco, Dell and other high tech firms aim to reduce the digital divide; and Manpower is training millions of hard-to-employ youth.
