Futurechat

Implementing India

“The facts speak for themselves. In the last 50 years, world GDP multiplied 60 times to reach a level of more than $60 trillion. Yet, two-thirds of the world lives in poverty, with more than a billion people in acute deprivation and hunger. It is obvious that something has gone terribly wrong in the way the world has chosen to pursue economic development and progress.” says, Mr. Y C Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC Limited in his article titled -It can’t be business as usual. ( ITC is one of India’s largest companies )

In the same article he goes on to add that, “The need of the hour is to encourage business models that enable companies to co-create, with local communities, opportunities for sustainable livelihoods as well as enrichment of natural capital. At the same time, civil society need to be made more aware of the tremendous change they can bring about by encouraging a preference for responsible companies.”

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I have been watching the debate around ‘the case against CSR with interest’. The fundamental point where we all seem to get stuck is around – ‘the role of business’. Economists and many CEO’s argue that the role of business is to maximise shareholder profits, whereas the CSR community talks about contribution to society for the greater good.

I believe that the essential problem about the role of business cannot be resolved within our current framework of thinking unless we add another element – ‘The element of Trusteeship’. …more

Greening the Organisation

I have been wanting to understand the journey many organizations have taken towards implementing sustainability initiatives. I happened to listen to Vijay Sethi, CIO, Hero Honda at a Green IT conference and thus began an interesting journey into the initiatives that he and Hero Honda have taken.

These are my notes.

There is a buzz about Green IT today, in most corporate circles. But the question is: How does one convert the enormous potential of Green IT into tangible, measurable results. Many organizations, run on energy guzzling software and hardware and are loath to discard systems that run perfectly, “so what, if the energy bill is a bit high”. …more

This post is in response to Aneel Karnani’s article in the Wall Street Journal, The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility.

Before I comment on the article I want to talk about some fundamental trends:

• Many old world companies are hierarchal structures that are under threat because of the new way in which consumers and employees are interacting with them.
• Consumers want brands that they relate to, talk with them and not at them.
• Similarly, employees are increasingly wanting to work for organizations that are flatter more transparent and are built around values the Gen Y relate to. …more

A company’s sustainability strategy is best delivered through the marketing department, according to Unilever’s new chief marketing and communications officer Keith Weed .

Many people that I know, simply disagree with this perspective.

- Marketing according to many has been the cause of of fueling unsustainable consumption patterns and the use and throw culture.
- Another very valid argument against marketing is that, unethical companies can simply get away by savvy marketing instead of making genuine changes towards sustainability.

It is no accident that the 20th century saw marketing departments as the primary communication interface with the consumer. The proliferation of media around us highlights the role of the communication industry that has largely been responsible for consumerism and its many benefits as well as ill effects. …more