Corporate Responsibility OR a Disposable Society
December 9, 2008 by Will Marre
Frankly I am amazed almost daily by the breakthroughs companies are making to create more responsible and greener products and humanitarian services. I am not talking about superficial PR to re-label factory made food as organic or other advertising buzzwords designed to mislead us. Rather I am impressed that global companies are making genuine progress to reinvent the future.
I have been most recently impressed when I visited the big financial firm ING to learn of their aggressive micro-credit business in India and their European car leasing operation that buys carbon credit for every mile driven to make their auto fleets carbon neutral. I am inspired that General Electric is making organic lights that are nearly 10 times more effective than every light sold today. Even if you’re not a raging environmentalist, you’ve got to be impressed with how companies are paying more attention to making more things more energy efficient.
The reason these trends are persisting is that consumers, especially younger ones, are demanding products that are more responsible. Companies that are responding to this growing consumer demand will continue to grow while those who don’t will fade away.
Why General Motors is Failing
That’s one of the main reasons General Motors is sucking air. My brother-in-law once owned a GM Geo Metro, a dog of a car if there ever was one. As the tin and can aged he noticed that the price of parts was beginning to exceed the value of the car. Finally a mechanic told him, “Hey, the Geo was designed as a disposable car and guess what, it’s time to junk it!” A disposable car. Hmmm.
A Disposable Society
In the 1950’s the big American car company accountants came up with the brilliant idea of planned obsolescence that required engineers to design parts to fail at 50, 60, or 70 thousand miles. This, they were told, would increase their downstream parts business. What a tragic idea. But this has been the mindset of leadership over the past 40 years—create one big disposable society. Disposable cars, disposable marriages and fast food that has as much nourishment as the cardboard package it comes in. Have we gotten so seduced by “new” things that we have lost sight of the quality of our lives and the strength of our society?
Americans are Rethinking Their Addiction to Waste
Americans are a resilient people. We seem to have un-ending ingenuity. So inventors, engineers, and increasingly companies are re-thinking their addiction to waste. They are doing so because we are demanding it and our children are demanding it.
So what’s the best thing we can do? We should all be fully engaged, noisy consumers. We need to demand genuine quality, real nutrition, and yes environmentally responsible products. We should demand personalized, low-stress service to be treated like a person instead of a problem. The louder our voices are in the market place, the more it will change. I am seeing this first hand. Of course progress is slow and imperfect, but at least there is progress. Progress caused by us.
So what do you think? Am I into something or is my view to rosy? What’s the best thing you can think of to drive business to become more responsible?
Yes, Will you are definitely on to something. The best thing I have seen that will spur these changes is that the road(to ruin)that we have been traveling on with our planned obsolescence, and love of plastic disposable crap has gotten a lot bumpier as of late. I know that the price of oil has dropped to ridiculous lows again( temporarily) but it was the high price of oil, the run up on gas prices, the failing of the banks and the current meltdown of our foundational car companies that has led some folks to take a look around and think that we may have to make a change in the way we do things. I think it is unfortunate that Americans are reluctant or unwilling to change or contemplate a different path unless there is a crisis that has a immediate effect on their daily lives. Now that we are seeing these direct effects on the news , and on the front page every day, there is finally momentum for change. I am optimistic, as you are ,that we have amazing innovative thinkers in this country. Unfortunately, they have not been the ones shaping the American business models and policy over the last century. We are going to see a shift because the old way has come to a dead end. The next 10 years are going to be different than the last 50 and in a good way. I, for one , am glad to be working on the new road and hope to get to travel a fair way down the route of the new economy before I have to hit the exit for Boca Raton or Scottsdale.
I guess the best way to look at what is currently happening to our banks and businesses is that we sure have a great example of how not to do things the next time. Live and learn.