When will emerging economies embrace sustainability?

Published May 15, 2013

Tags: Business Operations, Corporate Strategy

When will emerging economies embrace sustainability?

Each year, GlobeScan's Sustainability Leaders survey asks experts to name a company they regard as a leader in sustainability. As Joel Makower noted recently, one company above all others -- Unilever -- has emerged as the sustainability champion par excellence in recent years, thanks to its highly ambitious Sustainable Living Plan. And this year, more than one in four experts mention the company is stretching its lead over the competition.

Despite its dominance, Unilever is not the only show in town. Experts highly rate Patagonia, Puma, Interface and Walmart. The sustainability leaders identified by our global experts have at least one thing in common: They are headquartered in the global North.

Companies from the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, along with middle-income economies, are for the most part notable by their absence. Only Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer Natura (mentioned by 3 percent of global experts) ranks among the top 15 companies.

To lay down a baseline on emerging-market corporate sustainability leaders, we asked experts to name a company headquartered in the developing world that is a leader in sustainability. Tellingly, six in 10 experts were unable to give any examples. Some that were mentioned (SABMiller, for example) are in fact companies from the global North, albeit ones with a large developing-world footprint.

Across our global sample of experts, only Natura and Tata are mentioned by a substantial number of experts (10 percent and 5 percent, respectively).

When we look more closely, however, experts do identify companies as emerging economy leaders.

In Asia, ITC and Tata are top-of-mind leaders;
In Africa/Middle East, experts praise Woolworths, Sasol and Nedbank;
In Latin America, one in two experts flags Natura, while smaller proportions point to Petrobras and Vale;
European and North American thought leaders are most likely to mention Natura and Tata.

We expect this to change. The question is, when? Given the pace of the ongoing realignment of global business dynamics, compounded by the demand we observe from the consumer marketplace in developing and emerging economies for progressive corporate behavior, we are bound to see more companies from Brazil, Russia, India and China ascending our list of leaders. We will be watching -- and measuring -- with future polls.

For now, it may be some time before we see companies from the global South infiltrating the upper reaches of our Sustainability Leaders list in significant numbers. But if being a leader in sustainability is partly about responding to the needs and expectations of one’s society, it’s hard to make the case that the corporate world in the global South is lagging behind. Maybe our expectations need to change.

Photo of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) country flags provided by Jim Barber/Shutterstock

Eric Whan leads GlobeScan’s CSR and sustainability practice. Based in GlobeScan’s Toronto office, Whan specializes in sustainability leadership as it relates to consumers and stakeholders.

3 things green tech firms can learn from the smartphone wars

By Andrew Riley

Published May 15, 2013

Tags: Business Operations, Computers & Electronics, More... Business Operations, Computers & Electronics, Computers & Gadgets, Consumer Products, Corporate Strategy, Innovation

3 things green tech firms can learn from the smartphone wars

Take Apple Inc., for example.

Its well-publicized court battles with rival Samsung involve allegations of patent infringement and copying of Apple’s design patents, trademarks and trade dress.

Not only has Apple brought its complaints to U.S. district courts, but it also has charged Samsung with unfair trade practices before the U.S. International Trade Commission — a government agency that can order U.S. Customs and Border Protection to block goods found infringing from entering the U.S.

In other words, the ITC could order Customs to block all infringing Samsung smartphones from entering the U.S.

As the smartphone wars continue in courts and before government entities throughout the U.S. — indeed, throughout the developed world — what lessons can green technology companies learn from this global battle over ideas, markets and intellectual property?

Invest early and strategically in intellectual property.  At the most basic level, patents provide a property right — the right to prevent others from making, using or selling your invention.

In today’s business world, patents are a critical asset to both startups and established companies alike.

For the startup, with little cash and lots of ideas, it must acquire patents the old-fashioned way.

Because a startup cannot afford to build a huge patent portfolio overnight, it must take deliberate and strategic steps to identify patentable ideas that provide value to the company and its investors.

Take, for example, Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $12 billion in 2012. Google bought Motorola Mobility to make up for a lack of its own intellectual property (IP) related to smartphones despite acquiring and then championing the Android smartphone operating system as far back as 2005.

In this example, patents and other IP provided a valuable, transferable asset to protect Motorola’s investments in research and development.

For many start-ups, it is this portfolio of patents and other IP that investors can get behind.

Next page: Protecting IP from the start

Andrew Riley is a partner in the law firm of Finnegan. He focuses his practice on patent litigation before U.S. district courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission. His practice also includes patent counseling, licensing, opinions, and reexamination proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Can you survive the 5 tectonic shifts to the business landscape?

By Anna Clark

Published May 15, 2013

Tags: Cities, Corporate Strategy, More... Cities, Corporate Strategy, Energy & Climate, Oil & Gas

Can you survive the 5 tectonic shifts to the business landscape?

In his book "The Upside of Down," Thomas Homer-Dixon presents a theory of the crisis and renewal of societies.

The Canadian author and complexity expert of the Balsillie School of International Affairs describes how five tectonic shifts could lead to synchronous failure in our systems. Without knowing how or when breakdown may occur, cities and companies need to mitigate risks, foster resilience and seize opportunities.

In this Q&A, Homer-Dixon gives us his take on the upside of down.

Anna Clark: In your book, you lay out five "tectonic" stresses that are accumulating underneath the surface of our societies: population, energy, environmental, climate and economic stresses. You also point out how the rising speed of global connectivity and the escalating power of small groups to destroy things and people can multiply the effects. How can your concept of resilience help us prepare for changes that are unpredictable, yet inevitable?

Thomas Homer-Dixon: There are two prevailing notions of resilience. I call the first "engineering resilience," which defines resilience in terms of bouncing back to the status quo. A community, for example, is hit by a natural disaster or some other shock and if it's resilient, it bounces back to its prior state. I use "ecological resilience" to refer to a system's capacity to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Ecological resilience involves deep change and continuous innovation through creative destruction. Both types of resilience are useful.

AC: You're here giving a keynote for The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture's conference, "What Makes a Resilient City?" I'm curious to know how you would extrapolate your concept of resilience from cities to companies?

THD: It is really important not to put all of one's eggs in one basket. Our world can change dramatically in a short period of time. Most adaptive systems have built-in diversity so that if one strategy doesn't work they can shift. In business, you may be lucky if you make single bets on one area, but diversity of investments and products is critically important for resilience. In terms of innovation and internal operations, we're learning that relatively flat hierarchies are more adaptive and provide greater creative output. Take a look at how 3M has institutionalized creativity. Companies need to institutionalize failure in order to give their people freedom to innovate in the face of change.

Next page: The business context

Anna Clark is the author of “Green, American Style” and the president of EarthPeople. She lives in one of Dallas’ first residences to earn a Platinum LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.