(Forbes, 19 December 2011) In Brief: New regulations and growing consumer demand for green products are encouraging many companies to take a closer look at how they are designing, manufacturing, and packaging their products. Our View: Product and package design is a key lever for reducing total landed cost, particularly for lower price-point products. Kraft’s [...]
Read more(Business Finance Magazine, 27 September 2011) In Brief: While the volume of information presented to boards of directors has increased significantly over the past decade, risk reports typically lack focus and contain far too little analysis, according to the article. Our View: Executives should develop clear, concise, and compelling risk presentations that present neither too [...]
Read more(The New York Times, 20 September 2011) In Brief: A consortium led by the Ygrene Energy Fund, and backed by the likes of Lockheed Martin and Barclays, will invest as much as $650 million in the next five years to turn old buildings “green” in US cities Sacramento and Miami. The group will use a [...]
Read more(The New York Times, 14 September 2011) In Brief: A federal report into the tragic oil rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, was released this week, raising the specter of further legal and financial troubles for BP and its contractors. Our View: The release of this week’s federal [...]
Read more(The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 September 2011) In Brief: The Sydney-based financial services giant beat 189 of its global peers to be named the world’s best bank for corporate sustainability, according to a new report. Our View: Firms that have well-established corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and initiatives tend to be the best performers. We [...]
Read more(sustainableplant, 30 August 2011) In Brief: As social responsibility and corporate citizenship issues become increasingly intertwined with financial performance, CFOs must become more involved in managing, measuring, and reporting on the sustainability activities of their companies. According to the author of this blog, CFOs should monitor several critical areas, including investor relations, external reporting and [...]
Read more(Smart Planet, 11 August 2011) In Brief: One tech company links its employee bonus and compensation structure to metrics tied to the company’s environmental performance, which the company believes rewards employees for finding ways to create more energy-efficient products and further reduce carbon emissions in its operations. Our View: Procurement functions can use supplier relationships [...]
Read more(Smart Planet, 9 August 2011) In Brief: Social and environmental proxy resolutions have accounted for an unprecedented 40% of all shareholder resolutions in 2011, up from 30% in 2010. ? Our View: As companies expand into new regions, they encounter numerous new and dynamic stakeholder expectations for corporate responsibility, challenging executives to identify material issues [...]
Read more(Operations Room Blog, 3 August 2011) In Brief: Adhering to the requirements of sustainability indices involves the daunting task of gathering an enormous amount of data and trying to accurately rank each form of sustainability. The author of this blog concludes that while sustainability standards might hurt any incentives to exceed the standards with more [...]
Read more(Los Altos Town Crier, 27 July 2011) In Brief: NASA’s new “Sustainability Base” in Mountain View, CA recently won the US GSA’s Real Property Award in the green innovation category. In addition to recyclable, nontoxic construction components and a solar system that can provide 30-40% of the building’s energy needs, the building’s adaptive control system [...]
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