Want to Match it to the Earth's Future?
Markets - Ours and Yours

 

Companies of 1,000 employees and under make up the majority of businesses in the United States and the world. If the world economy is to make the cross-over to a sustainable system, the smaller companies must find a way to become sustainable. To do that they must remain profitable. They must sustain their owners, employees and communities as they explore new ways of doing business that take into account the limits to the earth's carrying capacity. These companies may be OEMs for larger corporations, or they may provide services, hospitality, maintenance, construction and design, or wholesale and retail distribution. All need to change in anticipation of environmental requirements.

That is our market.
 
If your company is in that range, we can show you how to create your own future success in a world growing more turbulent by the day. We can introduce you to the Triple Bottom Line.
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 To serve that market we have developed an approach that is:
  • simple,
  • reliable,
  • cost-effective
We call it: our Seven Steps to Sustainability ©


 

MARKET CHANGES ARE ADVANCING UP THE BEACH

WASHING UP DIFFERENT RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES

 

Several strengthening market forces pose increasing risks for businesses.

One set of market forces is the mega-issues, the most important of which are

  • Global warming
  • Pollution and its effect on health
  • The energy crunch
  • Erosion of trust in institutions
  • Globalization backlash
  • Currency fluctuations
  • Resource supplies
  • Raw Materials Prices
  • The threat of Recession
  • Transportation Costs and Availability
  • GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS
These will cause a shift in your suppliers, operations costs and processes, and your customers' demands. The shift requires you to take time out, talk with your people, and revise your plans for the five years ahead of you.

Unforeseen opportunities have already begun arising. Examples include:
  • New products that save resources and energy
  • Packaging that cuts materials usage
  • Fashion designs that feature green fabrics and manufacture
  • Manufacturing Plants designed for light and energy optimization
  • Green construction, new materials, new designs, new technologies
  • Pollution prevention equipment
  • Software to measure and control pollution prevention operations
  • Renewable energy equipment

Market risks include

  • Regulatory bans
  • Reduced market demand for certain products
  • Degradation of product quality by environmental factors
  • Customer boycotts or reduced acceptance
  • Customer poverty
Demanding stakeholder groups also raise risks. They can be comprised of
  • Green consumers
  • Activist shareholders
  • Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
  • Governments
  • The financial sector

In combination, these demanding stakeholders and mega issues contribute to

Six Categories of business risks

  • Market
  • Brand
  • Balance-sheet
  • Operating
  • Capital cost
  • Sustainability
These, in turn, create Balance Sheet risks that may include
  • Remediation liabilities
  • Insurance underwriting losses
  • Impairment of real property values
  • Damage assessments
  • Toxic torts

Operating risks include

  • Costs of cleaning up spills and accidents
  • Risk to worker safety from handling hazardous materials
  • Expensive regulation-driven process changes
  • Reduced process yields
  • Rise in prices of materials and energy
  • Relying on old military-style command and control systems that limit flexibility

Capital cost risks include

  • Product redesign to meet new market opportunities, industry standards or regulations
  • Costly input substitutions
  • New equipment to increase efficiency or utilize new production processes
  • Pollution and waste treatment upgrades required by regulations
  • Uncertainty of ROI computations in turbulent economic conditions

Sustainability risks include

  • Competitive disadvantage from energy or material inefficiencies
  • Impact of mandatory take-back rules and cap-and-trade systems
  • Water shortages
  • Transportation complications
  • Employee health and housing costs
  • Future taxes and
  • Regulatory restrictions

This is the field on which your business is playing. It ain't level. It won't be level. If you are concerned with the sustainability of your enterprise, you will give serious consideration to these market forces, and you will plan to take time  out to work with your team and examine them. Traditional responses to the growing risks will no longer be adequate or appropriate. Innovation, flexibility, continuous improvement - your response may even require mastering a new approach to managing your company. This is when the great coaches find the plays and the players and motivate them in fresh ways. They take time outs and transform the team, transforming the game in the process.

ConfluencePoint has the experience and expertise for this moment - organizational, financial, and strategic. We can bring to your discussion a certainty that you are talking about the right things and being aware of the all the intellectual and physical resources available. We also ensure that you balance the elements (Five Flows, Six Risk Categories) as you weigh alternative approaches to your future. Contact Us

 

 

(If the above is interesting to you, you may wish to read  The Next Sustainability Wave, by Bob Willard, New Society Publishers, 2005)

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