Katie Wolfe
May 29, 2007
Profit and Planet
Prof. Marx
Profit and Planet
Plans to utilize
alternate energy, reduce waste and decrease greenhouse gas emissions are being
implemented in businesses across the globe. Companies are employing metrics in addition to profit
to gauge success. Impact on people
and planet are now being considered as well as the bottom line. The way businesses function is
changing dramatically, and because of this Cal Poly Business students need to
graduate prepared to manage, own and operate environment-friendly
businesses. Companies like
Wal-Mart, Patagonia and Shell lead the corporate revolution to turn green. The College of Business at Cal Poly is
doing students a great disservice by not encouraging sustainable business practices. In order to maximize the potential of
each student, employee and enterprise, the College of Business must implement
sustainable teaching programs, address the passivity of instructors and stress
the importance of responsibility in business practices.
In 2004 the
President of Cal Poly, Warren Baker, signed the Talliores declaration along
with over 300 other University presidents. By signing this document, Cal Poly as a whole acknowledged
the importance of teaching and practicing sustainable resource use and
environmental protection.[1] But, since this signing, only one
building has been equipped with solar panels, and only a few General Education
classes have been devoted to sustainable teaching. The College of Business only has two classes that address
sustainable business practices.
Currently, the College of Business at Cal Poly is reluctant to join the
conversation about sustainability.
Dr. Lancaster, business professor and sustainability advocate, stresses
that business students have the Òopportunity and right to make a
difference.Ó When asked how the College
of Business could participate in becoming environment-friendly, she answers
that every core business class needs to address sustainability from their
individual standpoint. Students
would thereby get the benefit of learning how to market, account, finance and
sell to the rapidly transforming world.
However, Dr.
Lancaster expresses her concern that introducing certain classes geared towards
sustainable teaching would encounter resistance for two main reasons. One,
passivity from professors and the administration, who remain skeptical about
the linkage between CO2 emissions and global warming. Furthermore, conducting individual investigation into human
impacts on the environment is difficult and time consuming. The second reason
the College of Business lags in the area of sustainability is lack of interest.
Some administrators, professors and students do not feel it is the job of
business to address this problem.
The attitude that only engineers and architects should be concerned with
the environment lingers with some people.
Professors and
administrators at Cal Poly should recognize that, regardless of their personal
beliefs concerning global warming, they work for an institution with a mission
statement that affirms ÒCal Poly valuesÉ social and environmental
responsibility.Ó[2] Passivity in this area just wastes time
- time that most sustainability experts agree we do not have. The other obstacle the college of
business will have to overcome in order to implement sustainable teaching is
opposition from non-believers that business and a healthy environment can in
fact complement one another.
Certain people refuse to grasp the notion that improving profit, people
and planet are all possible at the same time. Ford Motor Company serves as a perfect example that
sometimes profit is contingent on aligning business, planet and humanity. Ford
Motor Company, according to Daniel Estey, the author of Turning Green into
Gold, is at risk of Òbecoming the first
environment related bankruptcyÓ[3]
because of the gas-guzzling cars that they produce. The market no longer favors the damaging gas consumption of
these cars and now Ford may be filing bankruptcy. To claim that business and sustainability oppose one another
is to ignore clear evidence of the contrary.
The traditional
notion that enterprises can not be profitable and better the world at the same
time has been weakened by certain business ventures. Mohammad Yunus, the developer of Micro finance and the
Grameen Bank exemplify the success a company can have when catering to the
poor. Mohammad articulates the goal of Micro finance by stating that his
enterprise was ÒCreated with a declared mission to maximize benefits to the
people served, without incurring losses.Ó[4]
By offering minute loans of money to people that had no collateral to offer,
his enterprise flourished in a place and among people that other businesses
never considered a viable market. With a 95% payback rate, the Grameen bank not
only profited, but also offered hundreds of people a chance to build a new way
of life.[5]
This
risky business venture led the pack in a race that may change the way of
business forever. There are now
7,000 Òmicro-lendersÓ with over 25 million poor clients. Mohammed Yunus expresses his belief
that his success cannot be counted in dollar bills but rather in Ò[proving]
beyond a reasonable doubt that poor people are bankable.Ó[6]
Yunus and his enterprise serve as proof that a company does not have to focus
primarily on a profitable bottom line in order to achieve one. His idea not only earned him the Nobel
Peace Prize, but also encouraged companies to engage in business with the 4.1
billion poor people of the world. Environmental responsibility and social justice,
an inseparable pair, together form the goal of business for the future.
Only
sustainable businesses will survive in a world of diminishing resources and
growing populations. Where
businesses used to be faced with choices like economy or environment, profit or
planet, corporation or kindness – businesses now must refrain from
choosing and instead combine all of these together. Cal Poly boasts the value of Òlearning by doingÓ and this
motto should hold true for every college on campus. The global conversation about sustainability is louder than
ever and college students now are the business owners tomorrow. Cal Poly business students cannot be
left behind.
[1]
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~smarx/April232004/InfosheetApril23-4.htm
[2] Cal Poly Academic Records. 24 May 2007
<http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/whatsnew/mission.html>.
[3] "Turning Green into Gold." Market
Place. 29 Jan 2007. 23 May 2007
<http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/01/29/AM200701291.html>.
[4] "Commun Press Release - 2005." Groupe Danone.
16 Mar 2006. 25 May 2007
<http://www.danone.com/wps/portal/jump/DanoneCorporateIntl.Press.Commun2004PressReleases?ref=CMS.DanoneCorporateIntl.Press.2006PressReleases.Trimestre1.CP_160306>.
[6] Pearl, Daniel. "Grameen Bank, Which Pioneered
Loans." The Wall Street Journal Online. 02 Feb 2002. 24 May 2007 < http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/pearl112701.htm
>.