Eco Sustainability on Retail a Compare and Contrast

7/30/2019 Eco Sustainability on Retail a Compare and Contrast

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M d N azmus Sh ak i b (Ter m 3, Exc h an g e MBA) St ud en t ID : 601122

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Subm it t ed by: M d N azmu s Shak ibSt ud ent ID: 601122

This write up aims to analyze, compare and contrast on selected 4 write ups in terms of different

approaches on eco sustainabi li t y. This ver y eart h has provi ded us nat ur al capit ali sm w it h ease and of free

of cost ; ent erpr ising spi r it of business has unbounded the beaut y of grow th and development fo r ages. Not

just a pr ofi t m ak ing mot ive, can we appr oach towa rds aGreen waveand t hus can w e change the BA U

to a more eco fr iendly one.Eco advantagecan be the game changer for this orthodox economy. Later

on thi s wri te up, we have tr ied to dr aw an assessment on both C oles and W almar t, and looked for traces

of any positi ve ecological footpr int s for fut ure as a der ivat ive of al l effects - in t he eyes of scar less and

negative impact free biosphere.


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A ppr oxim at ely 4.5 bill ion y ears ago, a place wi t h enorm ous beaut ies & endl ess opport unit ies formed, w e

call it Erath. And around 200 thousand years ago human species started their footprints in this very

Earths soil. From then, nearly everything has had changed till date both in the human numbers

(currently 7 bln.) and in the mother earths eco surface. Had we been given a time machine, we would

have seen t he m agnanim ous journey of hum an k ind racing against all t he un pr ecedent ed odds;

unf ort unately not all of th em are pr om ising, som e are qu it e heart br eak ing and count erp roduct ive, t oo.

Thi s wr it ing is an effor t t o look at t he 4 different w r ite ups cir cling on the susta inabil it y and it s impact on thi s ear th: and the

dist inct ive patt erns in susta ina bil it y i ssues ment ioned in the wr it ings by different accompli shed per sonali t ies.

It offers an alt ernati ve appr oach t o tr adit ional eco effi ciency in t he worl d of sust ainabilit y. It offers w id er

perspectives of waste as food and considers things proactively towards forming an eco solution.

Cli ni call y looki ng at t he aspect of w rit ing, w e m ight see 5 st eps1 st rategy to form t his. So th is wr it e up

rather touches not just the issues but give a

compr ehensive view t o solve probl em s li es in our pr ocess

dr iven m anagem ent . It t ouches upon the design of

materials to form into two different nutrients both of

Biological and Techni cal. N ot only t his, it says on t ri pl e

li ne synergi es2 w here economi c factors coupl es wi t h form at ion of social abili t y t o tr ansform support ive

and sustainable environment for business as a process. Stressing upon the 4 phases 3 of intelligent

m at eri al p ooli ng it draw s a lin e in t he heart of our BAU pr ocess, ask ing for a st ruct ure equally im port ant

t o pool for material r eserve in t he C2C concept .

It offers a di fferent app roach and int erp ret at ions to age old ort hodox C api t ali sm and coins t he concept of

a different yet attractive approach to hold capitalism as the engine for sustainable growth of this earth;

w ri t er t erm s it as Natu ral C api t ali sm . It st resses the concept of eart h as a sink and going a bit forw ard

w ri t er t ouches the current m odel of Tak e- m ak e-w ast e as

an absolu t e di sadvant age of t hi s hum an k ind. So

revolution is just waiting through meeting the core

fundamentals of Natural Capitalism. Basing on the

responsible stewardship, writer approaches on 4

revolutionary matches for Capitalism; starting with

radical r esour ce pr oduct ivi t y, clar if yin g and addr essing for Bio m im icry, asking for fundam ent al

change\shift in servi ce and fl ow econom y w hil e ends up w it h In vest ing in N at ur al C api t ali sm m ore. The

whole process of this flow seems to be quite logical addressing the human issues and at the same timeemphasis has been given to form a Coalition with Nature for better growth which would sustain in the

long run.

1M Braungart et al, Journal of Cleaner production 15( 2007) p1343

2 M Braungart et al, Journal of Cleaner production 15( 2007) p13433 M Braungart et al, Journal of Cleaner production 15( 2007) p1347


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This report is a wakeup call for all concerned business entities and Nay Sayers, who somehow felt

sustainability issues, are rather a grey zone; conforming on all issues like reducing CO2 impact and

alongside it focusing on effi ciency in suppl y chains-W BCSD h as covered every sin gle issues a bi t det ailed

and st em s on p ropelli ng advocacies on Gr een w ays of reachin g eff ici ency. Th e report t alk s about bot h on

Factor 4 and Factor 104; generi call y qu it e different t o

each other both in concept and in implementation.

W hi le Factor 4 emp hasizes on d oublin g the income

through using optimal resources pool followed by

efficiency in the channels whereas Factor 10 repositioning the efficiency in the developed world

mit igat ing t he wast e and i nn ovat ing t he pr ocess wh ich can d eli ver b oth sust ainabili t y and less imp act t o

the eco sphere. Again this report has mentioned of 7 steps5 for companies who are not yet efficient in

resource use; can b e by adopt ing th ose. Talk in g about t he issues and compl ex it ies, th is report adm it s t hat

compl acenci es lie somewh at in every l ayers of t he worl d fr om companies to stakeholder t o even p oli cy

m ak ers. To form cohesion, it pr escri bes a 12 act ion poin t s6 touching every portions of society.

Thi s wr it e up is all about t he fin est ex am ples and ex ercise of t ransform at ion & adopt ion of sust ainable

acts as t he way of doin g th ings in companies. W ri t er spok e here on t he comp anies and t heir pr eferences

of lat e, has been on t he ground of green l ight s on Gr een processes. H e t erm s it as Eco advant age here. He

keeps on telling on different big boys like GE,

W alm art and even som e bi g financial k ids-w ho are

not just accept ing t he facts of ecological f oot pri nt s

thr ough bu siness and pr ocess bu t assert in g the fact

th at it is the upcom ing dri ving force for cashin g up

growt h and a st and out s in t he m ark et . Through t his wr it e up w e have got t o k now wh y com panies ar efeeli ng somewh at pr essur ed t o adopt changes to pr o sustainabl e pr ojects; 3 defi ni t e r easons7 he found

here. There is upside benefit s, downside risks for doing it but wh en companies bin d it t oget her w it h t he

right t hing as a pack -com pany r eap out huge growt h w hil e just n ot pu tt ing pr essures on ecological & eco

foot pri nt balance.

4WBCSD Eco efficiency report,; Creating more with less impact, page 15



7Green to Gold, Chapter 1:Eco advantage, Esty & Winston, page 11,12,13,14


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C ompare and C ontrast

C ompany An alysis

Lets take a look and address the issues of their eco effectiveness, if the selected companies follow any. Its been a belief thatbrands are built in retails. So in todays scenario retails works as the sourcing matrix for different and diverse producers,

reta il s have been the place whi ch needs to be examined thor oughly in t he form of ecological f ootpr int s. For this wr it e up, we

have chosen Wal M art fr om the internat ional ar ena and Coles from t he local mark et.

W al M art and its journey to the new r oad!

W it h a m ott o of helpi ng people save m oney, W al m art t ried to inf li ct sust ain abil it y in i t s core business

agenda underlining 3 core areas for

sustainability. Looking at the following

param et er w e can see a signi fi cant shift fr om

sourcing to building socially responsive retailchain net w ork :

A. Environmental foot print: based on thegoals set by W al m art w e w ould lik e t o

assess their ecological footprints in the way

they do business. N ecessari ly fi rst com es th e

usage of energy and it s imp act on t he eart h.


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Energy usage: W al m art claims t hat t hey are al w ays favorabl e for renewable energy sour ces and u sage

policy. They expect to invest heavily on energy reduction policy namely CO2 reduction through usage

and sourcin g products w hi ch has less em ission of CO2 . And i n t erm s of GH G, they claim t o reduce

12.74% absolut e reducti on in GH G.( b ase year 2005) .

W aste managem ent: W al m art st ill st rives on t he renewable part s m ore rath er t han achi evin g a

sust ained appr oach of cradl e-t o-cradle force. M ore renew abl e has been actu all y pu t t hem in a pl ace of

m ore dow n cycli ng and t hus produce m ore wast e. Though t hey claim th at t hey are effici ent in using th eir

large scale t o reduce wast e and t hu s have few negat ive im pact s t o the w orld . They have t ak en st eps in

2011 for w aste managem ent under t heir sust ain abi li t y 3600 pr oject. N ow m ore em phasis has been given

zero landfill options which somehow work as a complementary force for cradle to cradle management.

Again not ju st k eeping eye on w ast e, the raw m at eri al of w aste has been t ak en care of for t he fi rst t im e in

2011. In t hi s fiscal t erm , W al m art declares cut on pl asti c bags sourcin g and pr om otes for eco pack aging

process.

Effecti ve supp ly chain and com pliance in pr oduct managem ent: Sin ce W al mart is the respondents of

all bi g shot of producers, t here m ay have obvious pr essur e fr om dif ferent part s of producers commu nit y.

Not to degrade the eco footprint due

t o st ak e holders pr essur e, W al m art

opts for upside down process, an easy

way to connect direct farm owners

and thus it believes it can limit the

ecological imbalance at source. For

exam ple they cla im that as of Jan. 31, 2012, 76

percent of our fresh, frozen, farmed and wild

seafood suppliers were third-party certified.

One significant highlight over the past year

has been the BAP certification of our

A t lant ic-far med salmon and t ilapia . They are

also collaborating with the Sustainable

Fi sher ies Part nership (SFP) to identi fy h igh-r isk fi sheri es and ini t iat e Fi shery I mprovement P roject s (F I Ps).8

8Wal Mart Sustainability Report 2012


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B. Overall index: N ow if w e collate all t he m at t ers th at concern W al M art and b ased on ecologicalsignatur e t hat i t h as m ade dur ing the last 5-7 years, w e can dr aw a conclusion for W al M art . Busin ess

growth by 12% p.a , revenue health is getting stronger in fact reveals that paradigm shift can bring

out m ore pr ofit but t hi s t im e leavin g less scars on eart hs surf ace. And big ret ail s li k e W al M art

actu all y can t w ist t he ground h ere dr awi ng balance of creat in g a br idge bet w een eco effecti ve

pr oduct ion, supp ly chann els, eco reservat ion of r esour ces and creat in g sociall y r esponsive consumersclass for fut ur e.

H ow C oles is doing:

Coles, Aust ralias leading ret ail businesses, w it h br ands includi ng Coles and Bi- Lo superm ark et s, owned

by t he largest publ ic list ed company in Austr ali a, W esfarm ers. H uge scale and di versif icat ion i n t he

business has earned a great r epu t e for W esfarm ers. Coles, th e largest r et ail chain in Aust rali a servi ng t he

peopl e w it h t ru st and convenience as pr oclaim ed in t heir corporat e object ives. W hen w e t alk about

sust ainabi li t y w e see Col es are sti ll challengin g it self t o be m ore eco fri endl y in t erm s of sour cing, waste

and energy u sage. Coles has com e up w it h Austr ali a first project ali gning it s sustainabil it y pr in ciples t o

produce and help farmers mitigating negative impacts on earths surface. Recent report from Coles has

been extraordinary; it claims to reduce 5% CO2 emissions than the last year. And regarding the ill

compared t o last year. On t he cont rary, w at er usage in Coles has signif icant ly in creased t o a level of 7%

compared t o last year .


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M ini comparison betw een W al M art and Coles

Since we are now quite aware of both companies and their sustainability socks in their business

foot w ear, we can now compare bot h and see how Retail s as industr y has t o do w it h eco eff ecti veness

measures. (Baseline is 4 dif ferent a rt icles) 9

9 Appendix A


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Conclusion

In fact, Retail works as a double edge sword. Since the evolution of consumerism, every single party is

concerned on profit making, be it even degrading the environmental recipe. And more often consumers

demand products with less cost and apparently from the producers side it has been duly supplied

creating negative footprints on earth. From this writing we have actually pointed out that both growth

and sustainabil it y can w alk side by side. W e just need t o redesign t he pr oducti on pr ocess, ali gned w it hrebuilding the greener (up cycling) process for this biosphere. Since the world has been asking a path

br eak ing moment um, gam e changer i s a mu st ; in m odern t im es by vi rt ue of it s ow n, Ret ail has t o be it , if

not t he first. It wi ll have t o C hange the Business G ame.


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References:

WalM art Sustainability Report 2010, 2011, 2012.

Wesfarmers Sustainability Report 2012.


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Appendix A

Documents

Eco Sustainability on Retail a Compare and Contrast