Last submitted blogs

[realname] - Karen_E Profile Photo
2 hours 18 min ago
by TaigaCompany

 carrot stickThe unprecedented growth of eco awareness in the corporate world has created a more comprehensive understanding of business sustainability.  Leading organizations now realize that ‘sustainability’ is more than an environmental or social policy.   It is a commitment to action not just within their own company but across the entire value chain.  But what inspires action?  Our sustainability consulting takes a look at today’s employee incentive structures.

By integrating economic stability into the business sustainability discussion, companies are developing an expanded understanding of business sustainability, which includes the performance and success of the company’s key business relationships.  Often the stakeholders most directly affected are the organization’s front-line internal resources.

“Employee support is a crucial part of any company becoming sustainable. But engagement is easier said than done. If sustainability is truly a priority, there have to be solid incentives.”

A quote taken from the author of a recent GreenBiz post, The Pros & Cons of Linking Sustainability Successes with Bonuses, which explores employee incentives for business sustainability action. Discussing both sides of the often controversial debate, the article navigates the ups and downs of aligned sustainability performance measures.  To adequately function, the author offers the following advice:
A company must have a robust compensation structure that is able to easily integrate sustainability metrics with human resources systems.Business sustainability performance must be carefully aligned with corporate strategy and values
Implementing business sustainability in today’s environment can be a delicate balance between planning for today and planning for the future.  While many organizations are taking more conservative action, leading businesses are reevaluating and retooling to improve their overall sustainable performance.  Our sustainability consulting agrees that aligned incentives will play a key role in this process.

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[realname] - Karen_E Profile Photo
1 day 49 min ago
by TaigaCompany

 market information“Whether it is a temporary phenomenon or a permanent structural shift, the market’s increased volatility and uncertainty makes planning and budgeting hard for finance staff. How can Finance plan effectively without an idea of what the future looks like?”

This quote was taken from the recent post, Does Rolling Forecasting Work?, which examines business sustainability planning in the continued volatile market.  Agreeing that the dynamic nature of the recovery has thus far been responsible for slow growth, prominent economist debate how to most effectively budget and invest capital in the coming year.

Most major companies we work with in our business sustainability consulting utilize some sort of forecast to predict and mitigate future risks.  Presented in the article is the concept of a ‘rolling forecast’ and its applicability in a seemingly unpredictable business environment.  Taking a more sustainable long-term perspective, the post presents the following comments on trend-based forecasting:
More drag, same accuracy: Companies using rolling forecasts report less efficient performance management processes and no improvement in forecast accuracy. They update forecasts more frequently, creating additional work for the business and finance, but their forecast accuracy does not improve.Better (adjusted) target-setting: Despite weak efficiency and average forecast accuracy, companies using rolling forecasting are more satisfied than others with their overall forecast output. Why? Well, these companies do report one very important improvement. They have more insight into the drivers of performance, and this allows them to better adjust targets mid-year.Our sustainability consulting does not prescribe to any one predictive method; however, we do believe in a long-term business sustainability outlook.  We believe that each organization must find its own unique drivers of success based on a long-tem and comprehensive business sustainability plan.  For this very reason, Taiga Company provides its clients with tools and resources to build focused strategies and programs which span short-term economic volatility.

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[realname] - AltGlobe Profile Photo
1 day 54 min ago
by roseanne

What does it take to build a successful yoga non-profit organization committed to creating positive change in the lives of youth? Relationships and support, says Laura Sygrove, New Leaf Yoga Foundation‘s Executive Director and co-founder. In this video interview, Laura and I talk about the roots of New Leaf’s work, their Warriors for Peace fundraising [...]

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[realname] - Karen_E Profile Photo
1 day 3 hours ago
by TaigaCompany

 green mazeSocial media provides individuals, communities, businesses, and non-government organizations the ability to connect with business in meaningful discussion from anywhere in the world in real time.   However, according to the recent study, Business Pain: Social Media Proliferation Propels Corporations Toward Uncontrollable Risk, " brands have jumped into the social space at a dizzying pace, incorporating social media into traditional business processes including marketing, sales, customer support, product development, and beyond. Yet adoption has occurred haphazardly, with little control or quality assurance.  

There are challenges to effectively and clearly communicating the business sustainability message internal and external to the organization.  With sustainability concepts and definitions still subject to interpretation and debate, the ‘active’ engagement and dialog with stakeholders cannot be overlooked when building effective business sustainability programs and communication plan.   

As we've discussed in a previous post, Key Components of Social Media for Stakeholder Engagement, there is an emerging role of social media for stakeholder engagement and for businesses to communicate their broader corporate responsibility agenda.  With preferences shifting as to how we communicate and exchange information, social media is becoming the transparent, engaging, competitive advantage that business sustainability delivers.   However, to effectively harness the power of social media to create business sustainability value, what are the key components for success?   

Therein lies the very secret to social media - How do you define success?  What does success look like and how do you measure it?  For many, success may be determined by selling a product or service.  For others, it is about advancing the businesses sustainability conversation - whether that is in regards to their own products/ services or the conversation as a whole.  Proactive businesses are leveraging both definitions of success and the key components to winning strategies include: 

Defining a clear vision of what social media is expected to do for your organization.  What are your social media goals?  Increase website/ blog traffic? Enhance brand image and credibility? Communicate and engage on CSR/ sustainability related topics?  Identify stakeholders and online communities.  Stakeholders are a bit easier to identify, but online communities can be centered theme based and centered on sustainability concepts such as recycling, CSR, water, energy, social investing.  Or, they may be geographically based. Actively engage.  Social media is an always on platform.  This implies being present to the ongoing conversation: listening, contributing to the conversation, providing timely feedback, and incorporating that information into products, services, and ongoing dialog.

The days of the controlled and scripted press release may be coming to an end.  The propagation of sustainable information to effectively communicate business sustainability successes is becoming a more active dialog.  Our sustainability consulting encourages businesses to provide even greater transparency into the implementation of sustainability concepts and open the conversation to business stakeholders through social media.

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[realname] - Karen_E Profile Photo
1 day 21 hours ago
by TaigaCompany

 manage, plan, produceOur sustainability consulting often finds even the most progressive business models and strategies can become stagnate if left unattended.  Soon a once thriving business can become a dinosaur in a rapidly evolving marketplace.  For this reason, we keep a keen eye, not only new ideas, but the business sustainability efforts that drive innovation’s successful implementation 

The Innovation Management post, How to Implement Radical Business Models, explores some of the common roadblocks and missteps in today’s new idea implementation processes.  Contrasting the exciting times of business growth before the economic downturn, the article explains the need for more aggressive management in today’s conservative business environment.

“To be successful in radical business model innovation requires companies to go beyond the traditional modeling: ideas are only one part of the innovation equation. Business model implementation requires structural changes in your organization; otherwise, you will just get stuck with a beautiful model on paper.”

As the article goes on to describe, implementing radically new ideas is quite different than implementing incremental ideas.  It requires:
Lot’s of experimenting: new business models need maturing and many times the model you designed initially, will not be the model you will implement. Dedicated human resources with different skills, different knowledge and with little attachment to the current business or business model. Unless your current business is failing, few people will want to risk their current success for an unknown future. Separated structure from your current model. Although synergy is recommendable when it benefits the new model, many times companies try to squeeze the new model into the old framework. Funding as a venture capitalist: New ventures and new business models need capital, not budgets; The yearly budget cycle will: set aside too little money for great ideas, too much for unsuccessful ideas, none for great ideas that pop up during the year.
The ability remain open to test new ideas and different strategies will often payoff in both short-term and in the long run.  By taking aggressive implementation management actions to address sustainable change, your business can stay one step ahead of the competition.  Visit with our sustainability consulting website to learn how an effective engagement and communication plan can play a key roll in managed innovation and the pursuit of overall business sustainability. 

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[realname] - AltGlobe Profile Photo
1 day 21 hours ago
by roseanne

The yoga community is still experiencing the fall-out from last week’s NYT Magazine article, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” The article has gone far and wide, with varied responses from yoga practitioners and yoga haters. Here’s a breakdown of some of the more interesting responses, both positive and negative (YogaDork has also provided some [...]

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[realname] - Karen_E Profile Photo
2 days 58 min ago
by TaigaCompany

 FocusToday, leading supply chain focused organizations define visibility as a critical first step in managing business risk and defining the tomorrow’s business sustainability opportunities. Our sustainability consulting has personally witnessed these companies taking a total-view perspective to redefine the value characteristics and performance measures of a ‘new’ sustainable supply chain. 

“Procurement can limit the amount of time it spends policing categories by providing clear guidelines to business partners and making sure they understand the benefits of following the rules.  Leading companies create processes for stakeholders to follow when making spend decisions within categories and share compelling financial data to motivate ongoing discipline.”  -Procurement Strategy Council

The next generation of sustainable category management includes a new level of responsibility across all activities. We believe successful implementation requires visibility, engagement, and stakeholder alignment with company defined sustainability objectives.   

The key to success is to encourage active stakeholder participation in an organization's strategic sourcing and spending management processes and to create stakeholder ownership in the decision-making. – EBN post

Leveraging the above insights, our sustainability consulting encourages companies to build sustainable supply chain strategies, stakeholder engagement plans, and business improvement process to address:
 Material sources: the quality of supply and manner in which it is obtained.
Supplier business practices: the ethical standards by which business partners conduct their business.
Supplier business processes: the environmental and social impacts of supplier operations.
Supplier business relations and affiliations: the quality of the category supply chain sub-tier relationships.
Building of a high value-impact and comprehensive business sustainability plan requires the incorporation of sustainability concepts in the supply chain.  Our sustainability consulting provides information and resources to clients seeking to make a step-change in their traditional business practices.

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[realname] - Guest Profile Photo
3 days 1 hour ago
by Louis Savalli
Vote up!
23

Here’s an interesting realization.  It’s come with my new-found free time.  If you’ve been following my blog, you know that work and school have been monopolizing my time.  Tomorrow is my last class of the semester, and work is finally letting up too.  This past week I spent more than one night with my family, [...]

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[realname] - Karen_E Profile Photo
3 days 20 hours ago
by 2ndgreenrevolution

Around the beginning of August, with our bus fully functional again, and about halfway through our adventure, I had ample time to process this whole biofuel phenomenon.  As brought to my attention originally by my father, who would send me periodic articles on the topic, in addition to me personally offering explanations to curious people across the nation, I had begun to realize the downsides of biofuel as a solution to our reliance on fossil fuels for transportation.

The first disturbing issue was the massive deforestation of rainforests already occurring in order to grow crops for biofuel.  According to the United Nations Environment Programme, clearing tropical forests for biodiesel production can actually lead to an overall carbon debt compared to the savings from using biofuel as opposed to fossil fuel for transportation (Working Group on Biofuels of the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, 2009).  Of particular concern are tropical countries where agricultural yields are high, such as Indonesia and Brazil.  “If current trends continue, in 2030 the total rainforest area of Indonesia will have been reduced by 29% as compared to 2005, and would only cover about 49% of its original area from 1990” (Working Group on Biofuels).

Another area of great concern is the Amazonia in Brazil, where in addition to its irreplaceable biodiversity, according to demand projections by 2020, the “expanding landscapes of renewable energy, in concert with a growing cattle herd, could require land in excess of what conservation policy has provided, in little over a decade” (Walker, 2011, sec. 4). Compounding other concerns about loss of biodiversity, food security, and impact on water resources, another huge environmental problem exacerbated by the increase in biofuel demand is eutrophication, caused by the leaching of excess nitrogen and phosphate from fertilizers, leading to the overproduction of plant biomass. As this biomass degrades, oxygen is depleted, leading to hypoxic zones such as that in the Gulf of Mexico.  A 6,000-7,000 square mile area at the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf is considered ecologically dead due to hypoxic conditions, leading to loss of biodiversity and significant changes in the food web. According to a life-cycle impact report by Susan E. Powers of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on fertilizers used for corn, soybean and stover production, “Eutrophication is considered one of the most pervasive problems affecting water quality in the United States, especially in the Midwest where fertilizers are used extensively for agriculture” (Powers).

Significant improvements must be made with regard to the efficiency of production and use of biomass, including the restoration of degraded lands, and utilization of all waste and production residues, in order for biofuel to be a more sustainable option.  Furthermore, policy measures will be increasingly important to encourage sustainable land use and assess the level of demand that can be realistically supplied, if at all.  An idea I found interesting by Robert Walker, author of “The Impact of Brazilian Biofuel Production on Amazonia” follows: “If we no longer have an Amazônia of the mind, a distinct place requiring distinct protections, it becomes that much more difficult to provide them” (Walker, 2011, sec. 6).  He compares the potential fate of Amazonia to a former forest of our own country, once a canopy stretching from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, housing the now extinct, Carolina parakeet and Eastern wood bison.  It was nearly impossible to imagine what such a vast forest would be like while driving through the Midwest, searching for waste veggie oil in many small towns where people’s entire livelihoods revolved around the production of agricultural crops like corn.


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[realname] - AltGlobe Profile Photo
3 days 21 hours ago
by linhah

Train travel is absolutely lovely at its best; at its worst, it is a tortured ride through hell, Amtrak hell that is.  

http://www.helium.com/items/2258791-tips-for-traveling-by-train

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