WEEK 10 (PART 1)

   

(image source: http://www.metrogreenbusiness.com/save-green-by-going-green/)

      For this week, our group was assigned for Good News Monday. We reported 5 articles about companies giving back to the community and the environment. First was about the Tiger Energy Playground which helped communities have electricity. The children that used the playground would help transmit energy/electricity to the houses in the community. Second was Pealing on the Road to Recovery wherein companies gave some of the Yolanda victims a new livelihood which was Pedicabs. This would be a big help to them to start a new life and help them recover faster. Third would be the 'Happy Walk' for Down Syndrome wherein SM Cares arranged a walk to raise awareness and to recognize the rights of persons with disabilities (PWD). Fourth would be about the 10 firms getting a DENR seal for environmental practices. Fifth would be about Peninsula raising funds for the victims of Yolanda through Filipino halo-halo. All the Peninsula hotels served halo-halo and were able to raise a big amount of money. I think that it was a good move to introduce the halo-halo to the other countries because they became aware about the special Filipino dish and at the same time, they were able to help the victims of Yolanda. These companies should become examples of businesses should do or should be. They should not only think about earning profit, they should also give back by helping the community  and saving the environment. 

       For this week, we also discussed about companies going green. The dilemma: does going green mean companies have to be less competitive? There are two opposing views. First is that companies would have higher costs because they need to consider preventive measures, implementation costs and noncompliance costs. Second would be responsibility. Companies need to know that they have social responsibility,  social benefits, and sustainable growth. An example of this would be human nature that uses organic/natural ingredients for their products. The products that they offer is more expensive compared to other products because it considers the effects of using chemicals. 

       We always hear the line "People. Planet. Profit." Companies should not only think about earning profit and selling the products to people. They need to consider the effects of the product to the people and also to the environment. We want our planet to become sustainable for future generations and to be able to do this, we should start now. We think about the consequences of our actions especially when we do something bad to the environment. I am glad that the no plastic policy is being implemented in different cities in Manila such as Muntinlupa, Las Pinas, Pasig, Quezon City, Pasay and Makati. In Muntinlupa, they came up with posters saying: Paper bag is good. Reusable bag is better. Bring your own bag is best. I think that this is an innovative step in encouraging the people to use eco bag/ reusable bag. It is beneficial because of different reasons. First, we reduce the use of plastic bag/paper bags and lessen the waste. Second, companies are advertised. When the shoppers carry/use the bags around the mall or supermarket they are carrying the brand/name of the product which raises awareness. Third, using reusable bag is sustainable because it can be used many times. I think that we could relate this topic with the project we made for the community assigned to us which was Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig. We sold shirts to raise funds for the river warriors that help in maintaing Estero de Paco clean. We came up with a shirt design that says #ThinkGreen. We think that this tagline would help people become aware the environment. Think Green meaning think about the environment, do your part.

       Companies think that going green means higher costs but they need to know that they would still benefit from this because they will able to convince people. According to the survey, 58% say green issues have become important to their organization strategy. 47% believe that employees prefer to work for firms with a strong green stance. 44% of the companies have an environmental policy in place. This proves that people are really concerned with the environment which is a good thing.

       Solar power would be a free source and it would be very helpful, however it is costly to have the solar panels. It would be applicable in a tropical country like the Philippines but not everyone could afford this kind of power source.  Companies could try this but they should think longterm. Miss had a friend in the US that installed solar powers in her home. It cost her around $30,000 but she thinks that it was a good investment her electricity bill went down and the excess power that the panels produced were stored. I think that people should consider this source of energy because it would not only help them, but it also has a good effect on the environment since there would be less energy that is needed to produce.

       In terms of geothermal energy, the country places second compared to the US. This is what Electric Development Company (EDC) by the Lopez Company is doing. While hydroelectric power maybe cheaper but it is damaging to the environment. In China, they have dams which had bad effects to the people and nature. They had to relocate the people and flood the ancestral lands. The wildlife in that area was also affected since they cut down most of the tress. 

       The question is why should companies go green? There are 6 factors on why they should do this. First would be their costs would go down. If they use solar panels, they could save money for electricity. Solar panels would usually cost around 30,00 and companies could use this for a long time. Second is capital.  Miss mentioned that there is a loan allotted for green/environmental projects (from banks) and I think this is a good way of encouraging most of the companies to go green. Fourth would be China. We should see/watch what China is doing since there are a lot of factories that could affect the environment due to the large amount of wastes. Fifth would be the consumers. There is what they call the Eco Store which is a growing business that caters organic products. There is also early adapters who are the risk takers who are willing to pay more to be able to get better products. An example would be Body Shop soap, compared to other stores/brands, their soaps are natural and they also try to help the communities that help them with business. Sixth is climate. Organizations need to know more about it because this might also affect their business. An example would be the US, wherein most of the cities were frozen. Another example would be Baguio when the climate affected business/products since most of the crops were frozen, the farmers lost a lot of money. What they need to do, is to help care for the environment so that we could lessen the effect of climate change. 

       Going green has a lot of advantages. We could generate cost savings, promote innovation, command premium pricing, enhance the brand image and differentiate from competitors. CSR is about strategy and we could use the competitive environmental strategy for this.

Strategy 1 : Eco-efficiency
Example:
Bulb:                                      Traditional light bulb         vs.             Led lightbulb
Cost:                                                30 pesos                                       300 pesos      
Sustainability:                          few months/ 1 year                                 5 years

       Through time, the cost of using traditional lightbulb vs led lightbulb would be the same/lesser since the traditional bulb need to be replaced once in a while. I think that the led lightbulb is better to use since it is cooler compared to the traditional light bulb which produces more heat. There could be over 50% of savings by changing form incandescent bulbs to energy saving light bulbs.

Strategy 2: Beyond compliance and leadership. 
     
     Through this strategy, public and customers would acknowledge the company for their efforts. Companies that practice this can give suppliers an edge over others.

Strategy 3: Eco branding

       Most of the companies today are following this. Companies are now selling/producing organic and natural products or are complying with the environmental rules. In this strategy, consumers must be willing to pay or the ecological differentiation. There should be reliable information about the products and this differentiation should be difficult to imitated. An example of this would be the Toyota Prius and it was hailed as the world's greenest car which sold over 1 million units worldwide. I think that people are now aware about the things that are happening in the environment and they would want to do their part by simply buying products that offer/do these.

Strategy 4: Cost leadership

       This want companies should consider/offer. Better product packaging or design results in more efficient use of resource which translates to lower price. An example would be restaurants would use reusable tupperware for the food that customers would take-out.  Also, most of the packaging of the gadgets are now smaller so that it would consume less space and less paper/resource would be used.

       The conclusion is that being green can be a competitive advantage, he change factors have increased attention on environmental practices and firms can adopt different strategies to gain the green advantage. Companies should practice this and they should start now. It is a good thing to know that more and more people are now considering the environment when they make a purchase of the products they need/want.