CSR - keeping a CCTV eye on suppliers
Another good resource for CSR here, but one which some students may not want to watch due to the gruesome nature of the topic.
The Guardian reports that leading supermarket chains are demanding that CCTV systems be fitted in the stunning and killing areas of all abattoirs that supply them with meat, as they move to reassure consumers that animals are not being cruelly treated. Morrisons, M&S, Waitrose, Co-op and Sainsbury’s have also promised that CCTV images will be independently monitored - as called for by the charity Animal Aid, which ran a campaign last year involving undercover filming of alleged brutality.
Its a good example of how retailers need to take great care with all aspects of their supply chain, and how pressure groups are becoming increasingly influential stakeholders in key retail sectors.
An idea that’s a lot of hot air….
What a great way to make the most of a resource that otherwise goes to waste - a firm in Sweden has found a way to ‘harvest’ body heat generated by travellers at Stockholm Central Station and use it to power the heating in a building over the road. The body heat generated by 250,000 people a day who pass through Stockholm Central Station is ‘collected’ by the heat exchangers in the Central Station’s ventilation system which convert the excess body heat into hot water. That is then pumped to the heating system in the nearby building to keep it warm. More details about the story are in this report from the BBC website.
read more...»‘Green Audits’ may be helpful for firms
Environmentalism has moved on such a long way in just a couple of years, with the current focus of debate very firmly fixed on practical, rational and achievable objectives. The concept of ‘sustainability’ is something that most A2 students will have considered, as firms anxiously assemble their strategies, because, in the words of Unilever’s boss “retailers and consumers demand it and it saves us money”.
There’s a very interesting BBC piece about how firms can benefit from doing an environmental or ‘green audit’ – with research suggesting that the process can help them cut costs.
read more...»Royal Family’s favourite water: Malvern to be axed, but wind farm harvest to come from the sea
Last week Coca Cola announced that it is closing the bottling plant for the Queen’s favourite, Malvern Water. A spokesman said that the plant cannot operate with enough economies of scale to compete: “Modern bottled water plants are around ten times the size of Colwall (the site of the plant near Malvern) and can often produce more water in a day than we do in a month.” Malvern Water is supplied to the Royal Household, having been first tried by Elizabeth 1 over 400 years ago and sold at the Great Exhibition in 1851. It is suffering from price pressures due to falling demand in the bottled water sector, as consumers become concerned that it is an “environmentally damaging” luxury.
However, the royal family could turn their attention to sea waters - not to drink, but as a source of income, as they are expected to benefit from the development of offshore wind farms within UK territorial waters. The sea bed is owned by the Crown Estates, who have announced today their intention to work with the government to develop offshore facilities to deliver up to a quarter of the UK’s energy requirements by 2020. And one of the announcements in last week’s Spending Review was that the Civil List, which provides state income to the Royal Family, is to be replaced in the next few years with a proportion of the profits generated by the Crown Estates. Creation of wind farms is bound to cause environmental controversy - there will be much debate about the ethics involved, but fossil fuels have to be replaced with reliable renewable energy somehow, and could help to provide collaboration with the private sector in clean technology and a National Infrastructure Plan, announced by David Cameron at the CBI conference today.
Bonus system to encourage safety improvements at BP
After the disastrous events they have experienced since the summer, due to the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig leak in the Gulf, you can quite see why BP would want their staff’s chief focus to be on safety at present. On Monday Bob Dudley, the UK oil group’s new chief executive, told staff that bonuses for the fourth quarter for BP staff will be based solely on how employees perform in terms of safety and risk management. Mr Dudley has vowed to improve BP’s safety culture, saying he is committed to ensuring that “a low-probability, high-impact incident” such as the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico never happens again. The FT reported the change in the article here.
Sources of finance - raising £12bn from sale of assets
The textbooks like to use the concept of a “sale of assets” as a means by which a firm can raise finance. They usually mention things like factory machinery and motor vehicles, or perhaps some spare land & buildings. But I bet they never thought of the likes of BP - which aims to raise £12bn from an asset sale to finance the costs of the Gulf oil spill. The “assets” concerned include existing oil wells where extraction has already commenced, as well as the “rights” to drill in certain oil fields - a good example of an intangible asset which is being sold to raise cash.
Making the link between share price & external environment - BP
Here’s a great resource to put up on the IWB if you’d like to explain how the share price of a quoted company can be influenced by factors specific to the business. The Guardian has produced this excellent interactive timeline which plots the BP share price movement during 2010 against each major development in the Deepwater Horizon oilspill. The change in market and investor sentiment with each twist and turn of the Deepwater story is fascinating.
More volcanic impacts as airspace re-opens
A third - and probably not the last - blog on the impact of the Icelandic volcano on business activity. It will be several weeks, or even months, before the full impact of the eruption can be judged. In the meantime, more BBC links and clips to shed light on current issues from the last couple of days.
read more...»Volcanic impact on business
I spend plenty of time talking to students about the need for effective business contingency planning to cover various ‘what if’ scenarios. But I’m entirely ready to admit that ‘volcanic eruption closes European airspace for several days’ was not one I’ve anticipated.
A quick round up of some of the issues for firms as the disruption enters its fourth day, with further delays anticipated.
read more...»CK Growth for the Future
Calvin Klein expects sales in China to increase as much as 30 percent annually over the next three years, making the nation its biggest Asian market. At preset, South Korean is the biggest Asian Market and Japan is in third place.
This article consders the pull factors for Calvin Klein in China and the Asian Market over the coming years.
read more...»Sustainable sourcing - Unilever and the Palm Oil Problem
Doing some research for the AQA GCSE case study on Unilever, I came across this great example of how external stakeholders can influence and ultimately change the actions of a global business.
read more...»Strategy in the UK Recession - What 69 UK CEOs Did About It
There are some fascinating surveys coming out at the moment, and another one has just landed in my inbox from my former colleagues at PricewaterhouseCoopers. This one - the UK Snapshot from the 13th Annual Global CEO Survey - is a fantastic research resource for students preparing for BUSS4 in June 2010 and January 2011.
read more...»McDonalds set to benefit - if it can stop its cows farting
A wind of change is set to blow through the UK fast food industry if an investment by McDonalds identifies how ways to reduce methane emissions by the livestock it uses in its products. Good article on McDonald’s latest attempt to build its social & environmentally friendly reputation here in the Guardian. Some interesting stats and discussion points in the article. I didn’t realise that production of just one cheeseburger is associated with around 3kg of carbon emissions.
Can Tesco Save the World? Or another example of ‘Greenwash’?
Environmentalism probably emerged as the most discussed political topic of the noughties, topping world poverty, recession, transport and terrorism. Firms and politicians have scrambled to respond with statements and policies that latch on to this trend. How much is serious and valid, how much is hype, and how much is ‘greenwash’? This week’s Panorama was great: it tackled the question head on.
read more...»Sainsbury’s and the electric vehicle superhighway
This story seems like a good example of how understanding your customers can help to develop a competitive advantage. Sainsbury’s already claim that they are one of the country’s biggest users of electric vehicles, and are now encouraging their customers to follow their lead by installing vehicle recharging points for customers’ use at eleven of their London stores. They will not charge for the service, which presumably will enable customers to top up their cars for an hour or so while they do their shopping. Neil Sachdev, Sainsbury’s commercial director, said: “This will turn London into an electric vehicle superhighway, giving electric car drivers greater freedom.” According to the company’s press release, almost 70% of harmful particulate emissions in London come from road transport, whereas electric cars have zero emissions when being driven. Electric vehicles result in between 25% and 50 % less CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere and reductions could increase considerably as technology improves.
read more...»
