Corporate Greening

In these times when budgets are being cut and creative ideas for marketing and business planning are worth their weight in gold, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is beginning to take its place. For some it is a great team building exercise, a chance to get staff to work together for the common good and to reach for a goal higher than selfish, individual, short-term pursuits. For others it is just another PR stunt with no genuine concern for the stakeholders who stand to benefit.

It is this writer's humble belief that very soon 'going green' is not going to be the sole domain of the CSR strategists but that builders of organizations will embrace it as a basic operational tenet.

Corporate greening, as it is now known, is the process by which organizations seek to incorporate environmentally friendly and energy efficient habits across their day-to-day operations.

It is often used interchangeably with the term 'business sustainability', which encourages businesses to pursue development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (CorporateGreening.org)

Some of the options are aimed at saving the lowly sheet of printer paper, a resource much taken for granted, through efforts such as double-sided printing; printing documents only when absolutely necessary; and using sans serif fonts such as Verdana and Arial so that documents are easy to read on the computer screen.

Energy saving tips include turning off the lights, the computer, the air conditioning unit and other electronic equipment (printers, air purifiers, etc) when leaving the office. The fact is that some things you have to unplug altogether because they consume electricity even in their standby mode, such as microwaves and and television sets. Unless they have settings that would need to be reset each time they are unplugged it is better to take them out after use.

Ordering resources in bulk or by specific demand for cost savings, as well as doing detailed cost-benefit analysis whenever possible and centralized organizational purchasing are also ways resources can be economically sourced and consumed.

The environmentally friendly, energy-efficient marketing strategy that takes the cake for me is the 100% online marketing budget. I discovered the concept today in my google alerts for tourism, which led me to this press release about Montreal's destination management organization who has eliminated all traditional media channels from their marketing budget to focus solely on online marketing. That means less printing of posters, fliers, magazine ads, newspaper press releases and the saving on many more trees!

The article reveals that Montreal has been mastering the art of online stats monitoring for several years and therefore are not blindly entering into this bold venture.


Perhaps this idea would have come to the tourism table sooner or later as more and more travelers are demanding online purchase options. Despite the apprehension that some consumers still have about online purchases, the trends have long predicted that the Internet is a cheaper way to promote your tourism offerings.

Will this flow over to other business sectors? I imagine it already has. However I do want to interject here and say that I am curious as to what the response of the traditional media houses will be, especially those in the Caribbean and right here in Barbados. Will they begin to adjust their advertising rates to include print and online display? Will they begin to offer their entire publication online as the Barbados Advocate is doing with their pdf styled online version of the Business Monday?

The reality is the going green is the way to go if you are going to be a responsible, sustainable business and this article proves that there are many creative ways in which to do so.

So there you have it: interesting ways in which to use corporate greening to save money or make more money, which in finance terms are equivalent to cash inflows, however you spin it and cash is the kind of corporate green that businesses simply can't function without.

What's your corporate greening story?

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