3-4 Lines Comments for other's Discussions/Topics
WEEK 8 WEYBRECHT CHAPTERS
Ch. 7 Economics Ch.18 What Will The Future Bring.
1
Public
Ch. 7 Economics
• What is Economics? • Why is it important? • Key Concepts • Challenges • Trends and new ideas
Economics is a tool that helps us understand how we got where we are and how to move forward. It is also the study of how people choose to use resources. It is important because the world is changing, ecosystem services, understanding regulatory and market-based instruments, better understanding of the full cost business and society's decisions, increased regulations and standards Sustainable consumptions – rise of consumer societies The commons – Way we manage shared resources Externalities – Understanding cost a company's activities have on people and planet Market-based incentives – Use market as a way to protect the planet Re-evaluating GDP – Changing the way we measure progress Emerging markets – Impact of new or growing markets on global sustainability Box: environmental evaluation – Understanding the value of biodiversity
2
Box: business and the worlds poor – Working with the bottom of the pyramid Challenges – uncertainty, free riders, everyone needs to do their part, determining the tradeoffs, getting incentives right, determine what optimum means Trends and new ideas – alternative trading systems, a new economic model, estimate the cost of inaction, from free to fee, valuing future generations, regulatory instruments
2
Public
Ch. 7 Economics
• Environmental evaluation • Ecosystems provide • Criteria for calculating economic value • Direct market methods • Revealed preference methods • Stated preference methods
Ecosystems provide – provisioning, regulating, cultural, habitat or supporting Criteria – direct to use value, indirect value, option value, non-use value Direct Methods – market priced, damage cost avoided, preventative expenditure, productivity approach, benefit transfer Revealed methods – hedonic pricing and travel cost Stated methods – Contingent valuation, contingent choice
3
Public
Ch. 7 Economics
• Business and the worlds poor • Who are they • Why • How • Things to keep in mind
Who are they – unmet needs, depend on informal or subsistence livelihoods, impacted by a BOP penalty Why – companies can make a difference, part of a long-term strategy, a lot of opportunities, conditions are improving, better partners available, public expectations are changing, transfer lessoned learned to and from markets, building better capacity How – Collectively engaging, buying products or services from the poor, provide products and services, through community investment, creating investment models Keep in mind – Focus on core competencies, high standards, start early as it takes time, provide unique products and services, localized value creation through franchising, don’t just rely on market research, two-way learning
4
Public
Ch. 18 What Will The Future Bring?
• Sustainability becomes the norm. • From perceived benefit to actual. • Direct to indirect. • Increased Transparency. • The elephants will start dancing. • Creating enabling environments. • Embedding sustainability into education. • Anything goes.
• Twenty-one wise words of advice
Our text has presented sustainability as finding the balance of social, environmental and economic issues. Some believe that sustainability is the focus of the long-term financials of a company. People will be able to know how a company is really doing instead of just how it seems, just as you can with financials. The sustainability information will contain more and connect with financial information. Many companies are only doing minimum or small activities but, in the future, the small activities will come together into bigger, stronger and more integrated strategies that cover the organization. Today companies that are not compliant with sustainability standards are able to get away with it but in the future, they will need to provide information on why they are not meeting standards. Large companies will make a huge impact on sustainability and will also require stakeholders to do more. Cities will become smarter in how they use water and energy. There will also be a greater focus on people and communities.
5
Schools with begin to teach sustainability at all levels and also professional training programs. There will be a lot of new sustainability innovations and the future will be whatever we make of it.
Words of advice 1) Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t 2) Be patient 3) Keep an open mind 4) Answers often lie within 5) Don’t just do it like everyone else 6) Keep it relevant 7) There are no shortcuts 8) There is no black and white 9) Work together 10) Be active, not defensive 11) It is all about balance 12) Everything is connected 13) Focus on the problem, not the symptoms 14) It doesn’t need to be perfect 15) Do something different 16) Don’t just complain, do something 17) Unlikely events are common 18) Not everything that looks green is green 19) Do it right the first time 20) It doesn’t matter how it starts or why it starts 21) Enjoy it
5