Business and Sustainability

Dr Eva CollinsPresentation to

191 Class25 July 2011

12 April 2023© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 2

After 50 Minutes You Will Be Able to Answer the Following:• Does business have a role in sustainability?

• What are the challenges for business related to sustainability?

• What are ecopreneurs and how might they help us get to a sustainable future?

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Does Business Have a Role in Sustainability?

12 April 2023© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 4

Traditional Business Model

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Ray AndersonInterface Carpet Company

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUG4JXE6K4A

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• Corporations are the only organisations with the resources, the technology, the global reach and ultimately the motivation to achieve sustainability. (Hart 1997)

• What’s needed is to turn conventional markets – and conventional business thinking – on their heads. (Elkington 1997)

Does Business Have a Role in Sustainability?

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What is Sustainable Enterprise?

No negative impact on future generations

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What are the challenges for business

related to sustainability?

• Finite resources

• The paradox of growth• Consumerism

• New Zealand issue• Scale

• 100% sustainable?

What Would a Sustainable Business Model Look Like?

12 April 2023© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 9

One Idea for a Sustainable Business Model

• A sustainable business model has an overall positive effect on the natural environment and contributes positively to the social fabric, moving us toward a sustainable future. Features include:

• Driven by values

• Closing the loop

• Redefining “the product” and who needs

to own it

• Adding to the social fabric

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TerraCycle

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvWNlH_4gRg

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Ecopreneurs and Social Entrepreneurs

Using commerce to change the world

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Finite resources, The paradox of growth, Scale, 100% sustainable?

Driven by values, Closing the loop, Redefining “the product” and who needs to own it, Adding to the social fabric

12 April 2023© THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO • TE WHARE WANANGA O WAIKATO 14

Finite resources, The paradox of growth, Scale, 100% sustainable?

Driven by values, Closing the loop, Redefining “the product” and who needs to own it, Adding to the social fabric

The Latest News on Business and Sustainability in New Zealand

http://www.pureadvantage.org/

Creative Destruction

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“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete” (Richard Buckminster Fuller, philosopher, futurist and global thinker, 1895 - 1983).