You might be forgiven for thinking that politics is politics and food and resource provision is left to business, but more and more so implications of politics on a country's ability to feed and power its population are increasing. The current scenario in the Gulf states is proof of this, on 5 June, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries severed ties with Qatar and moved to cut off land, sea and…
For this month’s Beyond Business As Usual series on “Closing the Loop on Waste”, we have three events in Beijing and Shanghai that will look at how China is managing its growing supply of waste, the implications for business, and some best practices for how firms in the retail and manufacturing sector are closing the loop in China. To help drive depth of insights into the current systems, as we…
When building up networks of sustainability leaders and innovators, it often takes the progressive action of a single individual to catalyze real change. These individuals are Sustainability Ambassadors, and they have the capacity and the drive to inspire change at any level of an organization – from the new talent to the visionary executive. One excellent example of such an executive sustainab…
With China’s growing number of urban consumers, more and more pressure is being placed on the system to account for the outputs of cities, particularly on its food systems. One of the growing concerns is the issue of managing the sizeable amount of food waste that is coming from restaurants, canteens, and households. It is a concern that is increasingly strained by the poor waste management pr…
Following a two-week period of desk and field research, the Target Design an APP for left-behind children hackathon was held in Shanghai last weekend. Six student teams brainstormed for 24-hours straight to design an innovative APP that transforms the way migrant worker parents communicate with their children left behind in rural China. The outputs at the end of the 24-hour deadline were some h…
About the Sustainability Ambassadors Series For quite some time now, we at Collective Responsibility have been identifying and interviewing leaders who have stepped up within their company to inspire and drive effective change. These leaders, who we call Sustainability Ambassadors, have the capacity and the motivation to inspire sustainable practice at any level of an organization – from the new…
As the gaokao has come to pass, let’s talk about promoting the education of all children in China. The National Higher Education Entrance Exam, or the gaokao, is a prerequisite for almost all higher education undergraduate institutions. Students take the gaokao to access the next step of their educational careers. However, one group of students is systematically prevented from taking the exam that…
As the largest city in China, Shanghai has an important role in innovating and contributing to a global solution to the problem of food packaging waste. With over 24 million people living in Shanghai, materials sustainability, particularly that of plastics, is a significant issue. Waimai or food delivery, which is extremely common in Shanghai, creates large amounts of waste due to the plastic c…
Following on from our Beijing session last week, on May 23rd we hosted 25 communications, PR, and sustainability professionals in Shanghai to a workshop titled Telling Your Sustainability Story to help them better understand and anticipate how to better build social capital with their stakeholders. The session was led by presentations from PT Black, Senior Director of Brand Experience and Plannin…
When speaking to firms about starting to develop their sustainability strategy, we push firms to start with having a much deeper understanding of the challenges that their customer, communities, and wider stakeholders face. The recent Starbucks announcement launching the “Starbucks China Parent Care Program,” which will provide insurance for the elder parents up to 10,000 employees, for us is a…
Last Saturday, we kicked off the first phase of our upcoming Target hackathon this June 2-3 where five student teams from leading Chinese, and one from the US, will spend 24 hours working to design an APP that will help migrant worker parents to stay better connected to their left-behind children. These training sessions act to engage the students in the challenge and to get them thinking more…
In this episode of AskTheCollective, we answered a question about the role of SME in China's circular economy, how they can play a part in the circular economy and the opportunities that present to them. As always, we hope you find these questions and answers useful, possibly gain some new insights, and feel compelled or inspired to ask questions of your own! Enjoy Episode 011 below, check out…
While firms are successfully developing sustainability initiatives in China, the "telling of their sustainability story", which is the communication of these initiatives – whether internally or externally – is often overlooked. And yet these stories can lead to a culture of volunteerism, encourage innovation, build a brand, and drive market share. The purpose of the May 18th executive workshop…
On 5-6 May 2017 , Vincci Group launched "The Educational Hub of Tomorrow" hackathon in Chengdu. Within 24 hours, six student teams from Sichuan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Southwest Jiaotong University, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu University of Technology and Chengdu University successfully completed the following challenge and presented thei…
Social enterprises can face a tough task when trying to build their business and sell a vision and values to companies. While around the world attitudes are changing, in China such business models have experienced slower uptake. At a recent workshop hosted by Green Initiatives, we engaged a group of MBA students from Suffolk University on the topic of social enterprises and how they see the indust…
