If the first step towards recovery is admitting that you have a problem, then readers will agree that Apple taking the time to meet with several of China's most prominent Green NGOs was a first step for Apple. Particularly given the fact that Apple was largely unwilling to address the numerous labor and environmental failures taking place over the course of years. And, for others, the fact that…
Chose any coffee shop in China, look in the trash can, and what you will find is piles of needless waste. Paper cups, plastic lids, and cup sleeves. Components of a coffee ritual that required energy and materials to produce, were transported 1000s of miles to the store, were given a useful life measured in minutes prior to ending up in a plastic bin, and then sent out to the landfill (incinera…
One of the more popular topics in China these days is the impact of social media. It's popular (in my eyes) for two reasons. The first is that firms in China see the potential in the platform as a way to reach consumers, and develop loyalty. The other is the fact that social media has proven very powerful as a catalyst in civil society engagement. For firms, it is the combination of these tw…
The morning while havinga coffee with the CSR manager of a large retailer, he mentioned the fact that on a semi-frequent basis he would find himself going around the office shutting off computers. After working hours. That while his firm, in his opinion, had done a good job of developing and communicating a framework for sustainabilty, there were still some (large) gaps. One of them be…
While shopping at my local grocery store this week, I was confronted by a member of TESCO's staff who would not accept naked fruit. Everything had to be bagged to be weighed. When I mentioned the fact that he wasn't thinking about the environment, he said: "only foreigners care about the environment." It was one of many failed systems. One that Ray Anderson, former CEO of Interface flooring,…
One of the things about corporate responsibility and sustainability initiatives is that the best programs are those that are part of the core operations of the firm, align to the greater goals, and do not require a constant champion. It is simply embedded into the economics and actions of the firm, and while the firm certainly benefits, the overall benefits are far wider. The Walmart Direc…
Last month while being interviewed for the New York Times piece China's City of the Future Rises on a Wasteland, I was asked about the importance of planning China's eco-cities... What should be the goal of an eco-city and why are they important to China? To me, this was perhaps one of the more important and interesting questions I have been asked on the topic, a topic I have been interviewe…
One of the biggest issues that underlies the problem we face is the belief that we cannot act alone, or that when we something it "isn't my problem", however the recent Foreign Policy article China's Missing Children highlights the role of the individual, the personal. More specifically, the respnsibility that exists at the individual level to act. Dealing with the kidnapping of children in…
The other night while speaking with my wife about achieving goals, she made the comment that I needed to think more like a rocket than fireworks. That, in the interest of achieving my "goals", I needed to have a trajectory with a goal as the destination... versus shooting straight up in the air, looking pretty, and then blowing up. It was one of those conversations where a simple visual…
Following up from my post last week where I said "there is going to be a HUGE market for providing that capacity ", I was asked for a few examples of where I saw opportunities for products / services. 1) Urbanization and migrants With over 200+ cities with more than a million people, and a few hundred million expected to make a move to the city, this is one of the largest opportunities for…
At about the 5th minute of the above clip, Mike Daisy, who is being interview on TechCrunch TV about his observations of a visit to a number of Apple's China suppliers, says something that I felt was HUGELY profound: "I think that there is a great responsibility. That when you export your jobs around the world, you should be exporting your values with your jobs. And if you do not.. and if you…
There was a time where China could legitimately stand up and say that they were "cleaner" than everyone else, and use a per capita statistic to back that information up. Over the years though, it has grown tougher because the audience (1) began adjusting for the fact that China had hundreds of millions of farmers who had 0 footprints, and thus China was able to game the numbers a bit and (2) milli…
A couple of months back while speaking to a group of 200 international students at the Global Youth Leadership Conference in Shanghai, I was asked to speak about leadership and the next generation. A keynote that I have delivered to other groups before, I decided to focus less on the intangible "leader" and "organization", and focus more on the role of the individual leader. The importance…
If there is one thing that the recent rash of scandals in China's charities proves, it is that China has a long way to go with developing a credible and robust culture of philanthropy. A few weeks back there were the pictures of a woman named Guo Meimei caught posing with luxury cars and accessories, while talking about her connection to China's Red Cross. Not the first time that the Red Cross…
When charged to keep an economy running at 10+% economic growth year in and year out, there are going to be times where shortcuts are going to be taken, and accepted. At times, the shortcuts are (fortunately) benign enough to not have a wider impact on the economy, community, or environmental, but in China the issues of financial malfeasance, environmental destruction, and consumer safety have beg…
