Corporates can learn from SMEs on efficiency
It was interesting to read recently about what the big (who, it appears, would very much like to be referred to as the ‘the great’… and later, ‘the good’) players have to say about their conversion to environmental consciousness and (claimed) action.
An impressive line-up of speakers spoke out at ‘Sustainable Business – The Event’.
IKEA talked about turning 20 boxes per truck into 200 by cutting the legs off tables and IBM talked about the company’s efforts to move towards a sustainable planet.
Much was made of the fact that the majority of these companies had taken their actions from a business efficiency standpoint (or, as we older businesspeople remember the term, ‘sustainable’). Much was made of their collective recent ‘light bulb’ moments, when it became clear that this old version of sustainability can now be heralded as the new sustainability… without having to do any more – though, as mentioned, IBM do say they are making an effort to move to a more sustainable planet.
The irony appears to be lost on no-one except these large corporations that most of us, with or without the added incentive of a global economic turndown, have had our eye on the sustainable ball for many years now and that what the big guns are actually admitting to is gross profligacy in a period of economic largesse that supported excess and waste. The reason you squeeze every last drop of juice out of a lemon after scoring the skin for a touch of zest is not because you are environmentally responsible; it’s because you know that otherwise you’ll have to buy a whole new lemon next time you need a bit of juice.
This is not Keynesian economics, its common sense!
Which is why I believe, more and more, that the large corporate sector needs to look at, and entertain, the SME sector a bit more.
These are businesses that cannot afford to waste and, by and large, are more environmentally responsible as a result – not because they are tree-huggers, but because they need to get the maximum ‘bang’ for their investment buck and an SME will treat every cost this way.
SMEs are not the ones in a tizzy at the moment trying to get their energy usage below the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) threshold… and they could be if they were as profligate as the bigger commercial organisations. They are also not the type of organisation that is knee deep in project groups and committees; they don’t solely employ MBAs and other fine sounding graduates. They look for results-oriented people with common sense.
I’m not saying that there is no case for business training and that certain methodologies don’t have their merits… but what has ever been measurably and tangibly achieved as a result of an investment in Prince II or Six Sigma Black belt other than copious reports with the word ‘solution’ in the first paragraph?
What I am saying is that if you tell an SME “Resource efficiency is the key to sustainable business” he will reply “No s**t, Sherlock!” and get on with running his business; if you say the same thing to a blue chip large corporate, he will experience an epiphany and organise a conference around the theme! For those of you who don’t want to waste another day and your secretary’s monthly salary on another conference:
Resource efficiency is the key to sustainable business!
Let’s just get on with it now, shall we?
