Monthly Archives: November 2012

When we think about a social good, we tend to think nice things that we do for our community, whether it is by giving to charities or participating in a local food drive. All of these things are admirable, but they sometimes lack the necessary funding to keep the social good last long.

How do we combat this problem ?

Simple.

We create products and services that create a social good but is financially sustainable.  Like one of my earlier posts of Grameen Bank, which has created a social good by lifting impoverished people out of financial dire and creating more jobs and making a sustainable business model.  Initiatives like Arc Initiative help people in Africa and other parts of the world to make their businesses more sound and create a social good.  An example of this is the Fresh Milk Seller visited by the Arc Initiative. The owner has tapped into a market which is very profitable. Because there are no milk delivery system to the cities, her shop is the only one selling fresh milk.

The impact this has created is very large, from the person selling the milk, they can earn more to eat and buy things. From the person who delivers the milk to the city, he too earns a lot of money from this, and the owner, that earns modest revenues from this enterprise.

So we can see that this model is sustainable in the long term, and creates a social good for all the people in the chain of supply.

Sustainability. It’s a frequently used  term by most media outlets, environmental organizations, governments and businesses alike. But what does it mean ? Some words may be diluted in their meaning so as to cater to the public, thereby reducing the message contained in it.

Simply put, sustainability or to sustain is (according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary) a method or process to harvest a resource so as not to inflict permanent damage and permanent depletion. One could argue that sustainability cannot be directed only to the process of getting the resource, but how we, as humans on this earth, use dwindling resources carefully and prolong the existence of such resources for our children.

So, by using this terminology, we can make statements that:

– Humans on the earth contribute to the damage and depletion of natural resources

– If this trend continues, we will have no more resources and spiral into an ecological disaster

-Businesses and Governments alike must align their businesses and operating procedures in a sustainable manner

Often, the path to buying local and being sustainable is very hard. Considering all the costs of producing locally sourced goods tend to have higher prices than store bought goods. In response to that, however,  think of how much emissions will be reduced if we buy local, or switch to vegetarian foods, which require less land to graze cattle and raise corn for the feed of the cattle itself.

It will be a better, more sound decision.

“Water has become a highly precious resource. There are some places where a barrel of water costs more than a barrel of oil.“

Many companies, that are facing global economic recession may have to cut down on their costs.  One variable cost that can be saved is the yearly bonuses.  Strikingly enough, one company still gives out bonuses to it’s employees.

Canada Post is one of those companies.  The news story is here.  This is a blog reply to one of our own COMM 101 classmate, Joey Cheung.  He is puzzled why Canada Post is willing to shell out tonnes of money to their employees.  The problem is with the morale of the company. Many companies are not doing so well because their employees are not getting the remuneration they deserve and so, making the overall productivity of the company to go down.  Impacts of such a decreased productivity may result in a loss of customers and loss of market share.  CEOs must know that there is also a human side to selling stuff, not just the stuff itself.

And by doing so, Canada Post’s books may not be so great, but what matters is that the people enjoy and respect the company they’re working in. And that in it self is better than random numbers on a spreadsheet.