Little Green Lies

The sweet notion that making a company environmentally friendly can be not just cost-effective but profitable is going up in smoke. Meet the man wielding the torch.

Auden Schendler learned about corporate environmentalism directly from the prophet of the movement. In the late 1990s, Schendler was working as a junior researcher at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a think tank in Aspen led by Amory Lovins, legendary author of the idea that by “going green,” companies can increase profits while saving the planet. As Lovins often told Schendler and others at the institute, boosting energy efficiency and reducing harmful emissions constitute not just a free lunch but “a lunch you’re paid to eat.”

Inspired by this marvelous promise, Schendler took a job in 1999 at Aspen Skiing Co., becoming one of the first of a new breed: the in-house “corporate sustainability” advocate. Eight years later, it takes him six hours crisscrossing the Aspen region by car and foot to show a visitor some of the ways he has helped the posh, 800-employee resort blunt its contribution to global warming. Schendler, 37, a tanned and muscular mountain climber, clambers atop a storage shed to point out sleek solar panels on an employee-housing rooftop. He hikes down a stony slope for a view of the resort’s miniature power plant, fueled by the rushing waters of a mountain creek. The company features its environmental credentials in its marketing and has decorated its headquarters with green trophies and plaques. Last year Time honored Schendler as a “Climate Crusader” in an article accompanied by a half-page photo of the jut-jawed executive standing amid snow-covered evergreens. Read article.

Is Outsourcing Killing Authenticity?

HARVARD BUSINESS ONLINE—Do customers care where brand-name goods are made? Assuming, that is, that quality standards are maintained and the means of manufacture aren’t exploitative, does it make a difference to them whether a product is assembled in Milan or Malaysia?

Sometimes it does. Consider a quirky example from Chicago, where a management team was caught off guard by an intense public reaction. Marshall Fields, an icon of Midwestern retailing, had the longtime practice of making chocolates on the 13th floor of its flagship store on State Street. Customers devoted to Frango mints could pop up to see them being made. When a new corporate parent, Dayton Hudson, acquired Marshall Fields in 1999, it was a straightforward decision to end that practice – everything about it was un-economic – and outsource production to a distant chocolatier. The public outcry was way out of proportion to the number of jobs affected. Chicagoans seemed to take the matter personally, even to the extent that Mayor Richard Daley put his disapproval on record. Read article.

Brand Managers’ High-wire Act: Going Global and Staying Local

KNOWLEDGE@WHARTON—For marketers, the Internet changes everything — and nothing at all. For example, it enables companies to instantly reach consumers in different countries and economically tailor messages to them based on demographics, buying habits and other information. Yet it doesn’t free these companies from the constant challenge of building distinct, durable brands.

As participants on a panel titled, “The Challenge of Going Global and Staying Local,” noted during the 2007 Wharton Marketing Conference, a brand like Coke or Budweiser can be the greatest asset that a company has, but the brand can quickly lose its power if it comes to signify something different in every market. Read article.

Is There Room at the Top for Black Executives?

THE NEW YORK TIMES—The executives are a study in contrasts. One is a brash risk-taker who bootstrapped his way from an Alabama cotton farm to one of Wall Street’s largest brokerage firms. The other made his mark as a consensus builder who leveraged ties to one of America’s most powerful families to eventually lead the world’s largest media company.

E. Stanley O’Neal, 56, at Merrill Lynch and Richard D. Parsons, 59, at Time Warner, have nevertheless inhabited the public imagination as two executives who helped rewrite history by breaking down cultural barriers and rising to lead Fortune 500 companies. Read article.

Personal Income and Spending Up in September

THE NEW YORK TIMES—Personal income and spending continued to grow in September, a government report showed today, suggesting strength in the economy even as analysts fear widespread troubles in the next few months.

Still, consumption began to slow, and manufacturers may be starting to feel the effects of a tightening housing market.

Personal spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the gross domestic product, grew at 0.3 percent in September, a slight deceleration from the 0.5 percent growth in August, the Commerce Department said today.

Spending is up 5.6 percent over the last 12 months, probably bolstered by a comparable rise in personal income, which has increased 6.8 percent over the last year.

Income rose 0.4 percent last month after an identical gain in August. Disposable income, a measure of the money employees take home after taxes, dipped to 0.4 percent from 0.5 percent in August. Read article.