|
"Sustainability for business
requires strategic focus on the triple bottom line; that is
environmental, social and economic issues." |
|
Symposium
Highlights Success in Building Sustainable Enterprises
|
|
Doing well by
doing good was the central theme when the University of South
Florida’s College of Business Administration hosted the First
Annual Symposium on Building Sustainable Enterprises. The event was
held April 7, 2006, in the College's Graduate Education Wing, and featured
two prominent speakers in the field of Business Sustainability, Ray
Anderson and Dr. Daniel Benjamin.
|
While what is
traditionally taught in most business courses is the importance of
the financial bottom line, sustainability takes into account
environmental and social responsibility issues and their
relationship to the bottom line. “It’s a three legged stool,” said
Sharon Hanna-West, Exide Distinguished Lecturer of Ethics and
Sustainability at USF. “Business gets blamed for many of the world’s
problems, and business has played a major role in contributing to
some of them. But it is business that is in the best position to
more quickly resolve them.”
|
|
Unfortunately, many corporations have an inaccurate assumption of
what sustainability really is. They think being environmentally
responsible means decreasing profits. “Sustainability
for business requires strategic focus on the triple bottom
line; that is environmental, social and economic issues,” said
Hanna-West. “Does it mean it has to be economically
disadvantageous? No. ” |
|
Just ask founder
and Chairman of Interface, Inc. Ray Anderson, whose company not only
does 1.4 billion in sales, but is steadily reaching its goal of
minimizing its environmental footprint. They estimate that their
savings from environmentally friendly modifications were $299
million as of April 2006. Anderson’s presentation received a
standing ovation, and had many in the audience asking where they can
purchase Interface’s revolutionary carpet tiles.
“Ray Anderson's
speech was very motivating and thought provoking. It made me think
of what I can do in my job to help my company be more sustainable,”
said MBA student John Trujillo II, who definitely plans to attend
again next year.
|
 |
|
(l to r) Dean Anderson with Ray
Anderson.
|
|
Dr. Daniel Benjamin, economics professor at Clemson University and
Senior Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center
(PERC), discussed the various aspects of recycling. Benjamin’s work
focuses on linking environmental research and public policy. His
current research centers on how people assess environmental risks
and whether they do so in an unbiased manner.
"We brought Dr. Benjamin to the symposium because he
is one of the very top scholars in recycling," said COBA Professor
and Symposium Co-Chair Chris Thomas. "Many in the audience were
surprised by the balance that he brought to the topic of recycling.
He was able to be an economist without seeming cold-hearted."
|
|
 |
Plans for next year’s symposium are already in the works, says
Hanna-West, who intends to add panel discussions and audience
participation. In the meantime, the Department of Management is
working to establish the Center for the Advancement and
Understanding of Sustainable Enterprise (CAUSE). Plans for CAUSE
include instructional, research, and applied sectors. “We hope for
CAUSE to be a means of networking with corporations that currently
implement sustainable practices and making those solutions available
to those that don’t,” said Hanna-West.
|
Business professors (l to r) Sharon
Hanna-West, Alan Balfour and Barbara Lafferty discuss the topics
presented at the symposium.
|
|
College
of Business Administration Quarterly Newsletter