http://kimwarren.com/strategy/strategy-and-sustainability/ with Kim Warren Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:26:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://kimwarren.com/strategy/strategy-and-sustainability/#comment-827 Kim Warren Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:12:20 +0000 http://www.kimwarren.com/?p=334#comment-827 I hope to get on to this with chapter 11 of the textbook Conal. At its simplest - in relation simply to how materials move - business activity pushes resources from state to state - raw materials extracted, then moved through stages as value is added, then into use by customers and finally out as waste. [This is exactly what system dynamics can model.] Sustainability implies minimising or even reversing these flows. So some allegedly 'sustainable' resources do not fulfill the strict meaning of the term - sustainable timber, for example, may well come from forests where all harvested tonnage is replaced by annual growth, but that ignores the fuel and other factors consumed to make that happen. Forum for the Future would take a wider view, and seek to cover sustaining of human and social assets too. Kim I hope to get on to this with chapter 11 of the textbook Conal. At its simplest – in relation simply to how materials move – business activity pushes resources from state to state – raw materials extracted, then moved through stages as value is added, then into use by customers and finally out as waste. [This is exactly what system dynamics can model.]
Sustainability implies minimising or even reversing these flows. So some allegedly ‘sustainable’ resources do not fulfill the strict meaning of the term – sustainable timber, for example, may well come from forests where all harvested tonnage is replaced by annual growth, but that ignores the fuel and other factors consumed to make that happen.
Forum for the Future would take a wider view, and seek to cover sustaining of human and social assets too.
Kim

]]> http://kimwarren.com/strategy/strategy-and-sustainability/#comment-826 Conal Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:46:07 +0000 http://www.kimwarren.com/?p=334#comment-826 I'm (struggling) to do a doctorate on the same topic - making the business case for sustainability improvements in the construction products manufacturing industry. I've identified systems dynamics/ strategy dynamics as appropriate techniques but still don't have a clear idea of exactly what I want to achieve with them. Still, I've got a couple of years left to come up with something, which hopefully won't be pre-empted too much by the work you are doing! I’m (struggling) to do a doctorate on the same topic – making the business case for sustainability improvements in the construction products manufacturing industry.
I’ve identified systems dynamics/ strategy dynamics as appropriate techniques but still don’t have a clear idea of exactly what I want to achieve with them.
Still, I’ve got a couple of years left to come up with something, which hopefully won’t be pre-empted too much by the work you are doing!

]]>