The Way of the Dinosaurs
"They see the immediate situation. … They don't see the surround. They don't see the consequences." This passage, from Micheal Crichton's Jurassic Park, describes the scientists who unleash the story's monsters because they did not consider the long-term effects of their actions. But it also has great relevance to dinosaurs outside the scope of fiction. Both colossally sized companies and newly hatched enterprises often inherit near-sighted policies from an earlier era, where smaller needs made Earth seem a bottomless well of provision. However, as the planet's population continues to grow, the need to be environmentally sustainable will go from pressing, to immanent, and for those who do not adjust course, catastrophic. Industries can no longer afford to operate as though resources are infinite. Development of sustainable operating models is in the best interests of not only business, but every individual that composes our global society as well.
The need for sustainability becomes self evident when considering the word's literal meaning. Architects must consider when designing a building whether its underlying structure can support its weight. If a structure proves not to be sustainable, the building will collapse. The same warning should be heeded by businesses dinosaurs with structures not engineered to sustain them, in danger of collapsing under their own monstrous weight.
Enterprises know they cannot operate as though financial capital were limitless, and while it seems intuitive that other forms of capital should be managed with equal care, only recently has focus expanded to ensuring a steady supply of all the factors of production. Reducing physical and energy waste is an important part of creating any sustainable enterprise, as it decreases the amount of capital going into the good or service. The closer a process is to relying purely on recycling, the less new materials are necessary to feed it. The combined reduction of total input costs also has obvious financial benefits. (Think of what the dinosaur might accomplish if it didn't spend so much time looking for food.) This benefit has made it the subject of substantial investigation already. Emerging successes in resource efficiency show both the results, and the room for improvement throughout the world. Japan has one of the world's most progressive natural resource conservation policies, requiring a minimum percentage of power use to be from renewable energy sources. It also developed a "top runner" policy, which requires future products to equal or exceed the energy efficiency of the current market's most efficient model. This strategy has enabled them to achieve an oil consumption to GDP ratio that is only 37% of America's ratio.
The complement to material input is labor input. The high costs of recruiting, screening, and training employees make them an asset in which the company has invested like any other. Their productivity and loyalty results in customer loyalty and higher firm earnings. Corporate policies, both internal and external, which foster the wellbeing of its current and potential workforce, promote not only satisfaction and retention of high performing employees, but the continued supply of qualified candidates for open positions. A communicative, respectful, and engaging company culture can enhance relationships with employees and business partners. But to reach all entities that are truly affected by the company requires vigilant efforts to be a positive contributor to the community.
However, a business cannot be a constructive part of society while harming the environment in which all the members live. Private and government foundations dedicated to conserving resources and minimizing negative global consequences exist throughout the world, because of a recognized link between humanity's wellbeing and that of the planet. , But studies indicate the amount of land and water humanity currently consumes already threatens to exceed the available size of the earth. Therefore, for the population to continue their standard of living, and certainly to raise the global average standard as a step towards improving worldwide quality of life, the amount of resources consumed by a single person must be lowered to an amount the planet can sustain.
This cannot be done by any entity alone. Because an economy's production is most efficient when entities specialize and trade, the resources needed to support its individuals are lowered most when not only the goods and services they produce alone, but also those they purchase, are created with the lowest resource cost. This interaction also implies that businesses and individuals are linked because they feel the effects of each other's actions, and that the nature of economics makes all members of a society dependant upon one another. People meet the labor needs of firms, and firms meet the product needs of people.11
Dependence also implies that a healthy society requires vitality in all sectors: public, social, and private business. It is therefore important to the public and social sectors that private businesses are strong and enduring. If too many firms collapse once inputs are exhausted from use of operating models that exceed the environment's carrying capacity, the rest of society is at risk of being dragged down through their connection. Robust, sustainable enterprises mean that the supply of goods, services, and employment is also robust.
The age of nonrenewable resources is fast drawing to a close. Complete depletion of one of the most heavily relied upon resources: oil, is currently expected in just over 40 years. More than an extension on this time limit or a quick fix in the form of other finite sources is needed. The only way for the heartbeat of commerce supporting global society to continue is for companies to ensure their environmental sustainability on every level. Some, like the dinosaurs, will go extinct. But other companies will evolve, as they discover that their needs and those of the worldwide community are one and the same.
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