The “Green Wave” has officially washed over everything. Let’s look at the big picture.

By Vic Barkin

Stakeholders and Your In-plant

Stakeholders are parties who affect, or can be affected by, an organization’s actions. All of them carry equal weight. Any of them can affect how successful you and your operation are.

According to the book “Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value and Build Competitive Advantage,” by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston, there are five categories of stakeholders:

1) Consumers and Community

Your customers and clients, and their constituents, are either your strongest ally, or your worst enemy. Increasingly more buying decisions are incorporating the triple bottom line. Mandates and policies, which up until recently were based on economic factors, are now being made in much broader terms. Departmental RFPs are including questions never asked in the past.

2) Investors and Risk Assessors

A well-run in-plant’s budget is approved, if not dictated, by various administrative and finance decision-makers. Since more funding decisions are being made with the value proposition of green initiatives in mind, it is wise to promote the in-plant’s green-ness. Risk assessments are now being made on their environmental merits as well as their financial ones.

3) Idea Generators and Opinion Leaders

Those gurus whose ideas carry weight can have a profound impact on how an in-plant does business. The “green-ness” factor has risen to the forefront. Whether it’s enhanced technology leading to greater efficiencies, or best practices with a green slant, this group guides and transforms the thought processes of the specific enterprises and the industry.

4) Rule Makers and Watchdogs

Ever-changing compliance regulations, from environmental to health and safety issues, have to be the first priority. Of all the stakeholders, rule makers can have the most sudden and immediate impact. Internal and external individuals and organizations acting in a non-regulatory capacity can also be a force to reckon with if not aware of their presence. The question to ask is not if the in-plant will be scrutinized, but when.

5) Vendors, Organizations and Competitors

Starting with your vendors, the stakeholder relationship is twofold. On one hand, they (should) have a broad knowledge of their green product portfolio, but may only reveal a portion unless you ask specifically. On the other, it is really you, the customer, who drives the market. By requesting/demanding green products and services, you are actively providing direction to your vendors, just as your customers are doing with you.

QUESTION: What do Sports Illustrated, Kiplinger’s, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone have in common?

Answer: All of them have published “Green Issues.”

Unless you’ve been isolated from the world around you, you’ve noted that increasingly more companies, industries and institutions are taking great pains to profess their Green-ness. All of this activity is being heralded under the banner of Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR. (Yes Virginia, there is another CSR. It’s not just the Customer Service Rep anymore.)

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Companies:
Eastman Kodak Co.

Places:
Virginia

Vic Barkin Author's page

Vic Nathan Barkin has more than 35 years of experience in the printing, paper and wood products industries and currently owns a consulting practice specializing in business development, workflow, and technology implementation, focusing on “Green Procurement and Production” practices. Vic is a QMS Lead Auditor certified to ISO 9001:2008 standards, is a consultant for the Rainforest Alliance as an FSC Chain of Custody and Controlled Wood senior auditor, is an FSC, SFI and PEFC lead auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers and SGS North America, and has engaged in more than 700 site assessments and audits.

GREEN: It’s the Right Thing to Do