Green Business Still Needs To Be About Business

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The vast majority of the S&P 100 now report on their sustainability efforts. For more details, check out this analysis by the Sustainable Investment Research Analyst Network (SIRAN): http://www.siran.org/pdfs/SIRANPR20080717.pdf It seems obvious to me that businesses are willing to “take it upon themselves to diminish the ‘problem’.” As Mike said, the traditional business model is changing –it has to. Successful businesses understand this, and they’re adopting best practices that reflect this new awareness.

Tim Albinson of CA 5:11PM January 30, 2009

"The customer wants ten different styles ski pants?" Well, not really - not before they've been exposed to a lot of sophisticated and expensive marketing about those ski pants. If Yvon Chouinard has decided to get out of the business of creating desire where need doesn't even exist, good for him.

Max of MA 8:31PM January 29, 2009

I'd like to echo and adjust Mike's statements about Green Business. I don't think Green Business is about selling less as much as it is about doing more with less. Over the decades, the U.S. economy has shown that it can do more with less when the incentives are in place. Cars, for example, use 1/2 the steel they did in the 50's and 60's, yet they protect us in collisions better than they did back then.
So, you don't have to give up the profit motive when you run a green business, but you do have to make some sacrifices and, hopefully, you operate in an economy where there are incentives to do so.

Don of MD 3:34PM January 28, 2009

There are many things traditional business people and business writers do not understand about the "green business" phenomenon, the largest point being this: selling less is not a business strategy. Traditional business will never understand doing something simply because it's the right thing to do; it will not understand the concept of "rightness" as anything but that which generates profit. Selling less isn't a clever play to catch more customers - it's done with fear of lost profits, but conviction that the action is true to a corporate mission. Don't believe it? Check out Patagonia's mission statement.
The other thing traditionally minded business folk fail to understand, or choose not to: their role in the equation that is predicated on the power of the consumer dollar. Consumers vote with their dollar. Business-as-usual understands this only so far as it takes to capture the dollar spent thoughtlessly. The newer, greener consumer is quite thoughtful, and when they say they want values, more and more they're talking about things that have nothing to do with price.
The consumer concept of "value" is expanding into dimensions that classic capitalism can't grasp or commodify. Consumers are seeking responsible manufacturers, they are seeking businesses that take responsibility for their products well beyond the point of sale.
Profit incentives don't create problems, bad business practices do. Laws have proven ineffective at correcting this, and true to capitalism's principles, businesses that offer a solution--aka. buying products from a company that will donate part of the sale to a non-profit dedicated to protecting clean water--are succeeding. Whether you wish to believe this or not, consumers DO, and they're spending their money accordingly.
"Green" consumers are looking for something very few businesses can even understand, much less provide. Your article criticizes Chouinard for trying to educate the consumer regarding their needs. From here, it looks like he's just one of the few people who's learned how to listen to them.

Mike of NV 2:51PM January 28, 2009