Are Green MBAs Ready for Green Business?

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

For several years, I have written about the critical importance of green business training and education.

The C-Level’s demand for well-trained and properly educated green business executives is urgent. More companies are seeking talent that can ably manage the triple-bottom-line (people, planet, profits).

But are the institutions awarding so-called Green MBAs yielding such well-prepared talent? Ford Motor Company’s manager of social sustainability, David Berdish, is not convinced that they are.

In his post for GreenBiz.com, Berdish writes that:

Business schools are very good at asking students the hard questions – for example, how would marketing, IT, and operational functions work together to reduce a company’s energy consumption.

Additionally, (we are) not so good at asking students what the questions should be, in the first place, or how the systems within or outside a business support or conflict with a company’s mission and goals.

In other words, according to Berdish, business schools are highly capable at posing theoretical questions. Hoever, they are not as well-equipped at exploring the dynamic real-world complexities of sustainability, and more troubling, are not immune to “greenwashing.”

Berdish believes that business schools need to toss the “business as usual” mindset and adopt a style of instruction that more-fully prepares students for the complex set of challenges they will face when balancing the triple-bottom-line.

Will This Be Green Marketing’s Breakout Year?

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Environmental Leader has partnered with MediaBuyerPlanner to study Green Marketing to determine if it is ephemeral (or here to stay).

Based on the study’s key findings, it looks like Green Marketing has got legs. Specifically:

• 82% of respondents indicated they expect to spend more on green marketing in the future. Among manufacturers, that number is significantly higher. At least half, if not more, of respondents plan to engage in online marketing efforts in the future.
• 28% of marketers themselves think green marketing is more effective than other marketing messages, compared to 6% of marketers who think it is less effective. Management is even more optimistic, with 46% of them indicating a belief that green marketing is more efficacious. Just 23% of those in operations think green marketing is more effective.
• Companies with smaller marketing budgets tend to spend more on green marketing. Firms with a marketing budget of under $250,000 spend just over 26% on green marketing, while those with budgets of more than $50 million spend 6% on green marketing.

The most popular medium for green marketing was the Internet, with

• 74.2% of respondents having spent money online, followed by
• Print (49.8%
• Direct (40%)
• Outdoor (7%)
• Radio and TV (7%)
• Mobile (6%)

• 29% of marketers with budgets between $10 million and $50 million, and 25% of those with budgets of more than $50 million, used outdoor, compared to 7.3% for all marketers.

About half of companies reported that they are consciously taking steps to become more green. The most popular actions are:

• Conserving energy in operations, at 59%
• Changing products to reflect greener values (such as changing ingredients, packaging or intended use), at 54%

• And, nearly half of respondents said the decision-makers at their companies hold green marketing in high regard, compared to just 15% who hold it in low regard. Companies with decision-makers who have a low regard for green marketing tend to be those with the larger marketing budgets between $10 million and $50 million per year, where more than a quarter indicated that their decision-makers held green marketing in low regard. Smaller companies, concludes the report, may believe green marketing to be more effective than larger companies do.

More green marketing will translate to more consumer spending via green marketing channels. More consumer spending via green channels likely means larger green marketing budgets. And we hope that larger green marketing budgets will lead to a big spike in green marketing executive hiring.

One would hope. So, let’s all keep a good thought!