Perception and reality are often juxtaposed against each other - but what happens when they align?

In our 2010 MapChange Sustainablity Study, sizeable disparity between consumer perception of brands’ efforts to address climate change and actual, criteria-driven scores proliferated across all segments. In many cases, consumers scored brands that presently show little effort in addressing climate change better than brands that have been implementing sustainability strategies for years.

But a few segments contained brands that received perception scores reflective of their actual evaluation. Take electronics for example—and more specifically Hewlett-Packard.

Consumers gave Hewlett-Packard a sustainability score of 68, and Climate Counts, the third party consultancy evaluating the brands gave HP a 78. In effect, in the electronics sector, HP is the only leader in both perceived and actual sustainability scores—a difference of ten points, whereas other brands see greater disparity. What gives?

As referenced by the Harvard Business Review, HP has been implementing green initiatives since the early 1990s:

“…Hewlett-Packard realized that because lead is toxic, governments would one day ban lead solders. Over the following decade it experimented with alternatives, and by 2006 the company had created solders that are an amalgam of tin, silver, and copper, and even developed chemical agents to tackle the problems of oxidization and tarnishing during the soldering process. Thus HP was able to comply with the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive, which regulates the use of lead in electronics products, as soon as it took effect, in July 2006.”

As a result, HP was poised to take majority market share. And by acting immediately on a future trend and sound insight, HP widened the gap between the market leader and the followers. In short, HP had more time to fail faster—to develop processes, materials, practices and partnerships to cement segment leadership.

By partnering with the Sustainability Consortium, an organization originally formed by Wal-Mart that is working on better defining exactly what it means to be green in electronics, Hewlett-Packard is leading the eco-friendly charge in an effort to create green criteria by which consumers can judge future purchases.

This sustainability story is not just relevant to the electronics industry—this insight is crucial to every industry, as according to the Harvard Business Journal, sustainability is the key driver of innovation, not to mention the ultimate competitive advantage. So what does this mean for your business?

Basically if you’re not already green or if you’re not going there soon, you’re probably behind your competitors already.

Companies that take full advantage of this burgeoning eco-conscious opportunity will drive long-term growth and will also increase revenue. And those that wait for consumer, government and organization driven sustainability mandates to be imposed in the near future will be too far behind to catch up.

In the race for differentiation and market leadership, forward-thinking companies are looking to go green, as it’s not only the key to future profitability, but also the shield against commoditization.

Are you moving forward or staying put? Are you winning green or losing marketshare? Find out more here by downloading MapChange 2010.

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