Thanks for your feedback.

Marc Stoiber

You nailed it on both counts. 1. It's not as fun to look at turning off the lights as it is to invent shiny new things. 2. Turning off the lights works.

Thanks for the feedback.

Marc Stoiber

Thanks for the link to the great article, Kevin. personally, I love working with clients on packaging problems - packaging is both a visible green 'baddie', and (in most cases) it is absolutely necessary. It isn't easy to fix quickly - the cost involved in changing packaging, as well as logistics, is daunting. There are many measures that can be taken to improve packaging immediately (check out the more efficient shirt folding Hanes has innovated to save plastic wrap on its clothing!) Based on the conditions above, I'd say packaging is low-hanging fruit, but it's not as easy a fix as reducing energy consumption in shipping or manufacture. When you hear we could reduce our energy drain by 30% (based on the McKinsey study)simply by paying attention to the energy we waste, I still believe that's the place to make the big first dent. It's also an area that could benefit from some easy-to-use, simple innovation.

Look forward to more thoughts from you. Keep us posted!

Marc Stoiber

Enlightened self-interest is a good way to put it. And yes, you're correct in saying that Wal-Mart is moving more along the path of lean thinking than Patagonia-style sustainability thinking.

However, by lessening road miles on trucks, lessening packaging, lessening energy usage, lessening or improving hundreds of things up and down the value chain, they are making a difference.

And as consumers reward the effort, they're only going to ramp up their efforts.

In actual fact, Wal-Mart is taking on quite a few environmental initiatives not directly related to eco-efficiency. That would include making the decision to switch to organic cotton and organic milk on a large scale. By adopting these two products, they've made a huge impact on dropping pesticide, herbicide and animal steroid/antibiotic/etc usage throughout the world. There's no 'lean' in that equation.

Really appreciate your thoughts. Keep them coming!

Cheers

Marc Stoiber

Thanks for the great feedback, Andrew. Sorry about my tardy response.

I actually heard one of the founders of Organic Acres dairy speak. His co-op, the largest in North America, decided not to work with Wal-Mart, because it would've put them in a bit of a 'supply one instead of supply many' situation. And they found this something they didn't want. However, the fellow seemed to have good things to say about Wal-Mart and their mission.

I think its still early days - we're all trying to figure out the best way to go. Business models (maybe even Wal-Mart's 'lowest prices everyday') may have to be refitted for the sustainability age. It makes life interesting, following the developments.

Thanks again for your great feedback. Keep me posted.

Marc