Author: Johnson, Jennifer
Source: The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education
Year: 2011
Abstract:
The importance of natural resource management for business and society has come to the forefront as issues of sustainability take center stage. Water in particular plays a critical role in a wide range of arenas. As one of our most basic needs, water is often thought of as both free and inexhaustible. Unfortunately, climate change, population growth, intensive agricultural practices, pollution, and inefficient use have all put pressure on global water supplies, pressure that will only increase without strategic changes. Recognizing the importance of water in operations and supply chains around the world, some businesses are beginning to re-evaluate their water use in much the same way as they are rethinking their approaches to carbon and energy. Despite these efforts, significant progress is still necessary to prevent shortages, pollution, and climate from undermining water security.
The following Collection includes material on water resources, business reaction to water-related challenges, the impact of innovation on efforts to alleviate pressure of water supplies, access to water in emerging economies, managing water risk as well as related environmental impacts, and more. The selections below include case studies, syllabi, articles, and reports and provide a broad selection for teaching and learning about this issue.
Author(s): Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership; Knowledge@Wharton
Product Type: Policy and Issue Reports
Water is a paradoxical commodity: It seems free and plentiful, yet its supply is under tremendous strain. But while objectives like being "water neutral" and using "footprinting" -- tracking the use of water throughout the supply chain -- are ambitious, what is being done to achieve them?
Author(s): UN Global Compact
Product Type: Essays and Concept Papers
The leaders of six of the world's largest companies -- Coca-Cola, Levi Strauss, Läckeby Water Group, Nestlé, SABMiller and Suez -- have issued a call to action urging their fellow business peers to take immediate action to address the emerging global water crisis...
Author(s): Deason, Jonathan P.
Product Type: Syllabi
This course is designed to provide an overview of the environmental challenges currently facing mankind.
Author(s): Barton, Brooke
Product Type: Cases
Despite growing water-scarcity risks in many parts of the world, the vast majority of leading companies in water-intensive industries have weak management and disclosure of water-related risks and opportunities, according to a first-ever report issued by the Ceres investor coalition, the financial services firm UBS and financial data provider Bloomberg.
Author(s): Souza, Gilvan C.
Product Type: Syllabi
This course addresses sustainable operations in three modules. In the first module, we examine improvements on the environmental impact of current operations (eco-efficiency): environmental and take-back legislation, certifications (e.g., LEED), pollution prevention and waste reduction (including lean), 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle), environmental management systems (ISO 14000), and life cycle assessment. In the second module, we examine sustainable operations strategies, particularly sustainability in the supply chain, and environmental product differentiation. Finally, the third module addresses closed-loop systems (product stewardship), which is the ultimate goal of sustainability: design for environment (DFE), leasing, reuse and remanufacturing.
Author(s): Hoffman, Andrew; Howie, Sarah; Augustine, Grace
Product Type: Cases
The case drives a discussion around events in 2005-2006 when the University of Michigan decided to cut its contract with Coca-Cola because of the company’s environmental issues in India and labor issues in Colombia.
Author(s):
Product Type: Cases
This case is about the global water sustainability initiatives undertaken by The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola). It details the activities undertaken by Coca-Cola's management and employees to contribute to the benefit of the society and community in which the company operated by pledging to return all the water it used in its operations back to the environment. On June 5, 2007, Coca-Cola and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) launched a global project that focused on water conservation.
Author(s): Kaufman, Leslie
Product Type: Magazine / Newspaper Articles
From the cotton field in rural India to the local rag bin, a typical pair of blue jeans consumes 919 gallons of water during its life cycle, Levi Strauss & Company says, or enough to fill about 15 spa-size bathtubs. The company wants to reduce that number any way it can, and not just to project environmental responsibility. It fears that water shortages caused by climate change may jeopardize the company’s very existence in the coming decades by making cotton too expensive or scarce.
Author(s): Gordon, Michael
Product Type: Cases
The Water Roller was invented in 1991, and over the course of the next 15 years, approximately 30,000 Water Rollers were distributed, almost exclusively in a few South African provinces. Hippo Water International’s director, Cynthia Koenig, founded the organization with the intention of assisting the manufacturer / distributer of the Water Roller bring the product to new international markets. But what began as a project to occupy her spare time as she searched for full-time employment soon took center stage...
Author(s): Faheem, Hadiya; Purkayastha, Debapratim
Product Type: Cases
This case study is about Irvine, California-based WaterHealth International Inc., a social purpose for-profit venture in the safe water sector, focused on serving the traditionally underserved "Bottom of the Pyramid" segment. The company’s aim was to ensure increasing returns for the company and its investors while achieving a social impact.
Author(s): Hertsgaard, Mark
Product Type: Magazine / Newspaper Articles
Despite his illiteracy, Yacouba Sawadogo is a pioneer of the tree-based approach to farming that has transformed the western Sahel over the last twenty years.
Author(s): Doré, Dave; Peiyuan, Guo; Nette, Anna-Sterre; An, Jiali
Product Type: Policy and Issue Reports
This report focuses on the rapidly developing importance of water as a material factor in investment analysis and action within China.
Author(s): Ramanna, Karthik; Serafeim, George; Sesia, Aldo
Product Type: Cases
The case explores a new business venture to bring clean water to residents of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who otherwise cannot afford it. Introduces performance measurement, accrual accounting, and the three principal financial statements.
Author(s): Duhigg, Charles
Product Type: Magazine / Newspaper Articles
The Clean Water Act of 1972 largely regulates only chemicals or contaminants that move through pipes or ditches, which means it does not typically apply to waste that is sprayed on a field and seeps into groundwater.
Author(s): Bansal, Pratima; Beamish, Paul W.; Jiang, Ruihua
Product Type: Cases
Trojan sold water disinfecting equipment, and the senior market associate's job was to find new areas for growth. China was particularly intriguing because it had as much water as Canada, but 40 times the population, and its economic boom would further stress current water resources.
Author(s): Zerio, J; Vembu, R
Product Type: Cases
Emerging markets represent a very sizable opportunity for Zenon, a leader in the membrane filtration technology, and the water treatment industry in general, but the replication of the developed economies model in emerging markets is fraught with difficulties.
Author(s): von der Porten, Suzanne
Product Type: Research Notes / Working Papers
In February and April of 2000, tens of thousands of citizen protesters seized the streets of their home city Cochabamba, Bolivia to protest the privatization of their water and sewer system by Aguas del Tunari, a subsidiary of US-based Bechtel Corporation...
Author(s): Purkayastha, Debapratim
Product Type: Cases
The water crisis in the African countries is quite severe with two out of five people lacking access to improved water supply. Trevor Field (Field) a UK-born advertising professional who had immigrated to South Africa, sought to do something to address this problem. In the late-1980s, he chanced upon a child’s roundabout (merry-go-round) fitted with a pump that could pump water as it turned.
Author(s): Macomber, John D.; Garcia-Cuellar, Regina; James, Griffin H.
Product Type: Cases
A commercial property company evaluates water risks including the government's ability to remedy, the company's operating exposure and mitigation, and whether to relocate because of water risk.
Author(s): Buddemeier, Florian; Busse, Sarah; Clabo, Ron; Lam, Jessica; Xue, Bridget (Yun)
Product Type: Essays and Concept Papers
This paper addresses the issue of water scarcity – a global challenge particularly pressing to the developing nations of the world. Globally, over 1 billion people lack access to clean water. According to the UN two thirds of
the world population could be affected by water scarcity by 2025.
Author(s): Seno, Alexandra A.
Product Type: Magazine / Newspaper Articles
The new oil may be water. Since 2001, shares in global water companies have gone up 150 percent, according to Thomson Financial.