Center for Social Innovation

Patagonia Keeps a Close Eye on Its Supply Chain

Seen as a leader in sustainable business practices, Patagonia tracks every step in the manufacture of its products to be sure there are "no unintended consequences of our actions," says founder Yvon Chouinard.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Global Issues, Social Innovations, Environment

Networking for Sustainable Transport

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

EMBARQ, a network of sustainable transportation experts, has grown quickly, thanks to impressive fundraising and the design of a model program.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Research: Spring Water Protection Improves Health

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

Living near safe drinking water is not the same as drinking safe water.

Environment, Human Rights

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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The Problem with Fair Trade Coffee

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

Fair Trade-certified coffee is growing in consumer familiarity and sales, but strict certification requirements are resulting in uneven economic advantages for coffee growers and lower quality coffee for consumers. By failing to address these problems, industry confidence in Fair Trade coffee is slipping.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Environment, Government, Nonprofit Management

Research: Virtue or Else

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

Under the EPA’s Audit Policy, violators who voluntarily report themselves can get certain penalties reduced or waived if they commit to ongoing self-regulation…. But is that promise any more than window dressing?

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Patagonia Keeps a Close Eye on Its Supply Chain

Seen as a leader in sustainable business practices, Patagonia tracks every step in the manufacture of its products to be sure there are "no unintended consequences of our actions," says founder Yvon Chouinard.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Socially Responsible Business, Environment

New Knight Management Center at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to Achieve Highest Level of Environmental Sustainability

The Stanford Graduate School of Business opens the Knight Management Center, a new facility of eight buildings around three quads designed to support an innovative MBA curriculum. The center is expected to achieve the highest LEED Platinum® rating for environmental sustainability from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Resource: News Article

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Environment, Government

Tom Steyer: The jolly green banker

Banker and philanthropist Tom Steyer says the idea of business doing everything perfectly without government involvement is "ridiculous." That's why he's fighting to convince politicians and CEOs that going green isn't a sacrifice, it's an opportunity.

Resource: News Article

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Environment, Government

Removing Barriers for Clean Tech Energy Entrepreneurs Raises Issues

Streamlining balky government permit processes or convoluted global supply chains are just some of the challenges in the "Valley of Death" faced by fledgling clean energy firms, government officials were told during a Stanford forum.

Resource: News Article

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Environment, Government

Stanford Energy Center Director Dan Reicher Testifies before Congress on Energy Regulations and Financing

Dan Reicher, executive director of Stanford University's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, today testified before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power in a hearing on "EPA's Greenhouse Gas Regulations and Their Effect on American Jobs."

Resource: News Article

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

A Fine Green Niche

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2009

Maria Yee established her eco-friendly, high-end furniture company long before going green was the done thing. Two decades later, her company’s environmentally sound practices not only reflect a planet-friendly ethos, but also drive a market-friendly creative edge. Here’s how and why Yee stays green in a brown industry.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Good Guy vs. Good Guy

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2009

Western indigenous peoples’ activists vs. Western conservationists

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Greening the Corporation

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2009

STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABILITY: A Business Manifesto by Adam Werbach Review by Amory Lovins

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Shades of Green

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2009

Using social networking tools, the author reveals the intricate web of relationships that exist between business and environmentalists and suggests ways that these relationships could become even more fruitful in the environmental movement. —By Andrew J. Hoffman

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Economic Development, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Offsetting Green Guilt

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2009

Voluntary carbon offsets allow people to invest in projects that allegedly counteract their greenhouse gas emissions. But can voluntary offsets help slow global warming? Or are offsets simply a way for guilt-ridden consumers to buy their way out of bad feelings? —By Matthew J. Kotchen

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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MicroEnergy Credits Corporation: Catalyzing Clean Energy for the BoP

Using existing microfinance institutions and recent developments in the carbon credit markets on the supply side to facilitate the adoption of clean energy for the very poor.

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

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Business, Environment

Sustainable Water Practices For a Global Corporation

Businesses are increasingly focusing on reducing their water footprint as a source of strategic advantage and as a demonstration of good corporate citizenship. In this audio interview, part of a Stanford Center for Social Innovation series on water around the world, Pepsico's Dan Bena talks with Stanford MBA student Ashish Jhina about his company's efforts to reduce water use in its bottling plants and its partnerships to promote sustainable water use in agriculture and to provide improved access to clean drinking water.

Resource: Audio

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Water's Role in Environmental Sustainability

What is the best way for entrepreneurs to approach water companies with environmental sustainability solutions that address water problems? In this panel discussion, sponsored by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, experts and academics share what the water industry is doing to save water and the energy used to produce it for public use. They offer suggestions about how business can best invest in this growing field.

Resource: Audio

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Environmental Sustainability in Supply Chains

How can a company put environmental sustainability into its DNA? In this university podcast, Joao Paulo Ferreira, VP of operations and logistics, talks about Natura Cosmetics Brasil's supply chain and its challenges to embed sustainability concepts into the way it is designed and operated. He discusses the company's culture of collaboration with indigenous communities, NGOs, and other organizations.

Resource: Audio

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Corporate Social Responsibility with Cotton Farms

With corporate social responsibility as a business imperative, Levi Strauss has evaluated how well its suppliers are doing on making cotton production more sustainable. In this university podcast, executive Michael Kobori discusses the company's efforts to support organic cotton farming that reduces water use and relies less on child labor, particularly in Uzbekistan.

Resource: Audio

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Corporate Social Responsibility in Supply Chains

For Nike, corporate social responsibility has become a business driver rather than an obligation. In this university podcast, Nike's director of global logistics, Dawn Vance, talks about how the company is integrating performance, innovation, and sustainability throughout the entire supply chain. She also shares new efforts to provide a "closed loop" business model in which products can be reclaimed and reused at the end of their functional life.

Resource: Audio

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Resource Scarcity Will Force Change

A new era of global environmental threats is changing the work of the world’s largest conservation organization. World Wildlife Fund President and CEO Carter Roberts describes how the organization is changing.

Resource: Video

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Clean Products

Why should professionals care about the environment? Executives from environmentally conscious companies talk about their personal motivation and marketing strategies.

Resource: Video

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The HP Way and Bottom Line Results

Vyomesh Joshi, an executive vice president at Hewlett-Packard, talks about how HP is integrating social and environmental responsibility into its bottom line.

Resource: Video

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Greening the Supply Chain

How did Patagonia make the transition to using 100-percent organic cotton in its product line? Randy Harward discusses the challenges surrounding internal support, raw materials, and affordability as Patagonia greens its supply chain.

Resource: Video

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Environmental Conservation

Will Rogers, president of Trust for Public Land, discusses strategies for sustainable land use in a context where the boundaries that separate land conservation from public health, housing, economic development, transit, energy-use policies, and urban design are rapidly blurring. Amory Lovins, chairman and chief scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute, which fosters the efficient and restorative use of resources to make the world secure, just, profitable, and life-sustaining, discusses issues in his book, Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profit, Jobs, and Security.

Resource: Video

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Can Corporations Really Change?

Market practices are changing. With a focus on sustainability, corporations are moving toward operations that reduce the environmental impact of their products and services and offer an integrated bottom line. In this audio interview, part of The Future of Green series, host Neal Gorenflo speaks with Maurice Bechard of Diversey and Michael Kobori of Levi Strauss & Co. about the motivations for change and how to approach this shift.

Resource: Audio

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Environment, Nonprofit Management

The Role of Social Norms in Energy and Water Conservation

If you stayed in a hotel recently, you may have seen signs that encouraged you to reuse your towel in an effort to conserve resources. What drives you and others to participate in this environmentally and economically beneficial program? Professor Noah Goldstein studies the factors that motivate individuals to engage in prosocial actions using descriptive norms to design effective messages. He presents his research in this audio lecture presented by the Center for Social Innovation.

Resource: Audio

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Environmental Sustainability for Small Businesses

When does a house painter learn about low VOC paint? Are high-efficiency lightbulbs always better? How can you reduce package waste and still meet client expectations? How can a small business owner keep up with sustainability issues? Now Intuit and eBay have sites where small businesses share their green knowledge. Amy Skoczlas Cole, who runs eBayGreenTeam, and Rupesh Shah of IntuitGreen talk about small business and green.

Resource: Audio

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New Business Models and Metrics for Water

Even after decades of well intentioned efforts by governments and NGOs, clean drinking water and sanitation are still lacking in many parts of the developing world, with thousands of wells, pumps, and toilets lying in disrepair. In this audio interview, part of a Stanford Center for Social Innovation series on water, Water for People CEO Ned Breslin talks with Stanford MBA student Ashish Jhina about the need for new business models and longer-term performance metrics to ensure more sustainable water and sanitation systems in the developing world.

Resource: Audio

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Using Public-Private Partnerships to Resolve Asia's Water Crisis

Countries all across Asia face the prospect of a water crisis that threatens the sustainability of their already stretched water and irrigation systems. In this audio interview, part of a Stanford Center for Social Innovation series on water around the world, the Asian Development Bank's Arjun Thapan talks with Stanford MBA student Ashish Jhina about the potential of public-private partnerships to catalyze the efficiency improvements required to meet increasing water demand in the face of reduced water availability due to climate change.

Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

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Topics:

Environment, Nonprofit Management

Wild Salmon Center

The Wild Salmon Center was created to provide anglers access to excellent fishing in return for funding research and conservation. The case discusses the Center’s efforts to protect the pristine watersheds of the Kamchatka Peninsula by developing ecotourism to raise funds for conservation.

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Gardenburger

The CEO of Gardenburger, a seller of veggie burger products and other food alternatives to meat, considers the company’s advertising strategy. He aims to take the company from the small health-food niche to the consumer mainstream.

Resource: Academic Case

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Touring in the Galapagos Islands

Various economic and environmental issues face the owners of a cruise business in the Galapagos Islands. The case gives special attention to the efforts of locals to preserve and enhance their own ecotourism business prospects.

Resource: Academic Case

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Ma Jun and the IPE: Using Information to Improve China's Environment

The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs is Chinese environmental non-profit that has single-handedly revolutionized brought pollution standards and compliance to more than 47,000 sites and 22 multinational corporations in China. This case tells the story of the organization and its founder, environmental entrepreneur Ma Jun.

Resource: Academic Case

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Maria Yee Inc.: Making 'Green' Furniture in China

Maria Yee Inc. occupies a unique position as an environmentally conscious premium household furniture maker with two direct-owned factories in China and distribution through several large U.S. retailers. This case addresses the unique challenges that an entrepreneurial company faces in reaching its full potential as a business while advancing its green strategy.

Resource: Academic Case

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Environmental Enhancements in Road Vehicle Technologies

In 2007, the issue of global warming brought carbon dioxide emissions to the forefront of Americans’ minds. This paper examines some of the emerging innovations designed to reduce oil consumption.

Resource: Academic Case

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Disclosure Dilemma: Financial Reporting of Contingent and Environmental Liabilities

The case discusses U.S. and international accounting guidance regarding the disclosure of contingent and environmental liabilities.

Resource: Academic Case

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Fuel Economy Standards 2007

In 2007, Congress was discussing a 40 percent increase in required fuel efficiency. The automobile industry had a choice to fight the ruling., but instead decided to focus on influencing the details of the legislation.

Resource: Academic Case

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Note on Energy

Entrepreneurs and investors will find in this note a broad overview of the energy sector in 2008, highlighting trends and market dynamics.

Resource: Academic Case

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The Electric Car: The Major Players

The case covers and analyzes the major players in the electric car industry, including start-up and established automakers, battery makers, retrofitters, utility companies and the government.

Resource: Academic Case

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Environment, Nonprofit Management

Bozeman, Montana, and the Yellowstone Business Partnership

The economy of Bozeman, Mont., has grown rapidly, but concerns have arisen over the development of environmentally sensitive areas, impact on local businesses, and affordability. The Yellowstone Business Partnership could have a role in directing the city’s future.

Resource: Academic Case

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A Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH

With increasing pollution and congestion, European car manufacturers were concerned that governments might eventually ban cars from city centers. The producer of Swatch watches came up with the novel idea of an environmentally friendly, but stylish, super-compact car.

Resource: Academic Case

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Environment, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Trust for Public Land

In April 1999 the leaders of a nonprofit that acquired private land for transfer to public use met to discuss their latest internal auditors’ report. They wanted to decide how best to analyze the findings in order to explain to the board why the results did not appear as good as they actually were.

Resource: Academic Case

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Abercrombie & Kent: Pioneering Global Ecotourism

Abercrombie & Kent, a safari company, develops an ecotourism business in Kenya. The company must assess its challenges and future directions.

Resource: Academic Case

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Belize's Community Baboon Sanctuary

A sanctuary for baboons in Belize has been reformulated to support ecotourism. Numerous management, social, and political issues continue to limit the sanctuary’s growth.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

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Business, Socially Responsible Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment

Don't Tweak your Supply Chain - Rethink It End to End

The article examines environmental issues related to supply chains and supply chain management. Attempts to introduce sustainable practices into supply chains often meet with unexpected financial or environmental costs.

Resource: Research Paper

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Socially Responsible Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment

Modern Management: Good for the Environment or Just Hot Air?

Establishments in better managed firms are significantly less energy intensive. Better managed firms are also significantly more productive. These results suggest that management practices that are associated with improved productivity are also linked to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Resource: Research Paper

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Environment, Government, Leadership

Would Boycotting BP Do Any Good?

[photo - gulf_oil_spill_source_la_times]

Consumer and environmental groups, angry over the spreading oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, are calling for a boycott of BP, the oil giant that owns the well gushing oil onto beaches and marshes. According to research by Phillip Leslie and Larry Chavis, boycotts do in fact work and they're something businesses should be concerned about.

Resource: Research Paper

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A Room with a Viewpoint

Managers and marketers can motivate consumers to participate in environmental conservation programs by telling them how the majority of other people behaved in the same situation. Researchers specifically studied how to ask hotel guests whether or not they wanted to reuse their towels during the course of a stay. The study highlights the benefits of employing social science research and theory—rather than business communicators’ hunches, lay theories, or best guesses—in crafting persuasive messages. Guests given a description : "the majority guests in this hotel asked to reuse their towels," were 9% more likely to make the same decision than guests who were simply asked to "help save the environment" with no information on comparative behavior. Guests were motivated even further when the description matched their social demographic even more closely. They were even more likely to reuse their towels when told the majority of people staying in their room in the past had done so.

Resource: Research Paper

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Slowing Introductions of New Electronic Products Reduces E-Waste

Some types of regulations governing disposal of electronic waste can reduce the world's mountains of devices waiting to be recycled, and also slow the rate of new product introductions says Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Erica Plambeck.

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

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Environmental Science for Managers and Policy Makers - advanced: OIT 339

Designed for students with strong modeling/optimization/simulation skills, this course allocates more time to environmental and energy science and its implications for management and policy, and less time to the basics of modeling/optimization/simulation. Students apply spreadsheet modeling, optimization, and Monte Carlo simulation to resource management and environmental policy.

Resource: MBA Course

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Environmental Science for Managers and Policy Makers: OIT 338

This course explores the fundamental science of ecosystems, climate, and energy. Students learn to apply spreadsheet modeling, optimization, and Monte Carlo simulation to resource management and environmental policy.

Resource: MBA Course

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Initiating, Sustaining, and Monetizing Green Marketing: MKTG 551

This course addresses numerous questions about how to initiate and sustain green marketing. It also explores what technological and marketing innovations are likely to arise in the future.

Resource: MBA Course

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Business and Environmental Issues: GSBGEN 547

This speaker seminar examines the overlap and synergies between the business and environmental fields. Weekly speakers include leaders from both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.

Resource: MBA Course

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Environmental Entrepreneurship: GSBGEN 339

Markets have tremendous potential for solving environmental problems. Through case analysis, guest speakers, and the creation of business plans in environmental entrepreneurship, students will learn to apply core business principles of finance, marketing, economics, operations, accounting, and more to the provision of environmental goods and services.

Resource: MBA Course

Innovators : All

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Water World

Leading a Social Innovation Study Trip lands Robyn Beavers, MBA '10, in a new industry.

Resource: Alumni

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Economic Development, Environment

Jeremy Sokulsky, MBA '04

Jeremy Sokulsky, MBA '04, President, Environmental Incentives, discusses how he's drawing upon the tools and training he received from the GSB to help make a difference.

Resource: Alumni

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How Growth Can Be Green

A Stanford GSB student looks at the value of renewable energy in the developing world.

Resource: Student

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Jack May (MBA '84)

Jack shares his unexpected adventures on Kangaroo Island, Australia, and how his discovery in habitat restoration has become an international example.

Resource: Alumni

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Frank Gibson Myers (MBA '66)

"Gib" shares his passion for America’s Great Plains and the possibility and promise of creating a prairie wildlife reserve of three million acres, and the hope it represents.

Resource: Alumni

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Kung Wang: Energy and Cross-Strait Relations

Professor Kung Wang of China University of Technology discussed energy and cross-Strait relations at the "Innovations for Smart Green Cities: What's Working, What's Not, What's Next" conference.

Resource: Video

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Earth May Be Approaching 'Tipping Point,' Stanford Scientist Says

The planet may be nearing a critical threshold, beyond which environmental changes will be rapid and unpredictable, according to a study co-authored by Stanford Professor Elizabeth Hadly.

Resource: News Article

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Solar Power's Bright Future

A conversation with Stefan Reichelstein on the economics of solar power.

Resource: News Article

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Stanford Researchers Help Predict the Oceans of the Future with a Mini-Lab

[photo - Predict the Oceans of the Future]

Scientists from Stanford and elsewhere joined to create a mini-lab in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The device can simulate predicted future ocean conditions – such as rising carbon dioxide levels – and their effects on ecosystems such as coral.

Resource: News Article

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