Eco-Advantage Mindset

Week 3 Discussions and Required Resources

Assignment: This is a two-part assignment. Each part must be at least 200 words unless otherwise noted. Please read all attachments and follow ALL instructions.

To receive full credit you must include at least 2 citations of scholarly support to your answers for each discussion post (i.e. Discussion One – 2 citations, Discussion Two – 2 citations).  Citations should be within your post and include (Author, year, page number) if you are using a quote, page number is not required if you are paraphrasing.  Just listing references and not using them in your post does not count as a citation or support.  You can use your textbook as scholarly support and remember to include a reference for the support cited.

Part 1: Sustainable Shopping Malls?

Imagine that you are a developer interested in building a shopping mall. However, you are interested in building a shopping mall that is “green” so that your mall has a competitive advantage over other shopping malls. Apply the “eco-advantage mindset” to identify considerations that you should make in the design, products, services, and processes of the mall that would enable you to achieve your goal.

Part 2: Life-Cycle Assessment

Review the Wharington and Volvo case studies – https://www.iisd.org/business/CategoryCases.aspx?id=70. In your opinion, which of these two companies benefitted the most from a life-cycle assessment? Which company’s life-cycle assessment benefited the environment and/or the consumers the most? Why?
Could a cigarette manufacturing company benefit from a life-cycle assessment? Could the environment and/or consumers of a cigarette manufacturing company benefit from a life-cycle assessment? Why or why not?

Required Resources

Text

Esty, D.C., & Winston, A.S. (2009). Green to gold: How smart companies use environmental strategy to innovate, create value, and build competitive advantage. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

• Chapter 6: The      Eco-Advantage Mindset
• Chapter 7: Eco-Tracking

Multimedia

National Public Radio (Producer). (2011, February 24). Mr. Peanut’s ride goes green  [Audio file]. Retrieved from  http://www.npr.org/2011/02/24/134017778/The-Last-Word-In-Business

• This      podcast supports the Planter’s Peanuts as a Model of Innovation assignment      for this week.

Recommended Resources

Articles

O’Sullivan, K. (2006). Virtue rewarded: Companies are suddenly discovering the profit potential of social responsibility CFO Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.cfo.com/printable/article.cfm/7960857?f=options

• This site supports the      chapter readings for this week.

Savitz, A.W., & Weber, K. (2007). The sustainability sweet spot. Environmental Quality Management, 17(2), 17-25. DOI: 10.1002/tqem.20161. Retrieved from the EBSCOhost database.

• This article supports      Planter’s Peanuts as a Model of Innovation assignment for this week.