MGT 610 – Operations Management – Week 2

Week 2 – Sustainability

I am not a fan of what is considered “sustainability” unless it relates to building resiliency to market forces. I believe much of the environmental impacts people fret over with NIMBYism is just shipped overseas with more relaxed measures in place and to let those places suffer. It makes sense to reduce waste, water and electric consumption, but people want sustainability while still driving gas vehicles and consuming single use plastics. I personally think all of it is contradictory. I am hoping to find something of value this week on sustainability.

We reviewed the triple bottom line from Elkington and read the “Network of Sustainability Partners” by Webach. I found the lecture on modern day slavery using debt bondage particularly interesting and enlightening. More people should be aware of it, or at least pretend like they care when the issues surface. We wrote two papers, one on Lego that explored the backlash they received from Greenpeace when they partnered with Shell and one on Unilever’s sustainability initiative as a strategic focus. I actually enjoyed writing those papers.