MIT Sloan Management Review

So packaging, transportation and what we could call supplier engagement. Is there any other place that would be good to look for alignment with sustainability issues? Are there any opportunities, say, in marketing?

Yes, and here’s a great example: Natura [Cosméticos SA], in Brazil. Natura sells creams and other cosmetic products to Brazilian and now European and U. S. markets.

Natura has a product that’s made from a special nut from the Amazon jungle. And that nut is only harvested at certain times in the year.

Now, that cream is a bestseller, and it would be great for them if they had it all year long. But this is where marketing can really align with sustainability. The fact is, if the company tries to offer the product year-round, it’s going to have to force a change to the natural cycle of the Amazon jungle. The other option is to let customers know that this cream is tied to the season. The message is that making the cream available in the off season would involve chopping things down and we’d all rather keep the environment as pristine as possible. The price that everyone pays is not having the product all year long but only for three or four months at whatever quantities we can get.

All of this can only happen when the marketing and sales organization communicates with the customer and lets them know that everyone has to adapt to be more sustainable. You have to talk to the customer, so marketing becomes a big piece of product strategy, right alongside of supply chain realities. If you have customer alignment, then you have more flexibility to pursue sustainability.

Customer alignment, marketing and product strategy, as a piece.

Yes. If you have that alignment, then you can start exploring new directions. If you only think from the constrained view of your current products, you are bound by that relationship.

The people in the supply chain are uniquely positioned to be able to see the whole ecology of a company’s business, because they’re so close to all the pieces in the system, yes? I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. At Chiquita [Brands International Inc.], for example,

the supply chain organization is taking the lead in sustainability.

You know, I was reading this morning about the big debate about the [proposed] Cape Cod [Massa-chusetts] wind farm. There were two people talking, and one of them was saying, “I don’t want these wind farms, because the view will not be as nice and, well, maybe there’s some disruption to the wildlife.” Somebody else said something like, “If I know that for every kilowatt-hour that the farm generates we will not have a miner in Colombia die, or one less soldier protecting an oil field, this discussion is trivial.” Yeah, you sacrifice your view a little bit, but you’re saving lives.

Imagine that discussion in the supply chain. I’ll use an example from Starbucks [Corp.], because it’s spot on. They said they always knew that they sometimes brewed too much coffee. Brewed it then threw it away. Costwise, it doesn’t look like too much. But if you trace the coffee back, what it represents really is wasted work by a farmer in Guatemala.

If you could see that, then you suddenly start saying this waste is very expensive.

Does that represent an opportunity?

A major opportunity. Especially if you let the consumer know, because the consumer has a stake in this. Starbucks is doing something very clever. They say, you know what? We are not going to brew a variety of coffees after 2 p.m. We’ll more efficiently use up just one type. If a customer comes in and wants something we’ve stopped brewing, we will ask them, please wait a little bit, because I’m going to brew one cup for you. And they have a special machine now to brew one cup. Simple as that.

Once you see the total cost of an item, and really think of all the things that took place to get it to you, then you start looking at waste and environmental impact and carbon footprint through a different optic. That’s a conversation you can have with the customer. I had no idea, but if I am told that throwing out one of those batches of coffee translates to six months’ work for a farmer, I will gladly be willing to wait one more minute for them to brew my cup.