A case analysis prepared by five of SFU’s full-time MBA students entitled: “Selling the Canadian Armed Forces Brand to Canada’s Youth” received the Pearson Education Prize for the Best Case Study on the case track of the 2008 Academy of Marketing Conference, the UK’s largest academic marketing conference. Keep reading…
Operating within a volatile economic climate, SFU’s Global Asset and Wealth Management MBA (GAWM), Master of Financial Risk Management (MFRM), and business undergrad students were able to test their mettle and showcase their risk management and decision making skills in generating a positive annual return in the 2007 Redefining Investment Strategy Education (RISE) Forum, held at the University of Dayton. Keep reading…
How SFU Business fared in the news for the week of July 25, 2008
The book, “Cultural Intelligence – People Skills for Global Business” by SFU Business Professor David C. Thomas and Kerry Inkson was reviewed in the July 19 edition of the Shanghai Daily News. Keep reading…
SFU Represented at Worldwide Business Competition
Sixty-six teams comprised of seven contestants in four countries went head to head at the 2008 Global Enterprise Experience, an international business competition aimed at developing skills in managing across cultures, time zones, world views and levels of wealth and poverty. Keep reading…
The G8’s pledge on Tuesday 8 July 2008 to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is being seen by many as, at best, a travesty (President Bush’s commitment to anything containing the words ‘climate change’ is generally considered amusing) or, at worst, a tragedy. In 42 years’ time, with a world population roughly double that of today, it is widely considered unthinkable that emissions will have been lowered without stringent short-term targets having been put in place. Booz Allen & Hamilton has stated that if emissions are not reduced by 80% over the next 20 years, the consequences of global warming to the world economy as a result of crop damage, food shortages, and disease, will be a catastrophic. Keep reading…
Sliced Tomatoes, Vancouver’s first ready-to-cook meal delivery service, will be vying for investments from an illustrious panel of savvy Canadian venture capitalists on Season Three of the CBC television program “The Dragons’ Den.” Keep reading…
If recent events in the financial system are indications of inadequate corporate governance and risk management, do we know how and why the system failed? And perhaps most importantly, do we know what can be done to fix it? Keep reading…
Along with the recent sales figures from the automotive makers, we hear lots about how consumers are choosing more fuel-efficient vehicles and abandoning the larger car, SUV and truck markets. Proponents of a corporate social responsibility point to Toyota surpassing GM in worldwide auto sales (and the imminent naming to the top spot in American auto sales) as a testament to the “green” strategies of the firm. Isn’t Toyota such as wonderful friend of the earth, and aren’t all those Prius drivers pitching right in and doing their part? Media and many CSR pundits spin these recent developments as a move toward greater sustainability and responsibility.
Oh really. If there is a sudden consciousness about the state of the planet, why did it come now and not in 2006 when Al Gore made his movie? Or why did it not come in the 80s and 90s when David Suzuki told us everything Al did (albeit with a little less flash and star appeal). And please don’t say “tipping point” because the answer, of course, has to do with the price of oil. We forget that back when oil was 10 bucks a barrel Toyota introduced their V8 Tundra pickup to compete with the F series from Ford. I bet they’re happy now they failed to make a dent in that market.
The market has clearly come to Toyota (and Honda, and other makers who specialize in smaller vehicles). But should we applaud these firms for championing the environment? Do you really believe that if people wanted to buy V8 Tundras from Toyota they wouldn’t have sold those in droves?
Environmental impacts from automobiles lies squarely at the feet of consumers. After all, companies like Toyota and General Motors all try and meet market demand, whether it’s for trucks that get 10km per liter (about 24 mpg) or it’s little cars that go 30 km on a single liter (about 70 mpg). If we want to buy a truck so we can feel safe and cocooned 4 feet off the road, sit in comfort in air conditioning while our kids watch DVDs in the back, why shouldn’t someone be able to sell it to us? We need to stop pointing the finger at companies we see doing evil and start pointing the finger at the real culprit in any consumer-driven society – all of us.
Study after study tells us that consumers are ready to do their part for the environment. But we know that if forced to give up even a small amount of performance or quality, consumers will not make the switch. Surveys with broad, hypothetical examples of purchase decisions do nothing to help us understand how consumers behave at crunch time. When facing the aisle of choices at the supermarket, which brands gets chosen? When shopping for a new car, which ones make the short list? The reason why consumers are now flocking to fuel-efficient cars has nothing to do with the environmental sensitivities of consumers, and everything to do with the economic sensitivities of consumers.
As long as consumers are behind the wheel of what and how much is consumed, they will look out for their own benefit versus the collective good. Consider what would happen to SUV sales if the price of a barrel of oil were to suddenly drop back to $10 tomorrow morning. Would all of the newly minted eco-warriors keep buying Corollas and sit in traffic without the AC? I’m not hopeful.
Still, as a marketer, I know that consumer behaviour can be changed. But marketers are strangely absent from the discussion on climate change. We hear from scientists, politicians, even movie stars. Many people assume that marketers are largely responsible for the problem of over-consumption in the first place, so they can’t possibly be helpful in solving the problem.
Don’t blame the marketers, and don’t blame the companies. Telling a marketer to stop anticipating consumer demand in a market economy is like asking the tide not to come in. Only consumers can make the change, and marketers, like it or not, are needed to help facilitate that change.
July 3, 2008
By John Peloza PhD, Research Fellow, CIBC Centre for Corporate Governance and Risk Management
In companies across Canada there are two camps when it comes to the social and environmental responsibilities of the firm. In the one camp there are zealots for sustainability. These individuals often advocate sustainability investments as essential to the firm’s long-term survival. They often have expertise in environmental management, community relations, with some even joining the organization from the nonprofit sector. Unfortunately, these advocates can be completely lacking in experience with financial management. Many students I’ve met with over the years have even chose this type of career path specifically because they are intimidated by the quantitative measures used in disciplines like accounting and finance. Too often, sustainability advocates lack the skill to communicate in the language of business. They don’t comprehend terms like cash flow, share price alpha, the difference between return on assets versus return on equity. Keep reading…