eCommunications for global organisations

Noone really seems to have grasped what sustainability really stands for. One of those concepts that is so broad that anything could fit in and so complex that noone really knows how to transform it into something practical.


Especially corporates seem to be struggling in making sense of it and putting the topic in a context that speaks to the individual, to management and serves the company purpose. Let’s be honest here - it’s a real challenge. There’s no off-the-shelf solution on how to turn a successful corpoate business into a successful sustainable one. And it’s surely not about the process but much more about the indivudual that drives change in the organization.


Boston University has built their concept around ‘Corporate Citizenship’. They recently released a report on Leadership Competencies for Community Involvement that shows what it takes to be a change agent in driving a big organization towards taking an active role in corporate citizenship. Have a look it’s an interesting read.


Best wishes, Mira

(This is a cross-post from ideaplants.org)

One of our contacts from EUROPEN recommended this video which reflects in a viral - web friendly way the purpose of packaging.


When it comes to discussing sustainability and product development, packaging is often seen as an easy target for policy makers. There’s a public perception that packaging equals waste. So the more packaging, the more waste is being created. Only few people take into account that packaging also prevents waste and keeps the product safe in a purposeful way (if designed smartly).


Have a look at the video clip below developed by Elipso (the French plastic & flexible packaging association) that addresses this topic.

This is a crosspost from Ideaplants

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Our art Director Jesus Azogue is currently exhibiting at the European Commission (Berlaymont building) and gives tips on how to survive the global crisis.


TIPS TO GET THROUGH THE CRISIS is a collaboration project between two young Spanish artists representing opposed conceptions but complementary with the contemporary art appearance, pretending to demand the role of the art in the global reality. In the WORLD CRISIS actual context, art inspects its own language and its social mission to give back the humanity its role consciousness that is the head of the change process.





This ironic and mythic investigation in the power of art is tackled from the academic job Jesus Azogue is realizing about digital media and it’s what pushes us inside a virtual and parallel reality opposed to the baroque objectivity and the incisive iconography of Juan Antonio Rodriguez – JARR. The world hope around the “Yes we can” slogan become apparent in this works of art that gives an alternative to the CRISIS: the other reality creation (Azogue) or recycling the reality (JARR).


Below a video of one of the main works (in Spanish). The exhibition will last until the 28th of January. Please contact Jesus, if you are interested in visiting the exhibition.

Andrew McAfee is publishing his book ‘
Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for your Organization’s Toughest Challenges


Below an interview he did for McKinsey last month:


He also talks about the role of business leaders have in the movement towards an open source culture in a company and about the kaizen/beta approach it takes in oder to get things going. On the question ‘how to measure success’ he only has a limited view it seems from the interview but his analysis of the roles of management, CIOs and CEOs is quite accurate. I’m curious on reading the book.

A video worthwhile watching: Ikea’s viral facebook campaign that was solely based on existing facebook applications:

This is a cross post from Ideaplants.org.
I just read an article on China Daily in which Marcos Fava Neves, professor of strategic planning and food chains at the School of Economics and Business, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, proposes to add another dimension to the model of sustainabiltiy. Normally we consider the economic, social and environmental perspective when assessing sustainability. Marcos Fava Neves proposes to add in the context of organizations that struggle to implement this concept as part of their planning and operations pro-activeness as an additional measure.


When reading the article I started wondering whether pro-activeness is really what we are missing. Companies do most of the time act in different ways. In my eyes the issue is rather a lack of ownership and leadership in the space of sustainability. In a traditional company structure sustainability is not assigned to any specific department and therefore it is unclear who should be taking the lead on this.


It’s not just about what you do but also about how you link individual activites. Ideally an organization has an overall sustainability strategy and links activites to this strategy with the aim to create one real and coherent sustainability story. Transparency and involvement of internal and external stakeholders is key here. This involves HR, marketing, business development, and many other divisions.

Getting everyone on board requires not just pro-activeness but also smart leadership.

This is a cross post from ideaplants.org:


When was the last time you made a rational choice in a complex decision?
Thinking about it seriously, I’m not even sure that I’ve ever made one.
How is it possible to consider all possible factors and anticipate what option might be best with our little brain that has a limited amount of knowledge?


The choice for the right study programme, the most promising job, the least polluting car, the relationship that will last forever or simply the greenest energy provider often bring us to the edge of our capabilities of making a rational decision.


James G. March wrote in his book ‘A Primer on Decision Making’ about the limitations of rationality. He identifies four factors that limit us in the way we make decisions while also considering challenges for organizations:


1. Problems of attention: Limitations in the time we can spend on considering all factors
2. Problems of memory: Capabilities to capture and process all the information we gather
3. Problems of comprehension: Capacity to grasp complex issues and interpret them correctly - this is especially difficult in complex situations that cover a wide field of knowledge areas
4. Problems of communication: Problems with sharing and communicating crucial information, factors that are not presented clearly and other limiting issues e.g. due to language and cultural differences.


All these issues make it quiet difficult for someone to make a decision that is solely based on rationality - this is probably not a good excuse for individuals and businesses, but it might explain certain behaviors and put off pressure of people that think they should always make rational and fair decisions.


Especially in organizations that have been around for a while decision making processes are extremely long and complex. In todays fast changing world, this limits and blocks the organization in making the right choices.


In today’s environment the biggest challenge is not anymore to make the right choice, but to adapt to the changing environment.


A lot of flexibility is demanded from individuals and organizations. It’s not a surprise that young organizations with less structure and processes seem to cope with this much better than multinationals that are following a model which is already many years old.

Today SCA Packaging has launched it’s second edition of the Design Challenge. This year the designers are challenged to develop a slick and fat-free packaging design.

Thanks to all the team for their input to make the launch happen!

Kanal Consulting Group a US-based management firm has developed a 12 step guideline to Implement sustainability accross an organization.

As reported on greenbiz.com, they propose the list of steps to implement sustainability in order to improve the “bottom line and the environment”.

The list covers: Be coherent in what you do, have a proper strategy and model, get everyone on board and roll this out across departments.

Employee engagement seems to be one of the key components that are still perceived as challenging when it comes to implementing sustainability.

In a way it makes sense - we are dealing with individuals on whose motivation the success of the project depends. Coming up with a really motivating internal campaign to get everyone on board, opening up the plan so employees can propose their own ideas requires not only a lot of preparation but also a rethinking of the current thinking that is being done around sustainable development. Is it time for an open source approach for global companies?

This is a post from ideaplants.org