When one of the world's largest companies announces that the future is green, there's more than a little scepticism in the air. But when a respected environmentalist who has worked on the project adds their 'inside' story, the credibility of the whole process is given an enormous boost.
At WorldChanging Joel Makower describes how he 'watched “ecomagination” catch fire at GE' - a bold and exciting claim.
The figures quoted are undoubtably significant: research investment in cleaner technologies up to $1.5bn by 2010, doubling current 'ecomagination' products to revenues of $20 billion by 2010. Makower also cites reducing green house gas emissions by 1% by 2012 (on a projected 40% increase if unchecked).
He gives more details about the factors he sees as important, to summarise:
It's being viewed as a business opportunity....
It's got solid top-level commitment....
It's both aspirational and specific....
They've done their homework....
It's being integrated with the brand.
They're in it for the long haul....
For a different view on it Amity Shlaes in the FT provides what she thinks is a reality check:
But what matters most here is whether a "be green" order from the executive suite will be good for GE. And that is not entirely clear. GE is a conglomerate with numerous unrelated businesses. One reason that Jack Welch, Mr Immelt's predecessor, made a cartoon of himself as a bottom-line maniac was that the bottom-line focus justified a company that was part-bank, part-wind farm. Ecomagination may be only one of Mr Immelt's plans, but the fanfare suggests that eco-divisions may fit better into GE's future than other businesses. That in turn would undermine the logic of the group.Worse, Ecomagination may hurt innovation. Thomas Edison's inventions were also amazingly diversified (mimeograph, megaphone). But most started in a small lab in Menlo Park. Ecomagination innovation will travel, by contrast, from the top down, with management ordering technology to serve the current demands of certain governments and certain regulators.
I hope she's wrong, but it is a fair point. 'Top down' approaches don't work well unless the hearts and minds of the employees are in it too. Then there needs to be some 'bottom up' thinking too. The good news from where I'm standing, is that people like Makower are in there working with GE.
For the time being we should reserve judgment and support this initiative.
Link: WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: Ecomagination: Inside GE's Power Play.
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