Reality Check: Going green

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
In my last column, we touched on how supply chain management increasingly is offering opportunities for companies to take a leadership position in environmental stewardship. These are also opportunities to improve business practices for better operational performance, customer preference and profitability. I’d like to mention a few specifics about what’s happening in our industry right now.
Clearly, the movement towards adopting environmentally sustainable materials and practices is gaining momentum and speed. For many companies, green is no longer “leading edge,” but simply “business as usual.” With major retailers like Wal-Mart assigning preferences based not only on a product’s physical composition but on its supply chain processes, any company that intends to survive at retail is at least thinking about greening its supply chain. Nevertheless, many companies have embraced the concept, but are not so sure how – or whether – they can translate it into viable business practices.
Some companies that have advanced further down the adoption curve have seen returns from their investments in green practices in the form of reduced costs associated with lower resource consumption, preference by retailers that track and value products based on their green rating and increased sales stimulated by consumer demand for green products. Although consumer electronics have long had a reputation that’s low on the eco-friendly scale, recently things have been changing. Wireless devices, in particular, are one area where these influences have come together, offering great promise for resource conservation.
Last year, the industry trade group Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), brought together a core group of members from its wireless division to form The Green Project. Members of this group are diverse in size, scope and focus, but we all share a commitment to resource conservation – not only because it’s the right thing to do, but in the short term, conservation improves our operational and financial performance. We believe it should directly impact our ability and cost to do business in the future. We’re working to promote eco-friendly business practices and sustainability initiatives among our peers; assemble innovators, thought leaders and practitioners to exchange and build upon green ideas; provide resources that help the industry shrink its carbon footprint; and advocate environmental responsibility to the public.
This initiative has developed a unique assessment tool for wireless companies, allowing them to evaluate, benchmark and improve green capabilities through their entire value chain and its supporting functions. The Green Project is also developing a shareable database of successfully implemented resource-conserving idea that can help companies generate and execute sustainability programs, and we’re identifying other ways we can both leverage and benefit the wireless ecosystem.
Personally, I am confident that beyond current Green initiatives, the industry will continue to search for ways to be the leader in Green. Given Brightstar’s role as a leader in the global wireless ecosystem, we look forward to collaborating with other companies to support green initiatives.
Marcelo Claure is the chairman, president and CEO of Brightstar Corp., a leading global services company providing innovative distribution and supply chain solutions to the wireless industry. Brightstar offers leading wireless and IT manufacturers the largest global reach, enabling the right product to be in the right place, at the right time. Brightstar’s supply chain solutions are used by the world’s top network operators and retailers to improve financial results, increase EBITDA and turn their supply chains into a competitive advantage. For more information on Brightstar, please visit www.brightstarcorp.com.