Sustainable Systems
Many businesses in this day and age seek to demonstrate stewardship and resolve to do business within a guideline of corporate social responsibility. In this quest many have chosen to focus on greening their business often including both procurement and manufacture, seeking to reduce the effect of their business on the environment. The different systems approaches that an organization can utilize to demonstrate more effective environmental sustainability are almost as varied as the companies themselves. The utilization of pollution prevention programs depends almost entirely on what it is a company does and what wastes they challenge to control. Additionally companies seek to demonstrate their compliance utilizing various accounting tools that are often made public and become incorporated in their systems designs. These designs will incorporate procurement, logistics, on demand manufacture, i.e. lean manufacture and many other possible systems designs to both demonstrate cost savings and produce a more environmentally conscious business practice. Often along the way they also save money.
Logistics has often been overlooked as an area needing to be greened and in short companies seeking to become environmentally aware and act upon this awareness seem to be hitting a dead end, they reduce environmental impact in procuring supplies, producing products and then much of the work goes to waste when logistics enters the situation and is not environmentally conscious. (New, Green & Morton, 2000, p. 43) Green logistics according to the leading research organization on the current global state of green logistics, eyefor transport, logistics in many businesses applications accounts for 75% or more of the carbon footprint of any product. According to this organization the shift to looking at green logistics as not only responsible but essential to healthy business has occurred and many companies are currently and plan to in the future green their supply chain as so much of the footprint is located in this area and therefore the area of logistics...
(Green Logistics Forum "Download the Green Transportation & Logistics Global Report Now," 2007, NP)
Logistics itself is often a complicated issue that is fundamentally different for almost every different business size. Some businesses and their products warrant the use of company owned
transportation logistics, while others demand logistics contracting to another business that might be able to provide the service for a lesser price. With contract logistics in
place in many business structures, i.e. The transportation of materials and finished products is done by a company other than the
parent and eliminates the need of the company to incur the costs of transportation equipment that it might not keep busy. First of all any company who is using an outside business to solve logistics problems may already be responding to
environmental concerns, as just like the individual combining several trips into one most logistics professionals are seeking and often succeeding in doing the same thing. Remember all they have to think about is how to get items from one place to another, rather than the whole of the business from beginning to end. (New, Green & Morton, 2000, p. 47) This in and of itself is a lot to think about and creates a reasonable set of important skills to provide, where as with many companies providing their own services the issue is often departmental and secondary to the main decisions of the company. This can create a situation where the best green decisions are not made. Yet, it must also be said that paying lip service to just this aspect of logistics does not make a logistics company green and research is key to accepting the greenest possible contract provider. (New, Green & Morton, 2000, p. 48)
Environmental accounting considers both external (community) and internal (company/financial) considerations, unlike traditional accounting which generally only takes internal concerns into account. SC Johnson Wax, for example as a chemical producer must consider both external and internal environmental costs partly as a result of the fact that they must comply with laws and regulations in one of the most highly regulated industries that exists today. (Barrow, 2005, p. 26) Yet, previously the company had not provided accountancy for all of these…
