Centres Of Excellence

To focus on new and emerging areas of research and education, Centres of Excellence have been established within the Institute. These ‘virtual' centres draw on resources from its stakeholders, and interact with them to enhance core competencies

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Faculty

Faculty members at IIMB generate knowledge through cutting-edge research in all functional areas of management that would benefit public and private sector companies, and government and society in general.

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IIMB Management Review

Journal of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

IIM Bangalore offers Degree-Granting Programmes, a Diploma Programme, Certificate Programmes and Executive Education Programmes and specialised courses in areas such as entrepreneurship and public policy.

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About IIMB

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) believes in building leaders through holistic, transformative and innovative education

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From Compliance to Competitive Advantage

Volume 15, Number 3 Article by Aparna Sawhney, P D Jose September, 2003

The Greening of Business Strategy: From Compliance to Competitive Advantage :

Firms today have realised that it can pay to be green, that environmentally pro-active policies and solutions can keep them ahead of their competitors. How do their competitive advantages arise? Environmental management may influence a company’s performance in three ways: on the cost side, the revenue side or through the creation and/or strengthening of competitive advantages.

Programmes by companies such as Dow and 3M show how costs can be reduced through improved resource and energy utilisation, recycling and rationalisation of inputs and processes, reduced operating costs and down times, smaller insurance premiums and reduced potential for liabilities and damage claims. Product and market opportunities may be gained through enhanced brand equity, increased margins through differentiation, increased market share or through the creation of new markets. Indian companies that have discovered the advantages of this approach include Casino with its chain of eco-friendly hotels; Excel, which converts municipal waste into organic fertiliser; Natura, involved in the manufacture of wood substitutes from agricultural residues; and the Maini Group with the Reva electric car. Companies can also go beyond compliance in creating newer competitive advantages as Dupont did when it took the lead in phasing out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) much before other manufacturers, thus obtaining a head start in the search for alternatives to CFCs. Many firms are also innovating by reconceptualising their products and services, such as Interface, the US company that designed compostable and recyclable carpets, which were leased rather than sold to customers.

An eco-friendly approach may also contribute indirectly to the firm’s bottom line through its impact on intangibles such as reputation. The way cell phone companies have handled the problem of coltan mining for cell phone capacitors in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in Congo, home to the world’s last surviving Gruer gorilla population, shows that environmental problems too can be transformed into market opportunities.

Reprint No 03308