September 22, 2010

Let’s imagine two business leaders, both entrepreneurs, both looking to create an environmentally friendly and efficiently produced sunscreen.

Entrepreneur One is a green purist. Inspired to start a business after failing to find effective non-toxic sunscreens for her first baby, and she decided to create the healthiest, most environmentally friendly sunscreen in the marketplace. She has done a comprehensive analysis of how to how to reduce environmental impact across all stages of the lifecycle, and impacts beyond just carbon emissions. She realizes the product manufacturing will be more expensive, so she is looking to distribute her product through Web sales, word-of- mouth and eventually specialty retail stores that cater to a hyper-aware, green consumer parent.

Now imagine Entrepreneur Two, a self-admitted and proud green opportunist. A serial entrepreneur who has successfully supplied products to Walmart and other big box retailers, Entrepreneur Two was inspired by the Walmart Sustainability Index effort. The first phase of Walmart’s effort focused on their suppliers, providing a set of questions and conversations with current and future vendors to suggest a preference environmentally efficient products. Entrepreneur Two is convinced of the market potential for a “clean sunscreen,” and is working furiously to create a cost-effective solution that might compromise with a few ingredients to achieve the right price for the business model. She is looking for her environmental gains to help her sell her product and get a distribution deal with Walmart, and then plans to dominate the category of sunscreens at the mass-market level.

These two stories post other questions for those starting business with a sense of purpose and opportunity. Do original intentions matter to you, as an entrepreneur or as a consumer?  Do you think consumers care about the individuals and ideals behind a brand? If you were purchasing sunscreen for your baby, which product would you buy?

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Join the conversation ( 12 )

• Wendy Kelly 1 year 8 months and 5 days ago

  

  We were just having this discussion regarding development and what, really is green. Mike Chino's comment reminded me that we can sometimes get too caught up in our reputation as "green" or not green and forget about character (if that's not too much of a stretch). A small building envelope, using local labor & products and insulating well might make a bigger impact than making sure you've got the latest (and trendiest) green products in your home.It seems, sometimes, that green purists are sometimes so caught up in appearing green at all costs that they can't see the forest for the trees (so to speak). The green opportunist may also miss the mark, by intentionally tugging at consumer heart strings without actually caring whether their product is environmentally sound or not.

• Callie Williams 1 year 8 months and 6 days ago

  

  I agree with Marc Chino. What a voice of reason there. I'd like to add some insights from a frustrated consumer. One phrase that stands out from the article is this one "a cost-effective solution that might compromise with a few ingredients". Time and time again I have looked for a product (for instance sunscreen) only to be thwarted by one ingredient. I think that producer 'A' is going to be the one to create a product that's good for everybody. There's little room for compromise.

• Jennifer van der Meer 1 year 8 months and 9 days ago

  

  Thanks all for your comments - it so interesting to see a bit of a debate, and I agree that transparency is perhaps more important than intentions when it comes to environmental impact.

• Marty McDonald 1 year 8 months and 9 days ago

  

  I've seen both, and, all things equal, the "green purist"'s sixth sense will win the day.

• Jasmin Malik Chua 1 year 8 months and 10 days ago

  

  Whatever the brand's intentions, I think that transparency to one's customers is the most critical factor.

• Ariel Schwartz 1 year 8 months and 10 days ago

  

  I have to agree with Wise Bread. Intentions are nice, but I'm more concerned about the end product. If someone makes a fantastic green product because of market potential, more power to them.

• Andrew Michler 1 year 8 months and 10 days ago

  

  I am with Mike on this one- certification does not drive innovation. A deep seated desire to make a concerted improvement in your sector drives an industry does. Look at Interface carpets and how they almost single handedly changed the entire floor covering industry without resorting to a generalized standard.

• Thursday Bram 1 year 8 months and 10 days ago

  

  To be perfectly honest, I don't think that intentions matter all that much when you're strolling down the aisles at Walmart or at another store. The fact of the matter is that while most of us will read labels and feel better about buying a green product, we really won't dig much deeper than that. We won't wonder about what inspired the creation of a particular product when we're putting it in our shopping carts.

• Mike Chino 1 year 8 months and 10 days ago

  

  I'd like to think that the overarching success of a green brand considers ends beyond the economic. All too often projects focus on details and criteria for meeting various certification systems as selling points without considering the context and far-reaching implications of the products they are producing - for instance it's possible for a building to be poorly sited and detrimental to its environment yet still be LEED certified (look at all those LEED mega hotels in Las Vegas).This involves consumer decisions as well - it's possible for a product to meet Walmart's Sustainability Index but still be purchased by a consumer who doesn't really need the product, resulting in wasted resources. We need to cultivate better consumer consciousness rather than slapping certification labels on products and pushing "green" hype through marking techniques.

• Diane Pham 1 year 8 months and 10 days ago

  

  i agree with yuka's comment above re conversion. i also think in today's society, large scale impact comes at the mainstream (ie big box) level, and if the idea is to get green products to go big, we shouldn't be so hung up on initial intentions if, in the end, the payout is a product with wide-reaching benefits accessible to many.

• Rebecca Paul 1 year 8 months and 10 days ago

  

  I think that every entrepreneur needs to make informed decisions to shape a successful business, and that includes decisions about how one will produce, distribute and market their products in a way that will lead to a profitable venture. The business that will succeed the most will be Entrepreneur three - someone who figures out how to find the correct balance between the two stories outlined in this post.

• Yuka Yoneda 1 year 8 months and 10 days ago

  

  I think intentions should matter but the green opportunist can certainly be just as successful and may even be converted into the green purist by his/her experience.