Big Companies Can Make a Difference Too

It’s difficult for me to tolerate “Better than thou” environmentalists. You probably know one. Those are the people who are such a friend to the environment in their own lives, they make you feel bad for taking smaller but impactful steps to help the environment in your own.

So I was surprised this week when business professionals echoed some of the sentiments of such hard-core environmentalists. I recently attended a webinar about developing a green strategy geared to small or medium sized businesses. Representatives of a sustainable consulting firm, Via Nova Group, made great points and gave some valid information for their listeners. For example, they told the audience that a green strategy isn’t a good strategy unless it saves you money. Great advice. Then, they mentioned how consumers consider other factors in a purchase decision before they think of the environment. Factors like price or convenience often drive purchase decisions before environmental concerns would for many consumers. Very true, and a fact many businesses overlook.

However, just minutes later these same people complained about “a large maker of cleaning products who recently launched a green line but that makes up only 2% of its business.” The company that came to my mind was Clorox with their recent launch of Green Works, a line of natural cleaning products. I get where the speakers from Via Nova Group were going with this. The webinar was directed toward small or medium size businesses, showing them how they can be green even though they aren’t “one of the big guys.” However, to me it seems counter-productive for those in the environmental movement to discourage any company from trying to be more environmentally friendly.

True, Clorox’s Green Works may only be a small part of its product mix, but at least it is part of the mix. A company like Clorox has responsibility to its shareholders. Just like the speakers advised the small companies not to pursue green strategies that don’t make financial sense, Clorox can’t today stop selling traditional chemical cleaning products. If they did so they would not be meeting their responsibilities to their many stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, and consumers who use their products. What they can do and are doing is creating viable alternatives.

I would argue that Clorox is probably doing a lot of good by using their scale and existing relationships with consumers to grow a market for natural cleaning supplies that is today very small.

• Clorox can use their scale to distribute their natural line in quantities smaller companies may not be achieve, allowing them to supply large retailers. I've seen Green Works sold in retailers like Wal-mart and Target, who require large volumes and guarantees against stock-outs. As a company accustomed to meeting such demands, Clorox is positioned to reach more households.

• In this economy many families are struggling to make ends meet. Clorox can leverage economies of scale to sell Green Works at competitive prices. As a result, families who can’t afford more expensive natural cleaning lines might find Green Works to be in their price range.

• Consumers across the country know and trust the Clorox brand. Clorox's creation of natural products might encourage people to try them who might not experiment with such products from companies they are not familiar with.
  

Clorox is probably growing the entire market for natural products, and isn’t that what we want? It’s OK for businesses big and small to not turn green overnight. It’s better to start small, than to not start at all. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Let’s not discourage any organization from pursuing strategies that are more environmentally friendly.