Sustainable Development & Innovation Management

Today we talked about technology's role in aiding countries toward sustainable development and how countries/societies manage the use to technology to achieve their purposes. Sustainable development is development in which we maximise the use of resources to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the options and resources available of our future generation. As observed, there is currently a phenomenal shift from a ''Linear" mindset, in which we are only concerned about turning raw materials into end products, to a "Cyclical" mindset, in which we now internalise the externalities, fully access the impact of industrial activities on all aspects of society and work towards more sustainable methods. Interestingly, where the area of development is concerned, we discover that there is an "advantge in backwardness".  Countries/companies that lag behind their counterparts have the advantage of not having to go through the pain of inventing, experimenting and validating the use of a certain technology. All they have to do is simply take it and build on the technology to their benefit. This is then illustrated by the different generations of Asian '' Tigers''.  For innovation management, we covered the issue of how failure is an inevitable fact of innovation, and how taking this risk is the only way companies or governments can successfully translate "cloud'' opportunities to ''summit'' opportunities. Failure is also the only way in which companies learn from their mistakes and improve themselves. In order for them to be at the forefront of the technological race, it is a necessity, not a choice, that these people constantly re-invent and further develop their products or new products.

Our current age is one where capitalism permeates every corner of society. It is the basis on which a business organisation is built upon. And since we are talking about sustainable development in our current age, what  then is the relationship between capitalism and sustainable development? Capitalism is an economic system that rotates around the idea of individual rights. Where business is concerned, this translates to mean that the production of goods is privately owned and owners (usually a minoruty of the population) of these organisations have the right to operate them in a way that maximises their profits. The government has no say in decisions regarding the business organisations such as supply, prices or demand. Under this system,  there is the capitalist and working class. Profit is gained by the capitalist class because they can make more money selling what the working class produces than what they cost in the labour market. Today, we see that capitalism is convicting itself, not so much because of the financial crisis, but because it is polluting and depleting natural resources in its insane pursuit of profits. As a result, we see many NGOs and people condemning the Corporation as they come under increasing international scrutiny.

Today, we see a change in the mindset of the capitalist as seen in how many business organisations have now embarked on a corporate social responsibility crusade of sorts. Additionally, we see a shift in power from the government to the Corporation. The days of companies "privatizing the profits" and governments "socializing the losses" are now gone. These organisations realise that the only way it can save itself is by respecting nature's limits. Increasingly, companies no longer see nature as a pure investment opportunity and have come to realise that a healthy environment forms the bedrock for a healthy economy. The fundamental question facing capitalism now is how it can reform itself in a world experiencing both ecological and economic stress. The answer to that lies in the effort Corporations put into sustainable development. In fact, as the Corporation begins taking a more humane stance, we observe that there could be many benefits associated with the transfer of power from the government to the private sector. Firstly, CSR makes sense especially to larger firms because arguably they, they have the necessary resources and connections to the market to ensure that CSR gets carried through to the end. In some countries, the corporations are even larger then the countries themselves! There is a lot of red tape and bureaucracy for the government and thus, they may not be as efficient in carrying out environmental activites as the private sector. Secondly, as consumers become more environmentally aware, they would want to choose products that are environmentally friendly or that the product that they would be paying for would go to a good cause. Corporations acknowledge this and know that they can also use CSR to get brownie points from consumers and boost their reputation. There is thus a lot of incentive for the Corporation to engage in CSR.

However, ultimately capitalism is still profit-driven. I think the only true way we can marry the two realms of capitalism and sustainable development is to change people's consumption behaviour because it is the people, the customers of these corporations, who affect the way these companies do their businesses. As we established during class, innovation should be market-driven and in order to completely change companies' perspective on meeting environmental needs and make sustainable development to be achievable, we should first and foremost change our consumption behaviour and create an even BIGGER demand for green products. We, as individuals, have to take responsibility and live within nature's biocapacity before the "system" can adjust and adapt, thereby fulfilling the cycle of  sustainable development. 

Key Takeways:

1. Change can present dangers to some while opportunities to others. It is a double-edged sword.
2. Globalisation can lead to innovation. This because as you open up the country, you are exposed to a variety of ideas and opinions. Competition also increases with globalisation. This provides a lauchpad for innovation. Conversely, innovation can lead to globalisation as seen in the use of telecommunications and modern transport system to facilitate the movement of goods, people and ideas across geographical boundaries.

Overall rating: 6/10 ( the lesson was a bit too fast today)