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Over the course of the year, I’ve had many interesting and enlightening discussions with experts and industry leaders on the challenges of going green and what it meant for their companies. Is simply telling customers that your products are green really going to improve business or is everyone just following the trend, without actually knowing the reasons behind environmental legislation, and who stands to gain from what? Recently, Frost & Sullivan conducted its inaugural Going Green survey to evaluate senior managers’ perceptions of and current/future initiatives toward environmental/sustainable issues within the organization. And the results that came back point to two main motivations behind going green: moral obligation or growth/profit opportunity. Without breaking down the statistics, the majority of respondents seem to have polarizing views of good versus greed (or less controversially, profit gains). However, if one looks beyond driving factors such as gaining competitive advantage, growth opportunity or just plain corporate responsibility, the end result in going green remains the same and this, I believe, is all that matters. Regardless of the motives behind the actions, in the end, we are talking about less carbon emissions and higher energy conservation. Now, tell me if that is not a good thing for us all? This brings me back to my earlier questions: Does going green actually improve one’s business? If that motivates companies to champion and invest in green ventures, wonderful! Are companies going green because they are afraid of losing competitive advantage? Again, if that is the case, great! Why question the “hidden agenda” behind all these environmental legislations, if there are any at all, when the end result gets everyone working towards the common goal of breaking down greenhouse emissions, reducing global warming and saving Mother Nature from potential devastation. I must admit that initially, I was a skeptic myself and alluded to the fact that “green marketing,” as I termed it, was just another weapon in the arsenal of large corporations to gain competitive advantage and achieve higher profits. But throughout the course of the year, and from listening to differing viewpoints, I’ve come to realize that over-analyzing this issue, which can often lead to slow response or inaction, is something that we can’t afford. So what can I conclude about going green after engaging organizational leaders in the industry? For one, it does not matter what the motivation is and the time to act is now, before it’s too late. Yes, going green can be costly to manybut consider the greater cost of inaction. | 
