Partners
What is Sustainable Procurement?
Sustainable Construction Conference
Guidebook
Contacts
Pocket File
Case Studies
Home
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
||
(from the Executive Summary to “Delivering resource productivity: the service solution” Jennie Oldham, Peter James and Ben Shaw (2003) Delivering Resource Productivity: the Service Solution Green Alliance, October 2003 see. www.green-alliance.org.uk
“There is an urgent need to reduce the environmental impact of economic activity, as the environmental impacts of resource use, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and air pollution increase. We need to achieve more in economic terms, with less environmental impact – in other words, improving the ‘resource productivity’ of the economy. But what does a resource-efficient economy look like? The key is to ‘decouple’ economic growth from environmental impact. This report examines one potential approach to improving the resource productivity of the UK - a new strategic business model, where companies shift from selling products to selling services.
Traditionally, business profits are tied to increased product sales. If suppliers instead supply a service, rather than a product, alternative opportunities for profit are created. For example, a company could shift from selling barrels of chemicals, to selling the service the chemical is used for, such as cleaning or degreasing. An energy supplier could shift from selling energy to providing a warm home service. The approach is based on aligning the incentives of customer and supplier. Both should gain from cost reductions derived from improved resource efficiency. It also enables a strategic approach. Through a service model, it is possible to look at the whole system of product use, to see where efficiency gains can be made.
Services are not necessarily more sustainable than products, but if carefully designed, service offerings can result in significant environmental benefits, such as reduced resource use, waste production and emissions. Clear economic benefits can also be seen. For the supplier, these include improved customer relationships, added-value services, and the opportunity to attract new customers. The customer can benefit from outsourcing of non-core activities, integrated supply chain management and reduced costs
| Close Window >> |
|
