Green and Competitive

The advancement in technology has paved the way for the development in the operations of numerous industries especially for companies that produce electronics and supply energy from fossil fuels and other sources. The modes of operation of this kind of companies have indeed improved through the years and they are still pursuing on enhancing their products and services through various innovative decisions and actions that employ the use of technology. However, one of the most pressing predicament in the innovative regulations of most companies is the issue of environment degradation.
Many non-governmental organizations and other advocacy groups are condemning some of the ways of companies in developing their products as these tend to create various forms of pollutions that is detrimental to the environment. Being the case, several companies have launched major “green” initiatives and have included this in their business operations. This could be exemplified by the General Electric’s (GE) Ecomagination and BP’s new green logo and environment and society initiative.
GE’s ecomagination is “ a business initiative to help meet customer’s demand for cleaner and more energy-efficient products and to drive reliable growth for GE” (General Electric Company, 2009). This also reflects the commitment of the company to invest in a future that will address environmental challenges through innovative solutions while giving valuable products and services to customers, at the same generating profit for the company (General Electric Company, 2009).

The initiative of GE to address environmental problems through the ecomagination is a strategic step as they were able to think of a way by which they could lessen environmental pollutions while still gaining profit and a good reputation for the company because of it. This could be proven by the recent efforts of GE wherein they have the broadest portfolios of Smart Grid solutions that help governments and other people to become more energy-efficient.
Furthermore, GE is a founding member of the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) and they have also invested billion of dollars for their green campaign (General Electric Company, 2009). BP’s initiative for their green campaign involves managing the environmental impacts of the company’s operations by means of adhering to internal and external management systems and standards (BP, 2009). The green campaign of BP could not be clearly determined as to whether this step is strategic or merely a PR exercise of the company.
This could be attributed to the reason that the company is saying and publishing that they are improving their operations in order for it to become more environment friendly. However, as compared with GE, BP lacks the concrete actions and results in order to prove that there is indeed development in this campaign that they have launched. References BP. (2009). Environment and Society. Retrieved June 9, 2009, from http://www. bp. com/sectionbodycopy. do? categoryId=6931&contentId=7051661. General Electric Company. (2009). Ecomagination Fact Sheet. Retrieved June 9, 2009, from