Ibm And And Environmental And Issue
Two days later in Cupertino, Al Gore attends the Apple shareholder meeting, and his meme follows him. Environmentally Sensitive Business. But, does Steve Jobs want environmental issues brought up in his shareholder’s meeting.
February 25, 2010 12:40 PM PST
Al Gore a lightning rod at Apple shareholder meeting
by Erica Ogg
CUPERTINO, Calif.--The presence of one of the world's pre-eminent environmentalists at Apple's shareholder meeting Thursday was the subject of much of the morning's pointed discussion.
As expected, Apple's attitude on environmental and sustainability issues was one of the main concerns of the stockholders present Thursday, followed closely by the company's immense pile of cash. But early harsh comments about former Vice President Al Gore's record set the tone.
Gore was seated in the first row, along with his six fellow board members, in Apple's Town Hall auditorium as several stockholders took turns either bashing or praising his high-profile views on climate change.
At the first opportunity for audience participation just several minutes into the proceeding, a longtime and well-known Apple shareholder--some would say gadfly--who introduced himself as Sheldon, stood at the microphone and urged against Gore's re-election to the board. Gore "has become a laughingstock. The glaciers have not melted," Sheldon said, referring to Gore's views on global warming. "If his advice he gives to Apple is as faulty as his views on the environment then he doesn't need to be re-elected."
Another shareholder immediately got up to defend Gore and endorse his presence as an Apple director. And that wasn't the end of it. Two different proposals from shareholders were presented in regard to Apple's environmental impact. One was from the nonprofit As You Sow, which for the second straight year asked Apple to publicly commit to specific greenhouse gas reduction goals and publish a formal sustainability report; the second came from Herrington Investments, which proposed that Apple's board establish a sustainability committee, just like a compensation or personnel committee.
As You Sow's representative, Conrad MacKerron, praised Gore, but also challenged him on not doing more to encourage the company to set specific public commitments. Forest Hill, Herrington Investment's senior portfolio manager also addressed some of his comments directly to Gore, saying making board members responsible for Apple's envronmental impact "would make Apple a corporate leader."
This was not a serious enough issue to jeopardize Al Gore’s Board position.
Despite his apparently polarizing nature, Gore was re-elected with the rest of the slate in preliminary results.
BTW, at IBM’s Tivoli event every IBM employee had a Lenovo Thinkpad except the creative designers who had Macs. I know a few Apple employees would grin knowing even the creatives at IBM choose Apple Computers.
A new IBM (NYSE: IBM) consulting service is said to be able to help clients develop methods to collect, manage and analyze supplier information for energy use, environmental impact, quality, safety, cost, efficiency, and labor practices.
"A [company with a] global supply chain with thousands of partners exposes a company to increased risk, waste, inefficiency, environmental impact and cost," said Eric Riddleberger, IBM's business strategy consulting global leader, who heads up the company's corporate social responsibility consulting efforts. "Being able to set sustainability standards and measure performance against them across such a large network is an enormous task."
Supply chain inefficiencies and inconsistent practices can cause excessive use of energy, water and materials, increased environmental impact, variances in quality, product safety concerns and poor labor practices. These can lead to increased cost, compliance issues, and disenfranchising key stakeholders, such as customers, shareholders, partners, and current and prospective employees, who care about these issues.
IBM estimates that, by using new technologies and processes to collect and analyze large amounts of information from across a company's supplier networks, companies can then apply uniform standards, measure compliance and performance, and take corrective action thereby potentially improving supply chain efficiency by a minimum of 8 to 12%, with corresponding reductions in cost, environmental impact, and risk.
But most companies are not equipped to do that kind of data collection and analysis, either within their own operations or across their supply chains, according to IBM. In its 2009 global survey on green and sustainability, 29% of the respondents said they aren't collecting any of this data at all from their supply chains. Eight in 10 aren't collecting supplier data for CO2 emissions and water usage, and six in 10 aren't checking supplier data for labor standards.
With these responses in mind, IBM's Sustainable Supplier Information Management offering is designed to help companies develop processes and systems for:
- Part number management, to ease part and product traceability;
- Process change management, to improve response and reduce costs
associated with changing requirements;
- Supplier audit management, to ensure compliance on issues ranging
from cost and quality to business ethics and environmental practices;
- Qualification management, to vet new suppliers for performance and
sustainability standards;
- Supplier problem management, to ensure quick response when problems
arise;
- Real-time quality management, to reduce cost, improve quality and
ensure continuity of supply;
- Predictive quality management, using automated systems and virtual
supplier auditing to head off problems before they occur.
- The Sustainable Supplier Information Management offering can be used with IBM's Sustainable Procurement offering, which helps companies define cost, efficiency and sustainability measurements and goals for their procurement activities. This covers all supplies, materials, ingredients, components, finished goods and services they purchase to run their operations and to develop, manufacture and deliver their own products or services.
Also read from MBT:
- IBM aims new business intelligence offerings at the midmarket; and
- IBM delivers on RFID focus with global study; solutions rollouts.
- Edited by David Greenfield, Reed Business Information, and Mark T. Hoske, electronic products editor, Manufacturing Business Technology, www.mbtmag.com
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