Car ownership

The BRW November 22- December 8 reports that in March 2007 there were 14.8 million motor vehicles registered (an increase of 12.2 percent from 2003 to 2007).

This means that there is a car for every 1.4 people in Australia, or a car for every person aged 15-89. See Note.

In the current concerns about climate change, and the relationship of cars contributing to this environmental issue, what does this figure say about our continued reliance on motor vehicles?

Note: These figures were calculated using Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Demographic Statistics for the 2007 March quarter (Cat No. 3101.0)

Climate change

I was recently reading the October 2007 edition of the Harvard Business Review. Its key focus was climate change.

On page 23 Michael L Porter and Forest L Reinhardt say “A company needs to understand the emissions it causes its business partners to produce, as well as those it generate itself: Both types are important targets for reduction.”

For a while now, I have been an advocate of businesses improving their understanding of their relationships with their suppliers. So many businesses undertake customer/client and staff satisfaction research, but miss out on improving their understanding of their suppliers. As cash flow is one of the main ways that a small growing business can fall over, understanding and improving their relationships with suppliers is critical. If one of your key suppliers is changing their focus, producing in an environmentally damaging way or not aligned with your philosophy then these aspects could significantly impact your business through a change in quality, timeliness of delivery, service, or decreased customer/client satisfaction from an increased desire for environmentally sustainable suppliers themselves.

I suggest business leaders take an active stance on this by getting feedback from their suppliers either formally or informally. You can then assess whether they are the right supplier for you, and if they are, then you can use in your marketing that this is one of the selection criteria for you in selecting a supplier.