The Collaboration Economy: How to Meet Business, Social, and Environmental Needs and Gain Competitive Advantage

197 Pages·2013·1.29 MB·English

by  Eric Lowitt

Table of Contents
More Praise for The Collaboration Economy
Title page
Copyright page
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Why This Book, and Why Now?
Why You Should Read This Book
The Collaboration Economy’s Structure
Call to Action
Part One: Welcome to the Collaboration Economy
1: The Collaboration Economy: Prosperity and Social Dimensions
Aligned
Welcome to the Collaboration Economy
How the Collaboration Economy Is Coming to Life
Orchestrators as Landmark Leaders
The Collaboration Economy Framework
What Will the Collaboration Economy Look Like?
Part Two: Bringing the Collaboration Economy to Life
and Scale
2: Renewing the Global Energy Sector
The Global Energy Debate’s Three Great Tensions
Power Sources
Energy Infrastructure
GE as Orchestrator of a Global Energy System Solution
Call to Action
3: Turning Packaging Materials into Capital
The Current U.S. Recycling System Is Not Sufficient
Bottle Bills and Packaging Recycling—Why Do We
Need a New Solution?
Collaboration and the Elements Needed to Turn Waste
into Resource
Extended Producer Responsibility
EPR Adoption
Leadership Needed: Nestlé Waters North America Builds
an EPR Coalition
Lessons NWNA Has Learned Along the Way
Call to Action
4: Renewing the Global Food System
Our Stressed Global Food System
Achieving Global Food Security
Unilever Changes Its Business Model
Incentives for Farmers
Example of the USLP in Action
Internal Unilever Changes
Challenges to Unilever’s Approach
Call to Action
5: Responsibility as Profitability: Toward Responsible Shipbreaking
Overview of the Maritime Shipping Industry
The Current Model of Ship Dismantling
Toward a New and Responsible Method of Ship
Recycling
Bringing the Responsible Ship Recycling System to Life
Call to Action
6: Renewing Consumerism
Gatekeepers, Prosperity, and Sustainable Development
The Lease Society
Call to Action
7: Connecting the Water Drops
Our Current Water System
What Is Stressing Water?
Toward a Solution That De-Stresses Water
Coca-Cola: Water Stewardship Is Business Strategy
Partnerships Are Essential
Replicable Lessons Learned and Capabilities Developed
Challenges to Coca-Cola’s Water De-Stressing Efforts
Call to Action
Part Three: Putting It All Together to Move Forward
8: Becoming a Collaborative Leader
The Essential Skills and Traits of Leaders Operating in
the Collaboration Economy
Call to Action
9: Winning in the Collaboration Economy
Corporate Strategy
Corporate Culture
Alterations to Operations
Call to Action
10: Where Do We Go from Here?
One U.S. Regulatory Change to Kick-Start Our
Prosperity Engine
The Collaboration Economy Can Enable Solutions to
Other Vexing Issues
Help Wanted: Further Collaboration Economy Thinking
Is Needed
About the Author
Index
More Praise for The Collaboration Economy
“When it comes to solving complex environmental and social challenges,
cross-sector collaboration clears a path forward. The Collaboration
Economy shows how to nurture cross-sector collaboration for the benefit of
the public, private, and civil sectors.”
—Tim Brown, president and chief executive officer, Nestlé Waters North
America
“Eric Lowitt is highlighting one of the most important human behaviors for
our beneficial common future: collaboration. In my experience, working
with some of the largest companies and governments in the world, this
sphere of activity is time and again proven to be the best and fastest path
toward clarity of purpose, effective paths for integrated innovation, and
sustainable growth: three things that we need to assure a positive, abundant
future for all. It’s about taking forever; and it’s about taking us all together
—that’s the point.”
—William McDonough, chairman, McDonough Advisors
“A very timely and relevant book! Eric Lowitt shows in an eloquent manner
—with numerous excellent examples—how saving the world can be good
business for all. I hope this book encourages all stakeholders to check their
old assumptions and to experiment new collaborative business models for a
better world.”
—Mikko Kosonen, chairman, SITRA, Finland’s Innovation Fund
“The Collaboration Economy provides original thinking on a vitally
important question: How best to create cooperation in a world that badly
needs it. Today, we face a shortage of both effective global leadership and a
shared sense of urgency to address a lengthening list of problems without
borders. Eric Lowitt offers valuable ideas on how business, government,
and civil society can work together to pursue their individual interests
toward a common goal.”
—Ian Bremmer, president, Eurasia Group

Jacket design: Adrian Morgan
Cover art: Shutterstock ( )
RF
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lowitt, Eric, 1972–
The collaboration economy : how to meet business, social, and environmental
needs and gain competitive advantage / Eric Lowitt.—first edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-53834-0 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-118-57332-7 (ebk.)
ISBN 978-1-118-57335-8 (ebk.)
ISBN 978-1-118-57336-5 (ebk.)
1. Competition. 2. Consumption (Economics)
3. Sustainable development. I. Title.
HF1414.L69 2013
658'.046—dc23
2013002430
Preface
It has been an eventful time for me since the publication of The Future of Value,
my previous book, in fall 2011. I have given numerous talks on the subject of
sustainability and competitive strategy at conferences, corporate events, and
universities both in the United States and abroad.
Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of holding conversations with many
leaders from the private, public, and civil sectors. These conversations inevitably
led to the question, “Will we make it?” Will we collectively change our path,
invest in urban infrastructure, alter our behaviors, and set the world on a
sustainable course? My answer was always the same: “Yes. I believe in the
human spirit’s desire to survive and outpace the logic of Malthusian economics.”
But a vague concern began to gnaw at me. For a long time, sustainability
consultants, including me, counseled our corporate clients to focus on getting
their houses in order. Focus on what you can control. Lower your energy, water,
and materials consumption. Reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. Sure, we’d
provide stakeholder engagement advice, but usually along the lines of “listen to
what the NGOs have to say about your business activities.”
Over time, my vague concern began to take shape. Am I giving my clients
incomplete or, worse yet, bad advice by having them focus on getting their house
in order? Would this goal, if accomplished by every company worldwide, enable
the world to achieve a state of sustainable development? My answer was no.
This realization led to another question: What would enable the world to
achieve a state of sustainable development?
For some reason, I then recalled an experience from my college days. I
studied in Japan and lived with a host family near Osaka. A neighbor was a
senior executive at a big Japanese trading company. One day, this neighbor
invited me for dinner. He wanted to help me understand his business philosophy.
At the time, the Japanese economy was running like a well-oiled machine. He
was excited about the prospect of imparting wisdom to an American. So he
placed two dominoes face down on his kitchen table.
“How many dominoes are on the table?” he asked me.
“Two,” I said without hesitation, curious to know what I was missing.
“No, try again” he replied.