Having read through the Fiji Water case, the term sustainable growth was thrown around quite a bit. To the keen observer, this is an obvious oxymoron, growth in inherently unsustainable. To put it simply, you cannot grow infinitely with finite resources. The very idea of growth is self-defeating and self-limiting. Fiji Water's devotion to this idea of sustainable growth shows how greenwashed the company truly is (aside from justifying its existence). So how do we grow, but be sustainable? The answer is simple: We don't.
If a company truly wants to be sustainable, it first has to move away from this idea of growth. So long as growth is the objective of a business, it will be forever unsustainable. Fortunately, alternative metrics exist, at least when it comes to macroeconomics, however implementing them would unfortunately require a major shift in cultural attitudes.
It is unfortunate to say the least, however, I believe that as marketers, it will be our jobs to reimagine the idea of business itself in the future. As Yvon Chouinard taught us in the last case, profit is possible, even without growth, and if we want to be sustainable, then scaling back on this idea of growth is where we must start.
Tom,
ReplyDeleteCompanies want to grow and cover the whole world but they forgot that just like in "The albatross" by Charles Beaudelaire their large wings prevent them for keeping going.