Can Going Green Improve Business Productivity?

Business Article I: Can going green improve business productivity?

This article provides a great example of the concept of "Green Marketing" A concept we discussed in class, it talks about how going green and by marketing the green concept, you can improve the overall state of your business. As the economy and the world are slowly changing the one thing that is becoming more and more evident is the growing concern of the environment. Specifically more and more businesses are trying to go green to help their personal and community impact. The article written by David Mielach specifically talks about what kind of concepts are being implemented in certain businesses and talks about how businesses' are doing better overall incorporating going green into them.. The numbers of green jobs are rising every year and more and more companies are now recognizing this factor as a new trend to stay relevant in our ever changing economy. According to the research done by Magali Delmas, "on average, employees at companies that observe eco-friendly practices were 16 percent more productive than average employees. The overall clean and efficient atmosphere of the work place encourages more efficiency. Therefore not only is the idea of the green movement good for the environment but it is good for your employees and the overall state of your business. These employees working in a green establishment are more motivated, receive more training and ultimately benefit from better interpersonal relationships. In Mielach's article he goes on to talk about how the study was conducted. Delmas who is an environmental economic at UCLA examined data from over 5,000 French companies. The researchers involved suggested that the boost in productivity from these companies are tied to employees seeing the green companies as a sign of positive work and doing something right and encouraged better cooperation and organization between the workers. Another important observation made by Delmas and his crew was that these green employees are viewed more favorably by investors because of its link to effective management and cost efficient practices.

I have always thought that this notion of belief about going green was in fact true and the research conducted in this study only proved it. I think the quote at the end of the article really sums it up perfectly "Green practices make a company more attractive because so many employees want to work for a company that is green, but we also argue in this paper that it's more than just wanting to work there -- it's working more." As we learned in class in 2030, 40 million green jobs will be created. This research is very encouraging news to go along with the growing number of green jobs. If you take what this research says, then that means that more jobs will mean more efficient production because employees are motivated to work for jobs that incorporate