Innovation Comes in Many Forms

Innovation comes in all different forms, and there is more than one way to boost profits in organizations.

Layoffs are not the only way to improve the bottom line when times get tough. Often asking the right questions can uncover new revenue sources in areas that previously had only been seen as a source of costs.

There is an article in Fast Company about ways that companies are greening themselves. I highly recommend that every entrepreneur and manager read it. It's not a hippie and granola, look at us aren't we great type of article but instead highlights loads of different ways that organizations are becoming green. This article highlights lots of different ways that organizations are improving their bottom lines, while greening themselves at the same time.

There are many reasons why trying to make your organization more environmentally responsible has the potential to improve the bottom line:

1. It focuses the organization on identifying and eliminating waste
   
2. Creating new directions for the waste your organization produces:
   
   • Are our waste products of value to someone?
     
   • Can we recycle or otherwise use our waste products for something useful?
3. Could we produce our products closer to our customers?
   
4. Could we source our inputs closer to our factories?
   
5. Could we change how we package our product to reduce the amount of raw materials needed?
   
6. Could we somehow distribute our products in reusable containers?

Finally, there is no escaping the fact that becoming more environmentally responsible as an organization will either gain you additional sales now or prevent you from losing sales in the future. as the standards of government and corporate procurement departments begin to shift towards purchasing from more environmentally responsible vendors.

So, what does your organization have to gain from trying to identify areas of environmental opportunity?