The hardships in cultivating green businesses
The latest book (Variaties of Green Business: Industries, Nations and Time) by author Geoffrey Jones covers the topic of green businesses. Jones was interviewed by Dina Gerdeman, trying to answer the central of question: why it is so difficult to cultivate profitable green businesses?
In the interview Jones outlines the hardships in cultivating a green business, yet he encourages innovators to take on the challenge due to the results it may have on the environment. According to Jones the difficulty here lies in the fact that sustainability costs money and the turnover for companies are not immediate but more long-term. In addition, the challenge is to market green products to the general public, as there is a lot of confusion regarding what is green and what is not. He adds to this by explaining it is extremely challenging to change the public opinion into thinking more sustainable. Nonetheless he remains hopeful for the future, due to noticing an increase in consumers being willing to pay more to ‘go green’ over the years.
For the full interview click here.
Harvard Business School, Working Knowledge, 2019