Measuring Success and Sustainability at Millipore - Assignment Example

The paper “Measuring Success and Sustainability at Millipore" is a perfect example of an assignment on business. The measurement of achievement in the sustainability initiative at Millipore should be founded on how best the company achieves both its business and environmental sustainability objectives and goals. Success in the sustainability initiative should be measured by how much the company practically addresses issues of climate change (Wilkinson & Mangalagiu, 2014). The objective of the enterprise to reduce the effects of their products and packaging, production waste and water and energy should be measured for actual progress to ascertain success. Success in another dimension should be evaluated on how much the concept of sustainability at Millipore engages all employees based on its acceptability. When few individuals in the company commit their efforts to sustainability with little engagement, the success of the initiative cannot be measured adequately due to high risks of failure in the end. Therefore, success should be measured by how well the employees commit themselves to the sustainability initiative. Upon the attainment of success, the company should obtain a competitive advantage and improve its profitability. The business goals of profitability and competitive advantage should be measured for success. While the company perceives the aggressive targets as the parameters of measuring success, David Newman takes a slightly different view. For him, success should be based on absolute double-digit goals.

Q2. Moving past the selection of low-hanging fruit projects
Millipore can move past the choice of low-hanging fruit projects into advanced opportunities for the sustainability initiative by properly integrating the sustainability initiative into the business strategy. That can be achieved by taking a step back to make a consideration of more measured approaches to choosing what projects the company would undertake and when (Wilkinson & Mangalagiu, 2014). However, such projects that have the potential for advanced opportunities would be a little bit more difficult given that some may have a negative Net Present Value. Significant investments and time are required in unraveling such opportunities.

Q3. Pros and Cons of Purchasing Carbon Offsets in meeting the GHG reduction objectives
The major advantage of carbon offsets in reducing GHG emissions is that they are relatively less expensive than reducing one’s emissions. However, carbon offsets are deemed controversial for several reasons. A project that includes the offsets cannot be pursued without the carbon-offset component. Additionality is difficult to prove (Wilkinson & Mangalagiu, 2014). Many pieces of research have revealed that many offset projects do not incrementally reduce GHG emissions. Given the sustainability objective of reducing GHG emissions and the availability of low-cost carbon offsets, the company should purchase the Carbon offsets as part of its strategy to reducing their GHG emissions.

Q4. Recommended Changes to the Chairman, CEO, and President of Millipore
To improve the effectiveness of the sustainability initiative at Millipore, Martin Madaus should consider changing the approach to strategy implementation in the company (Wilkinson & Mangalagiu, 2014). The number of employees involved compared to the number of projects undertaken by the company globally is wanting. There are only a few employees at Millipore that have committed their efforts to see the initiative become a success. The effectiveness of the action would require the willingness and commitment of every individual at Millipore. Therefore, Madaus should change the action from being a departmental affair into a whole company issue that brings everyone on board.