15th World Business Dialogue

15th World Business Dialogue.
My experience,

During March 14^th - 15^th, 2012 I had the opportunity to participate in the 15th WBD through the University of Cologne in Germany. There were 300 students from more than 60 different countries with different ideas and points of view. The main topic of the conference was Global Consumption. I want to congratulate all students that made the event possible and as efficient as they could make it be. Thanks also to the speakers for taking the time from their busy schedule to come and express their knowledge. Between them: Suhas Gopinath, CEO of Globals Inc, Fernando Burgos, Vice President New Business and Innovation of Telefonica Germany Gmbh, Dr. Rudiger Grube, CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG, Ferdinando Becalli-Falco, CEO General Electric Europa and North Asia, Michael Schmidt, Member of the Executive Board and Vice President HR Europe SE of BP Europe SE, Prof. Kenneth P. Morse, Founder of MIT Entrepreneurship Center, Bernhard Mattes, Vice President Ford Costumer Service Division of Ford Europe, Yasunori Nakagami, President of Asuka Corporate Advisory, Dr. Robert Gutsche, Member of the Executive Board of KPMG AG, Dr. Auma Obama, Global Technical Advisor of CARE International, Bernd Kolb, Founder of Club Marakkesh, Valentin Thurn, Director of “Taste the Waste”, Dr. Richard Pott, Member of Executive Board of Bayer AG, and more.

Dr. Auma Obama, me, and Nelson Young

Population is increasing as well as its needs. When consumption increases bilaterally the pollution also increases damaging our Earth. A change has to occur immediately. But, who is responsible for it? States? Companies? Individuals? Moreover who is the one who will make the change happen? Well, there is no point to make someone responsible for it, the damage is already done. However, we (individuals) are the ones responsible to make that change happen. I will explain that point with a specific experience I had at the WBD.

David Akinin, yo, and Leon Franco Venezuela

In one of the panels the speakers were explaining how transparent companies should have a mission statement and consumption. I had the opportunity to ask a question in the session (something that was hard considering how many delegates raised their hands). I brought to the session an example of Nike.  Nike hires kids in China to work in their manufacturers with bad conditions, and at the same time the corporation is spending huge amounts of money to preserve Patagonia. So where is the transparency there? The panelists started to discuss, trying to find an answer for it. But, one of them concluded that if I am concerned about it I should not buy Nike products anymore. So I as an individual will be the change maker. Moreover I will tell everyone around me what’s going on with Nike and convince them to stop buying that brand of shoes.  When Nike sees a significant decrease in their accounts they consequently will change their business model.

I want to highlight that because of my professor Dr. Fredrik Palumbo who teaches Global Business Environment in SYMS School of Business at Yeshiva University, he is the reason that I knew about that specific case.  In class we used a book called Taking Sides it discusses current business issues that are globally occurring; one of the discussions was Nike’s business model and policy.

Coming back to who will make the change in order to pursue a better world, the answer is individuals with the paper of consumers, in other words, us. If you are truly concerned that extraction of oil and secondary oil products processes such as plastic products are damaging the Earth, so try to use less and less. Use public transportation, carpools, recycle, turn off the lights when you don’t use them and don’t use plastic utensils.  Us individuals have the power to change companies’ business models. For example, the multinational oil extractor BP is investing in alternative energies because the consumers are demanding it step by step, and they want to be prepared for the change.  Others claim to use more efficient energy sources.

Me with Bernhard Mattes, Vice President Ford

Another topic that came to highlight was a video that shows the exactly amount of food wasted in the US that could feed Africa. Think about it, how much food is innocently wasted in your life, including that half pack of sugar that you didn’t put in the coffee or the middle part of the apple that you don’t eat, or the crust of a pizza that people usually leave. How many people could you feed?  Also, think about how many carrots where discarded because they grew with extra legs. All the carrots that you find in the supermarkets are the same each other, because there is a percentage that wasn’t the same and therefore wasn’t qualified to be in the racks. Here is the link of the video: http://www.tastethewaste.com/info/film

Other topic of discussion was the incredible fast growth of India. One of the Indian inventions that impacts me is a small fridge that uses I think batteries, easy to transport, and very cheap (less than US$ 2). Since a significant amount of the Indian population doesn’t have economic sources, that fridge is maybe the only way that people could preserve their food. India’s economy is growing more and more. Multinational companies are investing there expecting consumption to grow.

As you see, we had excellent panelists and discussions.  I encourage you to apply next year and be part of that enrichment experience.  WBD is a place to change concerns, ideas, network… dialogue.

Articles related:
Spanish: http://www.nmidigital.com/secciones.php?id=3&top_id=11503&s=10
English: http://blogs.yu.edu/news/2012/04/24/a-global-network/