Dale Buss
Dale Buss is tagged in 15 stories.
Innovation & Technology /
William C. Ford II’s best decision as chairman of Ford Motor Co. was to bring in Alan Mulally as CEO in 2007 and watch the former Boeing manufacturing chief transform Ford from an also-ran into a global industry leader before he left last year.
But Ford Jr.’s “green” decision-making has been nearly as good. As CEO before Mulally’s tenure, and chairman before and until today, Ford has kept his company a leader in sustainability thinking and practice. He pushed Ford to produce some of the industry’s first hybrid-electric vehicles, for instance, and authorized a “living roof” on top of Ford’s original River Rouge Assembly complex in its hometown of Dearborn, Michigan.
- 9 years ago
Marketing & Communications /
Meijer was facing three compelling realities as it put together its recently released Simply Cook: Easy, Healthy Meals cookbook.First, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Midwestern grocery and discount chain in had committed its resources to help food pantries in its market areas and already was doing so in a major way.
- 9 years ago
Consumer Behavior Change /
Parents have known from time immemorial that fruits and vegetables are good for their children and that everyone should eat more of them. Now, they’re getting more help in their quest than ever before from the federal government, celebrities and Madison Avenue.
- 9 years ago
Consumer Behavior Change /
A draft of the official new U.S. recommendations for Americans’ diets is out, and for the first time the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has advocated for strong consideration of environmental sustainability in our consumption patterns. Not surprisingly, the “green” aspects of their recommendations are controversial.The committee’s guidance will weigh heavily in the final guidelines issued later this year, after public comment, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which will use them to guide spending on government food programs and to educate the American public on the latest thinking about nutrition.
- 9 years ago
Products and Design /
GoldieBlox, the startup behind “Engineering Toys for Girls” and star capital-raiser on Kickstarter, may have blazed a trail by marketing construction toys to girls. But it may be the venerable, and long-criticized, LEGO brand that finally has gotten it just right in terms of how to properly engage this largely overlooked segment of its audience.LEGO recently parried years of criticism with a new TV ad that focuses on the imaginative powers of play in young girls — a paean to the relationship that they can have with toys that traditionally haven’t been marketed to them, as dolls and costumes have — and a call for them to #KeepBuilding.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
Honda is counting on a new way to reach sustainability-minded car buyers: through “green” dealerships. A new “Green Dealer Guide” the company is releasing to its dealers today arguably puts Honda at the forefront of this trend, but it also follows on greater attention that automakers and their retailers are now paying to sustainability.Honda has publicly released the 93-page energy-efficiency roadmap that it developed specifically for dealerships and similar commercial buildings with high energy loads, and is urging dealers of all car brands to take its advice to heart.
- 9 years ago
Organizational Governance /
McDonald’s unprecedented corporate-transparency marketing campaign, “Our Food. Your questions,” is the fast food giant’s attempt to reduce the impact of one major aspect of its brand and operations — low prices and massive amounts of highly processed foods have led to questions about what exactly is in its food, whether it is all safe for human consumption and how integral various aspects of sustainability are to its supply chain.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
While the fast-food business in the United States remains sluggish and roiled, eco-conscious burrito chain Chipotle has experienced rapid and relatively smooth growth through the recession and, especially, since then: Same-store sales rose by 20 percent last quarter. But lately the chain has demonstrated a few chinks in its tortilla wrap even while it also has stepped up its sustainability efforts.
- 9 years ago
Supply Chain /
Call it the veal-calf concern of this decade: The down in many winter coats and other apparel is obtained through oppressive animal-welfare practices, and Patagonia has taken the lead in trying to right that wrong with the introduction of its Traceable Down Standard — and an explanatory video to boot.
- 9 years ago
Marketing & Communications /
Sustainability bona fides are at the heart of the first national TV and print advertising campaign by Whole Foods Market, which ushers in the slogan “Values matter.” The Austin-based healthful-foods pioneer hopes that the commercials can restore some of the brand’s differentiating luster now that sales growth has slowed and it has more worthy competitors than ever.
- 9 years ago
Stakeholder Trends and Insights /
Procter & Gamble just announced expansion of its sustainability goals with ambitious new initiatives for 2020 aimed at water conservation and product packaging. But when you’re a company as big, old and sprawling as the Cincinnati-based consumer packaged goods giant, nothing comes easily — including accomplishment of a huge sustainability agenda. And some in P&G’s diverse body of shareholders are making sure to hold the company’s feet to the fire.CEO A.G. Lafley was able to boast about P&G’s “promises kept” on sustainability at the company’s recent annual meeting.
- 9 years ago
Circular Economy /
Food waste is a huge problem in America and globally, with up to 40 percent of perfectly good food being trashed in the US, according to a study by Harvard and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Yet there's a lack of nutritious food in US inner cities and elsewhere.So the ex-president of Trader Joe's is trying to put supply and demand together to create a new form of food retailing. Doug Rauch plans to open a new market, the Daily Table, in Dorchester, Mass., early next year to sell "repurposed" food as is, in lightly processed form — like a fast-food restaurant.
- 11 years ago
Marketing & Communications /
Chipotle keeps sticking its neck out for "sustainable," locally produced food — now with an animated short-film attack on "Big Food" and with the promise of more expansive and aggressive efforts to come."The Scarecrow" is a 3-1/2-minute film that Chipotle Mexican Grill released online last week that depicts what the brand calls "a dystopian fantasy world" in which "all food production is controlled by fictional industrial giant Crow Foods. Scarecrows have been displaced from their traditional role of protecting food, and are now servants to the crows and their evil plans to dominate the food system."
- 11 years ago
Toyota plans to keep pressing the advantages of its renewed mojo in the U.S. market with sportier hybrids, a greater emphasis on customer care and the possible addition of more production in Mexico to supply U.S. customers.The company has seen its market share in the U.S. slip from a peak of 17 percent in 2009 to around 14 percent this year through July, as it was afflicted by natural disasters, its safety-recall fiasco, and intensified competition that took advantage of Toyota's weakness.
- 11 years ago
Marketing & Communications /
Volkswagen finished last of the global automakers that occupied five of the top seven spots in Interbrand's recently released Best Global Green Brands 2013 report. That was a pretty good showing, but the German giant seems determined to hoist itself even higher in terms of the effectiveness of its sustainability efforts — and regard for them — around the globe.
- 11 years ago