320
2.1 Resource Availability
As of 2015, sharp price increases in commodities since 2000 have erased the real
price declines of the twentieth century. At the same time, price volatility levels for
metals, food and non-food agricultural output in the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst
century were higher than in any single decade in the twentieth century (McKinsey
Global Institute 2013a ). Extended producer responsibility is ever more important to
public sector purchasing and individual consumption of durable and food goods.
The Guardian Sustainable Business pages list climate change, supply chain responsibility, confl ict minerals and factory workers’ rights in their top 10 issues of 2014
(Buckingham 2014 ).
2.2 Resource Effi ciency
In modern manufacturing processes, opportunities to increase effi ciency still exist,
but the gains are largely incremental and unlikely to generate real competitive
advantage or differentiation. The latest IPCC report determined that the global
emissions of greenhouse gases have risen to unprecedented levels, despite a growing number of policies to reduce climate change. Emissions grew more quickly
between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades (IPCC 2014 ).
With three billion new middle class consumers expected to enter the market by
2030, current effi ciency measures will not be enough to meet this demand.
2.3 Alignment of Conditions
Conditions for rapid diffusion are aligning. The IT sector and many other industries
see increasing regulation being developed that moves beyond eco-effi ciency into
new forms of producer responsibility. The early adopters will be the ones to fi nd
competitive advantage and exponential growth. The millennial generation are more
likely to demand access to services over ownership of products, for example through
subscription services like Netfl ix or mobility access through car leasing (Ross
2014 ). Big data and data analytics helps companies to drive business growth by
moving from ‘transactions’ to ‘relationships’ with their customers. This in turn
drives increased brand loyalty, a concept which is well understood as valuable to
industry via models such as Net Promoter Score (Reichheld 2003 ).
Having described circular economy principles and why HP thinks it is important
for future business success, the remainder of this chapter will examine the real, atscale programs currently underway at HP. These will demonstrate how a major multinational company like HP can build on its long-held resource effi ciency principles
to profi tably drive industry forward in the circular economy.
K. McIntyre and J.A. Ortiz
2.1 Resource Availability
As of 2015, sharp price increases in commodities since 2000 have erased the real
price declines of the twentieth century. At the same time, price volatility levels for
metals, food and non-food agricultural output in the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst
century were higher than in any single decade in the twentieth century (McKinsey
Global Institute 2013a ). Extended producer responsibility is ever more important to
public sector purchasing and individual consumption of durable and food goods.
The Guardian Sustainable Business pages list climate change, supply chain responsibility, confl ict minerals and factory workers’ rights in their top 10 issues of 2014
(Buckingham 2014 ).
2.2 Resource Effi ciency
In modern manufacturing processes, opportunities to increase effi ciency still exist,
but the gains are largely incremental and unlikely to generate real competitive
advantage or differentiation. The latest IPCC report determined that the global
emissions of greenhouse gases have risen to unprecedented levels, despite a growing number of policies to reduce climate change. Emissions grew more quickly
between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades (IPCC 2014 ).
With three billion new middle class consumers expected to enter the market by
2030, current effi ciency measures will not be enough to meet this demand.
2.3 Alignment of Conditions
Conditions for rapid diffusion are aligning. The IT sector and many other industries
see increasing regulation being developed that moves beyond eco-effi ciency into
new forms of producer responsibility. The early adopters will be the ones to fi nd
competitive advantage and exponential growth. The millennial generation are more
likely to demand access to services over ownership of products, for example through
subscription services like Netfl ix or mobility access through car leasing (Ross
2014 ). Big data and data analytics helps companies to drive business growth by
moving from ‘transactions’ to ‘relationships’ with their customers. This in turn
drives increased brand loyalty, a concept which is well understood as valuable to
industry via models such as Net Promoter Score (Reichheld 2003 ).
Having described circular economy principles and why HP thinks it is important
for future business success, the remainder of this chapter will examine the real, atscale programs currently underway at HP. These will demonstrate how a major multinational company like HP can build on its long-held resource effi ciency principles
to profi tably drive industry forward in the circular economy.
K. McIntyre and J.A. Ortiz