Environmental Responsibility And Sustainability At New Belgium Brewing

What environmental issues does the New Belgium Brewing Company work to address? How has NBB taken a strategic approach to addressing these issues? Why do you think the company has taken such a strong stance toward sustainability?

Many firms are learning that being environmentally friendly and sustainable has numerous benefits. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). This could enable them to increase goodwill from various stakeholders and also save money in the long term. This will mean that they are being more efficient and less wasteful of resources, which will enable them to be more competitive by satisfying stakeholders. The CEO of

Additionally, we have the option of customizing a photovoltaic collection system (AKA solar panels) that specifically fits the brewing process of Groggs Peak. Solar panels work by absorbing solar radiation directly and converting that sunlight into heat or electricity (AWEA). Solar photovoltaics are made with silicon that generate electricity when absorbed by sunlight. Although solar energy systems are more expensive than traditional energy, I believe with using our cash on hand and taking out a small loan to invest

9. As shown in the video, New Belgium Brewing follows the socioeconomic model of social responsibility by

Although some individuals or groups would argue that a brewing company cannot be socially responsible due to the nature of their product. Ultimately, their “to do” list will never end, and no matter how much they give back or enhance their operations to be more environmentally friendly, it will never be enough.

There are several obstacles for manufacturers attempting to employ changes in their processes for more sustainable practices. One problem that manufacturers will run into is the lack of direction. Knowing that change is needed is the easy part of reaching sustainability. Knowing what changes to make is a much more complicated challenge. The idea of sustainability is discussed often, yet broad scope ideas are traded without specific details and applications. Team B Consultants Inc. (TBCI), is the

New Belgium Brewing strives to reduce it’s impact on the environment. NBB invested in a wind turbine, making it the first fully wind powered brewery in the United States. NBB has also incorporated a steam condenser that captures and reuses hot

Frog Leap Winery utilized methods in order to become more sustainable and has been successful thus far. The company appears to be on the right track to becoming a fully self-sustainable company despite changes in the economy. The sustainable measure Frog’s Leap has implemented fail directly in line with the features of the triple bottom line. Frog’s Leap needs to measure “the impacts of their activities upon “people, planet, and profit – that is, how it created social, environmental, and economic value.” Leap Frog has managed to effectively make an impact on all of the aspect of the triple bottom line thus displaying the company’s progression towards self-sufficiency.

1. What environmental issues does the new belgium brewing company work to address? How does NBB taken a strategic approach to addressing these issues? Why do you think the company has taken such a strong stance toward sustainability?

Through their brand recognition, New Belgium Brewery has won the beer battle between most of their competitors. Beer connoisseurs know New Belgium Brewery by their infamous New Belgium Fat Tire. Fat Tire has helped New Belgium gain a competitive advantage because of the beers high demand. Also, New Belgium’s social responsibility is a major part of why they obtain the competitive advantage over their competitors. New Belgium is a simple company that portrays an economical friendly production, a strong family back- round, and consumer-based market strategy. New Belgium focuses on three responsibilities, social responsibility, employee responsibility, and environmental responsibility. Also, because of their focuses, they have become one of the top competitors to other craft beer

The recommendation provided to New Belgium is to hone in on the above mentioned environments. The Company, partakes in 1% for the planet, it once invested in wind turbine for their brewery. In fact the Company is the first to have a fully wind-powered brewery. The Company should look in other environmental savvy ways to invest funds, for insistence the growing trend of hybrid/electric. By using these technologies for transportation of their products as they continually expand. The Company can seek out strategic partnerships with other breweries in the areas of proposed expansion and “prototype” their product. In addition analyzing the competitors and customers. New Belgium should continue to make full use of marketing campaigns (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) as there is an increase cultural

The company has also reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 1800 metric tons a year by switching from coal power to a wind turbine, which was the first wind-powered brewery in the United States. They have also invested in a steam condenser that reuses the hot water that boils the parley and hops to continue making the next brew. Furthermore, they have sun tubes that provide natural daylight time lighting through the full year. They utilize a green design throughout their whole facility and have agreed to participate as of 2002 in U.S Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environment Design for Existing buildings pilot program. To even reduce air pollution, as an incentive, they provide employees a cruiser bike to encourage them to ride to work instead of driving.

Additionally, on a socio-cultural level, many consumers feel that restaurants partaking in green initiatives and operations are doing their part to not only help sustain the earth but also to conserving natural resources (Hu, Parsa & Self, 2010). “Going green” is not simply a trend in the food service industry but around the world and in all forms of business. Corporate companies consider “going green” as a sensible business strategy in building recognition for corporate social responsibility among consumers concerned with environmental conservation efforts. Lastly, technological initiatives such as Energy Star appliances (dishwashers, refrigerators, ice machines, etc.) and faucets that use less water must also be analyzed in their ecological conservation capability and weighed against their financial costs (University of Notre Dame, 2014).

One positive implication capitalism has to the natural environment is industrial ecology, a system of chain production and consumption, serving to the lowest environmental impacts in a most environmentally sustainable economy as the main goal of operation (Richards & Pearson, 1998). The Companies in a like to operate in such way because of four major reasons. The most important factor is known as the corporate well-being, for it is determined by higher profits and growth provided by innovations in an industry. Profits are increased from recognizing the production ineffiency costs that comes from wasted inputs and energy losses; this allowing cost savings to increase and ineffiency to decrease. compliance with cleaner technology alternatives such as ones that produce less waste and less energy will provide long term savings which are both beneficial to the environment and the business at hand. A real world example freight company changes their salvaged driving equipment to hybrid vehicles. Money is temporarily lost, but the gasoline and maintenances cost savings will compensate in a long run period of time.

I chose to look into General Electric for this project because they are an energy supplier and multi-national company. Energy providers have a reputation as a money hungry companies that care about the bottom line more than people and the planet. It is easy for a person to assume that a corporation of GE’s size, money would be its only concern. What I learned was that GE has a public image problem more than a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) problem. The company has been working to make the people of the planet more Earth friendly by creating technology that has higher efficiency with fewer emissions and lower resource demands. GE has a well-established strategy for Corporate Social Responsibility. As a result of CSR the company