Palm and Eco-Risk
December 13, 2006 at 4:08 pm (Green Government, Green Innovation, Green Technology)
Green issues can be handled in two ways. One, as a risk management tool and two, as a step forward for Innovation. Andrew Winston at Eco-Advantage (who is the co-author of Green to Gold) blogs about the eco-risk for Palm.
Andrew mentions a Business 2.0 article on European Unions’ Restriction on Hazardous Substances on electronic goods. The WEEE and other directives ban “hazardous substances like lead, mercury, and cadmium from use in new electrical equipment.”
Palm, incidently, has not followed this and has to stop selling the Treo 650 in Europe. The effect of this on Palm’s share price has been considerable.
After Palm announced in late June that it would stop shipping the 650 to Europe - the only model it sells in the region - it forecasted sales for the current quarter at between $380 million to $385 million - about $20 million below what Wall Street analysts expected. That sent its shares down by 14% to $16.10. Although Palm has announced plans to start selling a new smartphone later this year that complies with the EU’s rules, its shares have continued to slide since then, closing Tuesday at $14.19.
Andrew estimates that this has wiped out $470 million from its market cap.
Andrew points out the benefits of using Green strategies both in risk management and innovation.
While it’s an understandable gut reaction that it might not be worth the expense to retool, by not managing environmental regulations and risk, companies can miss out on market access opportunities. That can mean a ripple of lost sales and value that far outweighs the initial expense. Not to mention that pursuing new technologies and materials to meet the regulations can drive new thinking, innovation, and eco-advantage.
World is Green : Business Strategy and Sustainability How to make money from WEEE « said,
April 24, 2007 at 4:45 pm
[...] an example of a mobile recycling company called Fonebak which is taking advantage of the new WEEE regulations to create a new business. Under a scheme operated by mobile phone disposal specialist Fonebak and [...]