Reason behind TOYOTA outwitting GM in car sales. (my thought)

I read about TOYOTA overtaking GM in car sales in the news published by many newspapers yesterday. And I noticed that all the top people in GM were saying that the reason for GM losing it to its competitor is because of its poor marketing strategy and thus failing to sell to its consumers especially Americans. Yes, I agree strongly that GM failed in marketing and production strategy and that is GM’s lack of green thinking in its production and marketing strategy.

TOYOTA came up with green cars like the Hybrid Car, which is more durable, fuel efficient etc and became a big success all over the world, especially in America. GM was making cars which made people very happy until early nineties when no one was bothering about gas price, energy security and climate change. Now a days people are more aware and are concerned about the environment and energy security issues. TOYOTA acted early by realizing what people needed or wanting to have in late nineties and came up with this novel idea of Hybrid car, which adopts the hybrid engine model. (The hybrid engine switches to electric mode when the battery is fully charged and when the battery is weak, it runs on gas while charging the battery and thus saving a significant % of fuel usage). While GM went on producing the gas-guzzlers, light trucks etc to make early money and pull out of its financial difficulties rather than focusing on the impending energy and climate change problems in the future.

As the author of Natural capitalism, Amory Lovins puts it - The 21^st century is the century of businesses which care about environment and sustainability, and which is very true in this case. When it was first published, not many cared about it ….. and now every one is seeing the results for themselves.

So ‘Go Green’ to succeed in this fast changing 21^st century world and to outwit your competitors J.

few more sources FYI :

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4039110a30.html

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/04/24/toyota-general-motors-markets-equity-cx_vk_0424markets05.html

India Glittering :)

Beautiful picture of India taken from the space shows the mighty nation glowing bright in the night.

Australia to ban incandescent bulbs in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Australia is going to be the first country in the world to ban the incandescent bulbs and replace it with the fluorescent bulbs in a bid to curb the greenhouse gas emissions. The environment minister Malcolm Turnbull said that australia is making a legislation such that incandescent bulbs will be totally phased out of the market by 2009.

Incandescent bulb works on the principle that when current passes through the filament the electrons in the filament gets excited, which then emit the energy in form of photons of light to come to the ground state. However, major portion of the energy is wasted in the form of heat and thus resulting in a loss of energy.

Since major production of electricity in australia is based on the thermal power which rely on coal this move will reduce a portion of the greenhouse gases. Though this alone cannot reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by singnificant portions required, the minister says that this is one of the basic steps were public can involve directly.

Now, speaking in the perspective of county like india, whose economy is booming right now and is facing a sudden surge in the energy demand, a move of this kind will really be beneficial. As more than 95% population uses incandescent bulbs, a ban on them could really ease the energy demand to a significant level. However, the economic status of major sect of polpulation is in a situation, where they cannot afford to buy the flourescent lamps, which costs around 5 times more than the incandescent. Few solutions can be like 1) to educate people about the money they are going to save on the electricity bills in the future during the bulbs life time. 2) reduce the cost of the fluorescent bulbs in the market by subsidizing etc,. can help in achieving the target in a few years.

courtesy: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17233145/

Virgin Earth challenge

The 'Virgin' brand, which is famous for its extra-ordinary ventures and for its highly energetic and adventurous founder has announced a $25 million challenge on friday 9th february 2007 to come up with an idea to reduce the anthropogenic green house gases.

click here to enter the contest: http://www.virginearth.com/

Here is a chance for you to become a millionaire overnite.

Gud luck :-)

courtesy: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_southwest_brit/2007/02/heres_a_contest.html

Environmental information Center for India

Environmental data is very crucial for EIA studies, and its a pain to secure all the data and information by oneself. Many projects get delayed or teminated because of the lack of proper data. To make the process easier and to expedite the project clearance, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt of India made an initiative

Environmental Information Center (EIC)

http://www.eicinformation.org/default.asp


this is what the site says:

Environmental Information Centre (EIC) has been setup by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), India as a professionally managed clearinghouse of Environmental Information on the Indian sub-continent. EIC provides comprehensive, easy-to-use environmental data on India and information on the environmental clearance process and environment regulations in India. The integrated environmental database on India is derived using the Geographical Information System (GIS) and includes pollution data. It eases the preparation of environmental impact assessment (EIA) to expedite the environment clearance process.

Mission of EIC :
To provide high quality environmental data and information on India in a timely and cost-effective manner, to improve Environmental Studies, project screening & scoping, and the decision-making process.

2007 will be the hottest year on record

The annual projection by the UK Met office's Hadley Centre, in conjunction with the University of East Anglia has forecasted that 2007 is going to be the hottest year on record.

to known more about this, follow this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6228765.stm

coutesy: BBC NEWS