by Caroline Rennie
HP, leading manufacturer of electronic products such as printers, computers, and the like, has implemented a take-back programme in the US with a difference: you can ship any brand’s cartridges or computer hardware back to them – and they will send you a coupon greater than the cost of shipping, towards an HP product.
So, they get a triple win: consumers switch to HP, enhance their good feelings towards HP, and HP gets a ready source of high cost materials such as gold in the process.
What they have cleverly done is take the learnings from their required participation in recycling systems (the EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment programme – the ‘Weee!’ of the title) and turned them into competitive advantage in the US.
Cleverly, they do not stop at the promise of “take back” – but are working on programmes to ensure they know where the products are going and how they are treated – while linking that to social benefits. And rather than do this alone, they are working with competitors and NGOs to ensure that the results are credible and the standards shared.
So we’re seeing alchemy in action: turning dross into gold…
video source: Business Week
To see how to use the environment to steal a march on your competitors, contact ren-new.
* Stealing a March definition: to spoil someone’s plans and get an advantage over them by doing something sooner or better than them. Source: the Free Dictionary
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