环保生财又添新证据

    投资可持续发展除了有益于我们的地球母亲，能不能给企业带来真金白银的竞争力？美国圣母大学（Notre Dame）门多萨商学院（Mendoza College of Business）的两位管理学教授爱华德•康隆和安特•格拉瓦斯对这一点深信不疑。

    两位教授在最新研究报告《企业可持续发展与财务表现之间的关系》（The Relationship Between Corporate Sustainability and Firm Financial Performance）中分析了从PNC金融服务集团（PNC Bank）旗下526家分支机构搜集到的数据。PNC金融服务集团旗下有93家分支机构拥有LEED绿色建筑认证，也就是说这些分支机构的建筑物达到了美国绿色建筑协会（U.S. Green Building Council）的能效标准和其他环保指标。

    这些对环境友好的分支机构公布的年度营收数据平均比没有获得LEED认证的分支机构多出300万美元，折算到每个员工头上意味着，每个员工多创造了461,300美元的收入。每家LEED认证的分支机构开设的存款账户比非LEED认证的普通分支机构多出458个，消费贷款余额平均高出994,900美元。与此同时，这些绿色分支机构的人均年度公用事业费用却要少675.26美元。

    康隆说：“这些发现非常有意义，令我感到意外。”两位研究者已经剔除了几乎所有其它能解释这两类分支机构之间差异的变量，包括市场人口结构、建筑规模和楼龄等。考虑到这一点，这些数据就更令人震惊了。

    而且，康隆补充说：“所有PNC金融服务集团的分支机构都在从事同样的业务，提供相同的产品，并使用同一系统。”它们之间唯一的显著差异在于是否拥有LEED绿色建筑认证。

    为什么对环境友好的分支机构业绩明显更胜一筹？康隆和格拉瓦斯认为，其中一个原因是在LEED认证分支机构工作的员工更加精神上更满足，更能够全身心地投入工作，这显然会使他们更有工作效率，同时更能提升客户服务质量。格拉瓦斯说：“人们当然对能在LEED认证的建筑物里工作感到自豪。”

    但最大的一个原因可能还是因为PNC金融服务集团在2009年推出了一项市场推广活动，大举宣扬其LEED认证分支机构的绿色环保。看来，当顾客可以选择的时候，他们更倾向于选择那些身体力行、维护我们所处的这个星球的公司。

    译者：老榆木

    Over and above what it does for Mother Earth, can investing in sustainability give businesses a dollars-and-cents competitive edge? Edward Conlon and Ante Glavas, two management professors at the Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame, think so.

    In a new study, "The Relationship Between Corporate Sustainability and Firm Financial Performance," the pair analyzed data from 562 branches of PNC Bank. The company has 93 LEED-certified branches, meaning the buildings meet the U.S. Green Building Council's standards for energy efficiency and other measures of greenness.

    Those earth-friendly branches reported annual revenues averaging more than $3 million higher than their 469 non-LEED counterparts, which works out to $461,300 in extra sales per employee. Each LEED branch opened 458 more deposit accounts, and booked consumer loan balances averaging $994,900 higher, than the typical non-LEED PNC branch. At the same time, the yearly cost of utilities was $675.26 lower per employee at the green branches.

    "The findings are significant, and they surprised me," says Conlon. The results are particularly striking when you consider that the researchers controlled for virtually every other variable -- including market demographics and the size and age of the buildings -- that could explain the disparity between the two types of branches.

    Moreover, Conlon adds, "All PNC branches do the same things, offering the same products and using the same systems." The only substantial difference among them is LEED certification or the lack of it.

    Why do the earth-friendly locations perform so much better? Conlon and Gravas believe one reason is that employees in the LEED branches are more satisfied and engaged, which apparently makes them more productive, and may improve customer service as well. "People are certainly proud to be working in LEED buildings," notes Gravas.

    The biggest factor, however, is probably that PNC launched a marketing campaign in 2009 that trumpeted its LEED branches' greenness. When customers have a choice, it seems, they gravitate toward companies that do their bit to sustain the planet.