Positioning
A business activity that looks for opportunities (or “holes”) in a market in which to offer a viable product, service, or message. Positioning takes advantage of Environmental Modeling and Competitive Analysis (often using a SWOT Analysis) in order to compare the offerings of competing products, services, messages, and organizations in order to find opportunities not […]
Pollution Offset
The attempt to offset the results of pollution from some activity of process by improving the environment in an equal benefit. Carbon trading, for example, allows carbon polluters to offset the effect of excess carbon in the environment by trading credits with those whose activities reduce an equal amount of carbon. Pollution offsets can exist […]
Pollution Prevention
Any activity to reduce or eliminate any number of pollution types or quantities from personal, corporate, or governmental activities. Also called source reduction, these activities seek to create more efficient procedures or practices that reduce pollution or use it in the manufacturing process of some other activity. Often, practices such as changes in manufacturing or […]
Personalization
The ability for customers to change a product or service to better suit their needs and desires. It differs from Customization in that Personalization offers a much wider set of pre-defined attributes as well as the ability to create new or original attributes. This can reduce wasted materials and energy, while offering a dynamic and […]
Perfect Markets
Most of neoclassical economics (and current economic theory) is based on the assumption that markets are perfect in the following ways: all parties know and share the same information, rational decision-making on the parts of buyers and sellers, low or no transaction costs, perfect competition, no monopolies, and equal access. In reality, none of the […]
Pension Fund
An investment fund created with funds from a portion of an employee’s and/or employer’s wages and profits for the purpose of providing a salary when an employee retires. They are, mainly, focused on long-term returns (in the 20-40 year time frame). Companies, governments, unions, and other organizations can all create or contribute to pension funds. […]
Participatory Organizations
Organizations whose culture and procedures require or allow members’ involvement in the creation of policy and change. A related term, participatory design, refers to an organization including customers in the design and development process in order to create more appropriate and successful products, services, and experiences.
Overshoot
The amount that any value exceeds its intended measure. In sustainability terms, overshoot is often the amount a variable (such as a measure of environmental impact) exceeds what is intended or thought to be healthy or acceptable. Overshoots can be positive but are usually used to convey negative impacts of human or business activity. Alternatively, […]
Organizational Change
The ability for an organization, its culture, and its procedures to grow in a positive way that leads to great success and more effective performance (both internally and externally).
Organic
In regards to food (both plant and animal) and other agricultural products (such as cotton), a term describing the absence of pesticides, hormones, synthetic fertilizers and other toxic materials in cultivation. In some countries, “organic” has a legal definition. For example, in the USA, it is defined in the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 […]
