CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy ) standards
The fuel standards for passenger cars and light trucks were established as part of the Energy Policy Conservation Act (EPCA) enacted in 1975. The Act was passed in response to the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. Though generally opposed by industry, increasing these standards has been advocated by environmentalists as an important step towards decreasing greenhouse […]
Business Ecosystem/Ecology
A system-level view of the relationships and interdependencies evident in organizations, markets, or industries, including their components, actors, resources, and stakeholders. Inspired from nature, this is a similar approach to understanding biological ecosystems in their fullest sense.
Brand Experience
Often confused with a corporate identity or package design, a brand experience is the total interaction of customers with a company, product, service, or other offering through all senses, media, and touchpoints (such as television advertising, customer service, product use, etc.).
Branding
The process of developing a brand or brand strategy for a product, service, or organization.
Brand
Often referred to as a promise or expectation, a brand is the collective market understanding or perspective of a company, product, or service (either from the perspective of customers, competitors, partners, or peers). A strong brand can have considerable value in the marketplace but this value is only derived in action and does not appear […]
Bottom of the Pyramid
A term developed by Stuart Hart and C. K. Prahalad at the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and now popularized by Prahalad’s book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. It refers to the poorest people in the world. These people tend to pay more for the same food, products, and borrowing than rich people […]
Bootstrapping
A term derived from a German legend about Baron Münchhausen who pulled himself from a swamp by his own shoelaces or bootstraps. It refers to starting a business with limited capital and growing it based primarily on internally-generated profit instead of external investment.
Biosphere
Coined in 1875 by Eduard Suess, the biosphere is that part of a planet’s outer shell—including air, land, and water—within which life occurs, and which biotic processes alter or transform. From the broadest geophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with […]
Biomimicry
Applying lessons learned from the study of natural methods and systems to the design of technology. Science writer Janine Benyus articulates nine principles in her 1997 book Biomimicry: 1. Nature runs on sunlight 2. Nature uses only the energy it needs 3. Nature fits form to function 4. Nature recycles everything 5. Nature rewards cooperation […]
Biodiversity
The biological diversity of life on Earth. As human influence spreads, there is concern over the reduction of the total number of species and its effect on economics, medicine, and the ability of ecosystems to remain viable. Some measures of biodiversity loss are the World Wildlife Fund’s Inventory, and the IUCN Red List. WEO Wilson […]
