Actionable Research

One of the main ways in which the Corporate Eco Forum delivers value is the use of timely, careful and relevant research. CEF research provides actionable insights to senior executives of Global 500 corporations who are leading the execution of eco-strategies in their enterprise. It is based on peer-generated descriptions of eco-strategies and execution approaches that have actually worked, or not worked, in the enterprise. The focus is on practical experience, not theoretical construction. Such execution-oriented research is especially important given the great deal of prescriptions, admonitions and other rhetoric that is being generated about business and the environment. The research conducted by CEF is used to inform the annual conferences as well as our reports and other publications.

The Corporate Eco Forum Research Series
The CEF recently interviewed 25 senior executives in the Global 500 to provide an initial analysis of how they are executing on their eco-strategies. The summary report, Rhetoric v. Reality: Execution of Eco-Strategies in the Global 500, identified the existence of a major gap between interest and execution among most Global 500 enterprises.

The initial research identified three key areas where more actionable insights were needed, i.e., what were the kinds of eco-innovations that were being funded by Global 500 corporations, what were the approaches used to justify these innovations from a business viewpoint, and what were the specific practices being used in executing eco-friendly supply chains that also made strong business sense?

The CEF plans to produce a series of research reports for each of these themes in order to advance the state of art and help disseminate best practices among the Global 500.

• The Eco-Innovator series is identifying the types of eco-innovations being implemented, the extent to which they have been deployed, the business value from them and the critical factors that determine their success. The research will also identify innovation profiles for describing Global 500 enterprises.
• The Eco-ROI series is identifying the kinds of approaches used to justify investments in eco-initiatives in the Global 500 enterprises, the metrics used in these analyses, the time lines being considered, and the governance mechanisms for justifying the investments.
• The Eco-Supply Chain series is identifying the metrics used by different industries to evaluate their supply chains, the approaches used to increase trust and enable cooperation among the partners, and the techniques for redesigning the supply chain to be eco-friendly as well as deal with uncertainty.

The results from the Research Series will be used to highlight the discussions at the Annual Meetings of the Corporate Eco Forum.

Research Team
The CEF research team has strong experience in top-rated business research as well as executive-level experience in running businesses. The research team is guided by the CEF Advisory Board and Leadership Council - some of the leading management experts in the world as well as senior executives of the Global 500 corporations. This combination of thought leadership and operational experience is a key reason for the recognition given to the Corporate Eco Forum as well as its predecessor organizations run by the Sand Hill Group.

CEF Research Director - Ram Nidumolu, Ph.D.
Ram Nidumolu directs the research program at the Corporate Eco Forum. Ram has more than 20 years of experience in conducting top-rated business research among enterprises, with a special focus on the adoption and implementation of organizational innovations. He has been a pioneer in studying major business trends such as the outsourcing of business services to India and other countries, the use of technology for international development, and the adoption of Software as a Service business models. Ram is currently the founder and CEO of InnovaStrat, Inc., an innovation and strategy consulting firm. He was previously the founder and CEO of Gandiva, Inc., a high technology startup that provided CRM solutions to the high tech industry. Ram was previously on the faculty of the business schools at Santa Clara University and the University of Arizona.