Crossroads 2010

Companies are under increasing pressure from customers, regulators, and investors to improve their environmental performance in line with increasingly stringent sustainability goals. But bringing the somewhat nebulous concept of sustainability down to ground level is a major challenge. How can companies deliver on their green corporate goals by cost-effectively turning these aspirations into measurable environmental gains?

For the past six years the MIT CTL Crossroads Conference has made the connection between supply chain management and corporate strategy. Crossroads 2010 continues this tradition at a critical juncture in the strategic evolution of supply chain. As the link between environmental track record and commercial success gets stronger, so the role of supply chain as the function that delivers on green promises becomes more important.

Business leaders and experts from supply chain and environmental management will convene at Crossroads 2010 to explore this role in detail. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the strategies and tactics that both operations and environmental leaders must implement if their companies are to meet the sustainability standards that markets are demanding.

Conference participants will learn:

• How the demands of environmental stewardship are changing corporate behavior
• Why collaboration – both internally between operations and environmental functions and externally with trading partners – is crucially important to the success of sustainability programs
• Why organizations need to reinforce upstream green initiatives and identify new ones downstream
• What pitfalls can undermine well-intentioned green programs and how to avoid them
• How the design of sustainable products impacts supply chains
• Key developments in operational impact of sustainability in transportation, packaging, and carbon footprint
• Legislative changes coming down the pike and the likely effect on operations

Agenda

8:00	Registration & Continental Breakfast
8:30	Welcome, Introductions, and Overview Jim Rice, MIT
8:35	Corporate Social Responsibility Prof. Yossi Sheffi, MIT
9:05	Implementing Sustainability at Corporate Level Mark Buckley, Staples
10:00	Break
10:30	The Environment Introduction by Dr. Edgar Blanco, MIT Natural Resources – Randolph Kirchain, MIT Waste – Elsa Olivetti, MIT Alternative Energy – Dr. Jarrod Goentzel, MIT Green House Gases – Dr. Edgar Blanco, MIT Water – Sarah Slaughter, MIT Sloan
11:45	Lunch
13:00	Product Design for Environmental Sustainability Kathy Claffey, Procter & Gamble
14:00	Organization Design for Environmental Sustainability Dr. Peter Senge, MIT
15:15	Break
15:45	Legislative/Cap and Trade Outlook Luc Billiet, Case New Holland – Fiat
16:45	Summary Dr. Edgar Blanco, MIT
17:00	Adjourn