Management Future: Water Management

Corporate water management:
Risk for corporations - Opportunity for consultancy services

Student Number: 440008
University of Portsmouth word count: 2646 (excluded figures, table of contents, references and executive summary)

“This is to verify that this is my own work and that it has not been used in part in the assessment of other units in my degree”
***********************
Executive summary:
Water scarcity will be a vital resource for business in the future. In a report in 2008, it is indicated that water imports to UK accounted for 62% virtual water consumption [ (Chapagain & Stuart, 2008) ]. It is predicted that the usage of water in agriculture will rise 30% in 2025 [ (Black, 2010) ] and water availability per capita has reduced by 5 times compare to statistic in 1950 [ (UNDP) ]. In correlation with the decrease in water supply, there has been significant increase in social concerns and customer attitudes toward environmental problems [ (Top of Mind Survey, 2010) ]. The water impacts on individuals, corporations, and communities have been realized and increasingly concern about over the same period. Water footprints, water supply-managements are identifiable practices which are introduced for public and private sectors [ (WWF, 2009; IBM, 2008) ]. However, despite the impacts of water issues, the business responses to the problems have been considerably weak [ (Barton, 2010) ]. At the same time, consultancy market has been indicated as a potential field of investment (Appendix 4).
Triangulation of trends data suggests a potential market for consultancy service of water management. The article highlighted the business opportunities and profitability that it could bring which include: better knowledge of water supply chain to reduce environmental impact which is an essential value for business, understanding of water footprints practices hence improving CSR. It also proposed the main competitive advantages as low capital requirements and

References: Barton, B. (2010). Musky water? Corporate reporting on water risk: A benchmarking study of 100 companies. Ceres. BBC News. (2008, November 5). Retrieved November 17, 2010, from Growing Slums "face water crisis": http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7708120.stm Black, R Cetron, M. J., & Davis, O. (2008). 55 trends shaping tomorrow 's world: Forcasts and implications for Business, Government and Consumers. Maryland: World future society. Chapagain, A., & Stuart, O. (2008). UK water footprint: the impact of the UK 's food and fibre consumption on global water resources. WWF. Surrey: WWF. Chris, H. (2005). Doing your Master Dissertation. London: Sage Publications. Ercin, A. E., Aldaya, M. M., & Hoekstra, A. Y. (2009). A pilot in corporate water footprint accounting and impact assessment: The water footprint of a sugar-containing carbonated beverage. Delft: UNESCO-IHE: Institution for water education. Francis, R. J., & Wesley, B. C. (1963). Research Methodology in Business (1st ed.). New York: Harper y Brothers. Friedman, M. (2007). The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits. In Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance (pp. 173-178). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. HMGovernment. (2005). Sercuring the future: delivering UK sustainable development policies. Norwich: TSO. Hoekstra, A. Y. (2008). Water Neutral: Reducing and Offsetting the impacts of water footprints. Delft: UNESCO - IHE: Institution for water education. Hoekstra, A. Y., & Chapagain, A. K. (2008). Globalization of water: sharing the planet 's freshwater resouces. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. IBM. (2008). Smarter Water management. Retrieved January 20, 2010, from IBM: http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/uk/en/water_management/ideas/index.html?re=sph International Year of Fresh Water 2003 Kirby, A. (2004, October 19). BBC news. Retrieved April 22, 2010, from Water scarcity: A looming crisis?: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3747724.stm (2008) Longenecker, J., Moore, C., Palich, L., & Petty, J. (2005). Small business management: an entrepreneurial emphasis. (13th, Ed.) Ohio: Thomson South-western. ONS. (2010). Public attitude towards climate change and the Impact of Transport: 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 (January 2010 report). Office of National Statistic. Or, S., Cartwight, A., & Tickner, D. (2008). Understanding Water Risk - A primer on the consequenses of water scarity for government and business. WWF. Pegram, G., Or, S., & Williams, C. (2009). Investigating Shared Risk in Water: Corporate Engagement with Public Policy Process. WWF. Rickman, C. D. (2005). The small Business Start up workbook: A step by step guide to starting the business you have dreamed of. Oxford: How to Content. Salina, I. (Director). (2008). Flow - For the love of Water [Motion Picture]. Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2009). Research methods for Business Students (5th ed.). Essex: Peason Education Limited. (2010). Top of Mind Survey. Paris: The Consumer Good Forum. UN-Water. (2010). Retrieved April 23, 2010, from http://www.unwater.org/ WWF Wylie, I. (2010, January 9th). Jobs of the Future. Retrieved April 25, 2010, from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jan/09/jobs-of-the-future/print Appendices Sources: ONS (2003) 1.2 Water stress in regions of UK Sources: ONS (2003) Appendix 2: Water and Water footprint Consist of 3 figures: Water footprint in UK, Water footprint versus water scarcity, self-sufficiency and water import dependency. Domestic water consumption in UK 2.1 Water footprint in UK (extracted from WFN, 2010) 2.3. Domestic water consumption in UK (source: ONS) Appendix 3: Opinion survey on climate changes [ (ONS, 2010) ] (Content in the next page) 4.3 Longenecker’s opportunity evaluation criteria [ (Longenecker, Moore, Palich, & Petty, 2005) ]