|
|
 |
|
|
|---|
The Demand: Young people will comprise half the world's population in the next ten years. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 64 million young people between the ages of 18-34, accounting for 23% of the U.S. population(1).
These young people want to make a difference…but on their own terms. Young adults today are fiercely individualistic, incredibly media-savvy, big on discovery and exploration, and stressed out. Their high level of stress, information overload, and over-programmed lives make them search for balance at a young age. They want to express themselves and give back to their communities in their own way(2).
As community members, they are generously volunteering their time. Of the 26 million 18-24 year olds in the U.S., 46% had volunteered in the past year(3). However, they are not rallying around a central cause.
As voters, they are demanding accountability and accessibility as evidenced in the online movement for a non-partisan youth agenda, campaign finance reform activities and online voter registration, as well as increasing social activist protests.
As consumers, they have disposable income and spend $153 billion annually (Jupiter Communications). They are also engaging in “green” behavior. In a Gallup poll in 2000, between 80% and 90% of Americans participated in simple eco-conscious behavior like recycling and reducing energy and water usage, while 73% bought environmentally beneficial products. The Organic Trade Association estimates that organically grown food production in the U.S. is increasing at a rate of 20% a year as part of a $6.4 billion industry(4).
In a survey conducted in late 2001 by Environics International, prior to the hefty media coverage of a plethora of corporate scandals, the proportion of consumers who already reported punishing companies because of poor social performance had increased from the previous year, from 20 percent to 29 percent. A majority of shareholders even said that they would sell their shares in a company if it behaved in a socially irresponsible manner, regardless of whether the share earnings were significant. And this trend is still likely to be on the rise since such consumer activism is reflective of the opinion leaders who took the survey, and they are ahead of the general public in this area.
Another Environics survey addressing global consumer behavior identified two categories of consumers that corporations should be particularly attuned to. The mainstream consumer representative, especially consumers in the United States, was entitled the Demanding Consumer in the survey. This individual is characterized as enjoying consuming, although somewhat less than many people in developing countries.
The Demanding Consumer also gathers information about products before making a purchase and is ready to voice their complaints, thereby providing some measure of protection for themselves against dishonest corporate practices. As the largest consumer segment and the most receptive to corporate responsibility initiatives, the Demanding Consumer is a market opportunity for corporations willing to lead in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. In other words, consumers are ripe for holding corporations responsible for their environmental and social performance, both in relation to their purchases and, increasingly, above and beyond the actual product performance.The Response: The potential of this growing market of young, progressive, action-oriented people is enormous. A recent survey found that 82% of international business leaders already believe that they can derive real business value from implementing a sustainable development approach to strategy and operations(5). The tens of thousands of nonprofits groups working for social change are realizing that collaboration and connectedness is the key to effective change a nd government agencies are facilitating public-private partnerships to speed up the development of solutions that benefit both the public and the earth.
The Conclusion: We can activate the potential of this market. This is an opportunity for inter-sectoral collaboration including savvy corporations that are acknowledging the commercial impact of their civil identity and the triple-bottom line benefits to sustainable business practices and products. These multifaceted individuals (consumers-voters-activists) are not the leaders of the future: they are the current leaders—they are speaking and the sector leaders are listening.
© 2002 POP SUSTAINABILITY
