Rogat+-+Memo+-+Describing+Places

Michelle Rogat

Describing Places - will obtain more concise information through case study and interviews


 * describe luxury places - the cc, golf course, restaurant, hotel - describe them, how they are viewed, the comfort they provide, the amount they waste because they're goal is luxury and how they could be "low -hanging fruit" as to making places more sustainable.

Private Clubs - mostly country clubs > -so it seems that as long as there are a small amount of people in a club that would like to see something happen, there are good chances that the rest of the club is along the same thinking, this could bode very well for sustainability depending on their views of the environment (Singerling 1997)
 * have management and members that have been there for years, and because of that they have longer-lasting stakeholders that make a difference in whether projects succeed because they are in it for the long haul and truly care about the progress of a plan or reaching a goal (Singerling 1997)
 * the stakeholders surrounding country clubs have been invested in the clubs for years, and the point of the club a lot of the time is to socialize and have your own private club to hang out and relax at. This creates a community of people that care about each other and about the club, because its "their club". (Singerling 1997)
 * the harmony of opinions of all stakeholders on what is important to the success of a priv club is astonishing, and can't really be found in other industries
 * as of 1997 there was little research done that focused on club management and private clubs themselves, and club employees were afraid of taking part in surveys and research in case information was released that might work against their goals or might send the wrong message (Singerling 1997)
 * is made up of elite members, and new members have to go through a screening process and get accepted to exclusive or private country clubs, these elite members are normally of a higher social standing/class
 * can be described as "low hanging fruit" in terms of the businesses that should be leading the way in sustainability because they are a model of an invested stakeholder community with the right resources to get projects done
 * they are also great for making a broader impact because their greatest "leverage" point is their elite members - hopefully by making the club more sustainable it will be noticed and create a lasting effect on members and they will want to pass on these practices to their own businesses and so on

An Incubator of Sustainability - Should describe the almost utopian surroundings and situation in which a shift to sustainability would be very successful
 * stakeholders are informed, care about the business or community, and are involved in what goes on and the decisions being made - so almost a democracy or a structure resembling one
 * people have good and productive interactions with each other within the structural organization of a business - there are opportunities for ideas and opinions to be heard, especially without repercussion
 * a place that always sees the room for improvement
 * has the means to measure the progress of a project, and it's effectiveness
 * - might be able to get more out of "Truth about Green Business" and alike texts