Tyler Peyman
Individual Assignment 1

A Beating Hear for Sustainable Brewing: For the Many, Not the Few 

By: Mike Townsend and Kevin Jones

This article starts off by explaining that the brewing industry is going all out for sustainability and that is good news considering brewing is a global industry generating a huge ecological footprint.  The focus of the article is in Ontario, Canada where their reputation for craft beers is well-known.  The industry for beer in Ontario accounts for 6% of the total market for beer and is currently rising.  Projections of this market is to be tripled by the year 2025, yielding over 25,00 jobs and increasing the economic impact over time.

However, there are problems that will arise for the production of beer at such a high demand.  There are risks and constraints such as market overheating, and impacts to resource availability.  This will also mean that the overall ecological footprint will be higher if certain steps are not taken and can affect the local infrastructure and communities.  Luckily, as I stated above, brewing industries are all about sustainability and can likely achieve its high demand for products following a sustainable, business model known as the 20 by 25 model.

BLOOM and Earthshine developed the 20 by 25 model for Ontario's craft beer industry to rise to the top and achieve a sustainable 20 percent market share by 2025.  The model focuses on three key dimensions: Selling the most sustainable craft beer in the world, Produced by the most sustainable craft brewers in the world, and enabled by a supportive ecosystem and policy landscape.  The way this works is that craft breweries will operate within their local environmental, community and resource limits using a closed-loop operation powered by renewable energies, proactive watershed stewardship and responsible by-product management.  This is a new a way of doing business as it will create jobs and shared prosperity.

I chose this article because I can relate it to what we have been discussing in class.  For our team project assignment, one of the sections we will be covering is sustainability within the company we are researching.  By choosing this article, I was able to see how different companies incorporate sustainability in their business model and mission.  Also, when our guest lecturer, Rebecca Harris, was present in class last week, she talked about what it is like to be an entrepreneur and having ideas that people need instead of want.  That way, the product or service you invented will target everyone rather than a select group of people.  This article relates to this because if one brewing company begins using the 20 by 25 business model and are successful, other companies will join in.  Then, most brewing companies will be operating on a sustainable level.

Link to Article: http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/business_case/mike_townsend/beating_heart_sustainable_brewing_many_not_few


For the upcoming individual assignment 2, I plan to interview my roommate, who is a business management major and is currently a junior.  I plan to interview him within the next week and begin posting a blog before the assignment is due.

For the upcoming assignment 3, I plan to come up with a business plan in the sustainability industry.  Over the course of the semester I will gather more knowledge to be able to complete this assignment.

For upcoming assignment 4, I will first attend an event with the instructors permission.  The event I will attend will be determined later due to baseball schedule.  Once I have a clear set schedule, I will be able to finish this assignment. 

For upcoming assignment 5, I plan to reflect on Rebecca Harris's guest lecture because I gained much knowledge during this class period about Entrepreneurship.  I will complete this assignment soon while the information I have gained is still fresh in mind.