Learnings from Graduate Projects@Singapore

We submitted our final report at the end of last week, so the project is officially done. It was a really amazing experience and it has been an adjustment moving from being together as a team 24/7 to returning to our separate lives.

Team at Marina Bay

The formal deliverable of our project was a 70-page (inclusive of bibliography) report outlining environmental CSR in Singaporean hotels. However, the outcome of this project extends far beyond just the deliverable. During our MBA, one of our professors, Michael Parent, always closed off with a request for key learnings from each class session or ‘nuggets.’ As such, here are some of our nuggets from our experience:

• When doing a project abroad with a self-selected team, think carefully about team dynamics in terms of strengths and personalities, working and living with the same group of people for a month requires immense group 'love.' If you create an effective team you will have a lot of fun, have a great deliverable and come back with amazing stories (like us!)
• When working in a group that you trust make sure to question anything that doesn't seem totally correct, there is a good chance that the level of trust developed between members is so high that unless things are verified they can be missed under the assumption that someone else is dealing with them
• Allocate about twice as much time as you need for any task, you may encounter difficulties that you wouldn't at home such as lack of internet or printing facilities
• When working abroad you will meet many amazing people, Canadians in particular tend to have tight-knit expatriate communities. Try to connect wherever possible through university alumni associations, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and other organizations. (and bring LOTS of business cards)
• Double and triple check logistics such as accommodations, flights and transportation before you leave, being totally clear on this will make the time on the ground much less stressful
• Food can be a challenge, you will likely find there is at least one item from home that you really miss (for us it was raw vegetables)
• It is useful to know your country's history and culture fairly well, you are likely to be asked questions that you wouldn't have even through about or may not know the answers to offhand (ie. Traditional foods, official languages, size, year of confederation, governance structure and constitutional monarchy)
• Know culturally appropriate formalities (eg. Aunty, Uncle for older individuals that help you with day-to-day tasks)
• There are significant differences in gift giving between cultures, be very aware and sensitive to this
• Lastly, have fun, and take time to see some of the sights

A huge thank you to all of our supporters throughout this project:

Official Project Supporters

Contact Singapore

Patty Woo, Assistant Director

Lenny Azuree, Executive Officer

Simon Fraser University Beedie Graduate School of Business

Stephanie Bertels, Assistant Professor and Project Supervisor

David Hannah, Academic Chair, MBA Program

Daniel Shapiro, Dean

Melissa McCrae, Executive Director Graduate Programs

The Dean’s Circle

Career Management Centre

Marketing Department

Supporters and Interviewees

Canadian Chamber of Commerce Singapore

Marlene Han, President

Evelyn Wong, Director

Singapore Hotel’s Association

Margaret Heng, Executive Director

Shrestha Sook Yean, Director, Membership and Industry Services

Singapore Environmental Council (SEC)

Howard Shaw, Former Executive Director

Singapore Compact

Thomas Thomas, Executive Director

High Commission of Canada to Singapore

David Sevigny, High Commissioner of Canada

Paula Murphy Ives, Trade Commissioner

Asia Travel Guys

Gillian Guy

Accor Group

Tamara Louis

Holiday Inn Atrium

Kui Kong Yong, Assistant Engineer

InterContinental Singapore

Jackson Wong, Chief Engineer

Siloso Beach Resort

Kelvin Ng, Executive Director

Karl Fischer, Corporate Social Responsibility Executive

Sylvain Richer de Forges, Environmental and Sustainability Specialist

The Regent

Lee Baharrudin, Director of Engineering

Hotel Survey Respondents

Amara Singapore

Conrad Centennial Singapore

Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

Fairmont Singapore

Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel

Grand Hyatt Singapore

Holiday Inn Atrium

Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre

Hotel Grand Pacific, Singapore

Ibis Singapore Novena

Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen

InterContinental Singapore

Marina Bay Sands

Marina Mandarin Singapore

Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay

Pan Pacific Orchard

Pan Pacific Singapore

Park Regis Singapore

Siloso Beach Resort

The Regent Singapore

Traders Hotel, Singapore

Cities of the Future @ the Centre for Liveable Cities - Singapore!

Centre for Liveable Cities – Singapore

Entirely based on fortuitous events and Paula Murphy Ives (the extremely gracious and knowledgeable Canadian Trade Commissioner for Environmental Industries) kind invitation, I had the pleasure of attending the Centre of Liveable Cities Singapore lecture featuring Professor Alexander J.B. Zehnder, Scientific Director of the Alberta Water Research Institute, and Steffen D. Endler, Senior Vice President for Business Development and Siemens ONE.

I actually met Mr. Zehnder earlier at the networking function hosted by the Canadian High Commission in relation to the Green Building Fair, in which he told me about a completely zero emissions building he had designed in Zurich, Switzerland. After being intrigued by this concept, it was really a treat to hear more about his work and his ideas on sustainability and how it relates to the broader concept of sustainable / liveable cities.

Right away, Mr. Zehnder grabbed the attention of the room by showing us incredibly stark images of the “city of the future.” I’m not sure if any of you are sci-fi fans, but if you’ve ever heard of Star Wars (the city of Coruscant) or seen Ridley’s Scott’s Bladerunner, it gives you a sense of what these ‘darker’ cityscapes of the future might look like. And then the question was posed – what kind of city of the future do we want to live in? One with few green spaces and a constrained level of liveability, or something more attractive?

By thinking in large terms, it’s a lot easier to put our small project, focusing on one sector (hotels) into broader concepts of liveability, city-planning and overall transportation and energy infrastructure – and how this is designed, lived-in, purchased and achieved on both large and small scales.

Zehnder focused significantly on real benchmarks for achieving change, particularly his 2000 Watt Society – a concept which anchors overall sustainability measures to energy use specifically. In his lecture, he focused specifically on individual energy use, and where the dominant portion of each individual’s energy use comes from (housing, transportation, etc – eat up significant percentages). It was amazing how small changes in behaviour and choices can actually dramatically reduce these percentages, and how these are practical shifts – in many cases not involving a reduction in actual standards of living.

This whole point speaks to an underlying message of critical importance. In Zehnders words “its not about being nice…we can become more efficient, more sustainable, it looks like this, the cars are great, BMW, Toyota, and the technology can be sold, and you can make money with this…sustainability in the sense of energy efficiency, but everything that is connected with it, concepts, are economically interesting” While some advocates of sustainability focus on consumer behaviour changes, Zehnder recommends shifting behaviours sideways (asking the consumer to choose between viable alternatives), instead of backwards (e.g. asking the consumer to make a painful sacrifice), so that more efficient, sustainable choices are made:

· Instead of dying of thirst because you’re afraid of consuming bottled water, drink tap water!

· Instead of necessarily biking/walking, why not drive a Tata, or a Smart car?

· Why buy a regular apartment, when you could buy a hyper-efficient, eco friendly condo which will save you money on your amenities?

Zehnder, really emphasized practical, realistic, economically viable solutions to the problems of sustainability, anchored to specific goalposts (such as the 2000 Watt Society measure). Amazing to hear his insights, and there are many ways it connects back to the work we’ve done on the hotel sector. Some of the finest examples of green practices in the hotel sector began by tackling the ‘low hanging fruit first’ and gradually accelerated their momentum by realizing cost savings, greater levels of customer appreciation – all these very practical benefits that could easily end up in the most rational business pitch.

This is not to say that aren’t challenges that extend beyond this: what about projects that are not economically viable in the immediate short term? What about green improvements that make a difference, but that customers don’t value? What metrics should we use to measure progress? These are issues that are still challenges for the sector, but the optimistic, practical, pragmatic and economically conscious approach advocated by Zehnder is a refreshing way to approach these problems.

Learn more about the Centre for Liveable Cities Singapore:

http://gsi.g2m.sg/emails/CLC/issue09.html

Learn more about Prof. Alexander J.B. Zehnder

http://clc.org.sg/index.php?q=2000-watt-society-metropolis-future

http://www.biooekonomierat.de/alexander-zehnder-permanent-guest.html