Carlson on Sustainability to Focus on Driving Demand for Green Goods

While the trees outside are peaking a bright orange, red, and yellow this month, inside the Carlson School of Management "going green" will be piquing the interest of Carlson on Sustainability conference attendees. Business leaders, academics, and policy makers from around the world will discuss the role of marketing in fostering the adoption of sustainable products and practices at the conference held October 20-22.

"Roughly 98 percent of research funding devoted to sustainability is spent on the creation of new products and processes," says Carlson School Professor Akshay Rao, General Mills Chair in Marketing and conference chair. "Less than two percent is spent on developing an understanding of how buyers can be persuaded to change their attitudes and behaviors toward the adoption of new, environmentally friendly products and processes."

According to Rao, for sustainability initiatives to succeed, attention must be turned to generating demand for sustainable products and processes. Carlson on Sustainability is designed to do just that by bringing together experts from industry, academia, and the public sector to address the challenge of changing consumer and customer behavior.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Arizona State University Professor and noted author Robert Cialdini are will deliver the conference's two keynote addresses. Other presenters include Doug Baker, CEO, Ecolab, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairman of the Board, Carlson Companies, Inc., and Jerry Lynch, vice president of sustainability, General Mills. A complete list of presenters is available on the conference website.

Registration for Carlson on Sustainability is still open.

Carlson on Sustainability is cosponsored by the Center for International Business Education and Research at the Carlson School, Best Buy, Wells Fargo, the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, and the Center for Integrative Leadership.