New Business Models and Metrics for Water

11/11/10 • 25 min

Dysfunctional water and sanitation infrastructure can be seen strewn all across the developing world. Wells, pumps, and toilets fall into disrepair and areas once pronounced “covered” are again confronted by problems resulting from a lack of clean drinking water and sanitation. This exacerbates the challenge of achieving the Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation. In this audio interview, part of a Stanford Center for Social Innovation series on water, Water for People CEO Ned Breslin talks with Stanford MBA student Ashish Jhina about performance metrics, planning, and financing practices aimed at supporting a longer term vision for water and sanitation infrastructure. He stresses the importance of setting appropriate tariffs and of budgeting for inevitable operational and maintenance costs from the outset. He explains how new business models could catalyze local entrepreneurial involvement in sanitation thereby making efforts to improve sanitation coverage more successful and sustainable.

Edward D. (Ned) Breslin joined Water For People as its director of international programs in January 2006, and was appointed acting CEO in late 2008. The board hired him as chief executive officer on May 13, 2009. Ned was first introduced to the challenges of water supply when living in the Chalbi Desert of northern Kenya in 1987, linked to a Lutheran World Relief program through his university – St. Lawrence. He subsequently worked for a range of local and international water and sanitation sector NGOs in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, including positions at the Mvula Trust and as country representative for WaterAid in Mozambique, before joining Water For People.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/new_business_models_and_metrics_for_water

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/new_business_models_and_metrics_for_water

Previous Episode

Can Defaults Save Lives

Retirement plans, green energy, organ donations — how can defaults help you save money, save the environment, and save lives? What difference does it make if you have the choice to opt-out now or opt-in later? Eric Johnson, Columbia Business School professor examines the powerful role that defaults hold in changing behavior and the way we construct our values. He offers insight on how to design defaults to maximize impact and presents common pitfalls to avoid. Johnson spoke at Small Steps, Big Leaps, a special research briefing convened by Professors Francis Flynn and Jennifer Aaker and their colleagues in the field of prosocial behavior. They presented practical, and cost-effective solutions for encouraging donations, volunteerism, social activism, and other responsible, caring, and prosocial behaviors.

Eric J. Johnson is a marketing professor at Columbia University’s School of Business. His research interests are in consumer and managerial decision-making and electronic commerce. He is among the most widely cited scholars in marketing, according to the Thompson Scientific Highly Cited ratings. His work on electronic commerce has been published in the Communications of the ACM, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Management Science. He has presented his work before the Federal Trade Commission, and has been quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Readers Digest, National Public Radio‘s Morning Edition, Marketplace, and the CBS Evening News. He is a coauthor of two books: Decision Research: A Field Guide and The Adaptive Decision Maker. His research in behavioral economics has appeared in Science, Journal of Economic Theory, as well as in two books. Earlier work examining the role of affect and similarity in understanding risk in papers has been published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

In addition, Johnson is the director of the Columbia Center for Excellence in E-Business, and co-director of the Center for Decision Sciences at Columbia University. Professor Johnson serves on editorial boards of several journals, including the Journal of Consumer Psychology (former associate editor), Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Interactive Marketing and Marketing Letters.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/can_defaults_save_lives

Next Episode

Money Makes People Less Socially Focused

With money on the mind, people work harder and longer before asking for help and are more reticent to help others. This self-sufficiency orientation elicits less prosocial behavior, such as the willingness to volunteer or donate to causes. Marketing professor Kathleen Vohs’ research finds that money acts as a psychological resource that changes people’s motivations. In a series of lab experiments, primed subjects subtly exposed to the concept of money are more motivated by their own goals and are less socially focused. Vohs spoke at Small Steps, Big Leaps, a special research briefing convened by Professors Francis Flynn and Jennifer Aaker and their colleagues in the field of prosocial behavior. They presented practical and cost-effective solutions for encouraging donations, volunteerism, social activism, and responsible, caring and other prosocial behaviors.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/kathleen_vohs_8212_money_makes_people_less_socially_focused