Business Surveys

The importance of alternative water supplies, such as water reuse, brackish groundwater and desalination, continues to grow as organizations look to build diversified, resilient water supplies.

Distributed generation, the low price of natural gas and modern customer information systems represent growth opportunities for the electric industry even as security concerns are on the rise and legacy power generation sources cede their prominence to new technology. Those are the top findings in Black & Veatch’s 2016 Strategic Directions: Electric Industry Report, the company’s annual review of the issues affecting the industry.

Ingersoll Rand is again listed on the FTSE4Good Index Series, which measures the performance of companies demonstrating strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.

T. Rowe Price’s 2016 Parents, Kids & Money Survey, which sampled 1,086 parents nationally and their 8 to 14 year old kids, found that many kids (62%) expect their parents to cover the cost of “whatever college I want to go to.” Yet most parents (65%) will only be able to contribute some to the cost of college. And the results suggest that student loans can lead to increased anxiety and financial stress. Parents with their own student loans are more likely to lose sleep over college costs (49% vs. 40%) and are significantly more likely to have credit card debt (67% vs. 54%) and payday loans (19% vs. 7%).

Brown-Forman Corporation (BF-A) (BF-B) was named a top-scoring company, receiving a score of 100, in the 2016 Disability Equality Index (DEI®) survey, conducted by the US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).

See yourself or know someone interested in advising GRI’s Board on strategic decisions and contributing to GRI’s work?

For the first time in history, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - adopted in 2015 - provide a clear global framework and call to action for business, government, and civil society to collaborate on resolving the world’s biggest challenges. As voices around the world call for leadership to tackle poverty, inequality and climate change, the role of business has been the subject of much talk – but not yet enough action.

Across much of the 2016 Strategic Directions: Water Industry Report, a common trend is that high-profile events impacting water supply and distribution networks have dramatically raised awareness of operational challenges but also demonstrate an opportunity to change decades-long funding trends.

Adoption of smart city initiatives appears to be dividing most city governments into two camps – those that opt for incremental add-on or pilot programs, and those that pursue some form of root-level master planning. There are advantages and disadvantages to each course.

As utilities are challenged to minimize rate increases while balancing limited budgets with competing projects, chronic underinvestment, deferred maintenance and compliance mandates, one solution to consider is the public-private partnership (PPP) model.