A Green Opportunity Or Threat To Health Clubs?

The Coming Perfect Storm Is Green
The opportunity for a perfect storm of positive contribution to society is on the doorstep of the club industry.

It consists of five green “waves”.  They have not yet come together - but are on a collision course.

The Green “Opporthreat”
When these five green trends collide then form a super wave which is an “opporthreat” to the clubs industry.

An “opporthreat” turns into an opportunity or a threat depending on how you as a club owner and how the club industry associations respond to it.

These five green waves are:

• Wave One: Corporate Green Commitment
• Wave Two: Green Necessity For Health Clubs
• Wave Three: Health Club Communities
• Wave Four: Health Clubs Leading Communities
• Wave Five: Clubs As A Natural Distribution System For Green

They will be an extraordinary opportunity for some clubs and a devastating threat to others. The response of leading industry associations may tip the balance one way or the other.

The First Green Wave-Corporate Green Commitment
Over the last two years, every major business magazine in the English speaking world, in every issue is talking Green, as are the journals from the major business schools.

Peter Drucker, the deepest and most prolific business writer, said only way a responsible manager can plan for the future is to be aware of the trends that are now happening which have not been fully capitalized on, and to then strategize how to take advantage of them to ride their energy. ‘How will we be green?’ is on the planning agenda of business thinkers everywhere.

Green Means Profit
All major building construction in every major U.S. city will be seeking full Green Building Certification. The investors rationale is that non Green Certified buildings will have a lower multiple of value in any future sale. Green-certified buildings produce an 8.5 % increase in effective rent.  The incremental value of a green structure is an estimated $5.1 million more than an ordinary building.

Investing In Green
Silicon Valley venture capitalists left silicon for green about five years ago. Venture capitalists are pouring $2 billion into 96 companies in Europe, North America, China and India in the 2nd quarter of 2008.

The non club corporate world has three reasons for going green- first, it is a marketing imperative: second, it can be profitable; and thirdly, it you build non green buildings , products and services they will likely have a reduced value.

Clubs Are Starting To Green
New clubs are beginning to catch on and build green. The Eco Fit club in Brazil an excellent example of a sustainable club.  Architectural firms specializing in clubs have produced useful materials for any club going green, for example Fabiano Designs in New Jersey.

What About You?
Is your club prepared to go green?  The next post in this series will address why going green is becoming a necessity for health clubs.

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Will Phillips is the President and founder of REX. He has over 30 years of practical experience as a management consultant.

In the past fifteen years his work has focused on broad scale organizational change projects and developing internal change agents.