????“當(dāng)初我產(chǎn)品開始進(jìn)入沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart）銷售時(shí)，許多極端環(huán)保主義者感到失望之極，”石原農(nóng)場（Stonyfield Farm）首席執(zhí)行官加里?赫西伯格說。“他們說，‘沃爾瑪是個(gè)魔鬼’。可在我看來，其實(shí)它是個(gè)天使。”

????周二，在《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）主辦的“綠色頭腦風(fēng)暴大會”（Brainstorm Green Conference）上，赫西伯格作為嘉賓，在“可持續(xù)之路的邊界”分會場發(fā)表了以上觀點(diǎn)。他的一席話充分說明，綠色商業(yè)近年來經(jīng)歷了觀念上的巨大改變——它們不再視消費(fèi)品巨頭為敵人，而是優(yōu)質(zhì)的合作伙伴。

????導(dǎo)致這種變化的一部分原因在于，諸如沃爾瑪這樣的企業(yè)已經(jīng)改變了思維模式，開始在很多層面上接受可持續(xù)發(fā)展的理念。同時(shí)也是因?yàn)橐恍┬⌒蜕a(chǎn)商認(rèn)識到，與巨頭牽手是規(guī)模化發(fā)展的唯一道路。

????一同列席的嘉賓還包括沃爾瑪執(zhí)行副總裁兼首席營銷官邁克?諾登，以及谷歌（Google）的可持續(xù)發(fā)展負(fù)責(zé)人里科?尼德曼，后者詳細(xì)介紹了谷歌投資于清潔能源的情況。嘉賓們一致認(rèn)為，與大公司攜手合作是在綠色領(lǐng)域取得長足發(fā)展的關(guān)鍵。

????至于如何實(shí)現(xiàn)這個(gè)目標(biāo)，特別是在定價(jià)方面，嘉賓們的觀點(diǎn)不盡相同。諾登反復(fù)強(qiáng)調(diào)說，對沃爾瑪而言，讓大眾接受綠色食品的關(guān)鍵在于降低價(jià)格。他說：“我們認(rèn)為，優(yōu)質(zhì)的食品不應(yīng)該意味著更高的價(jià)格。客戶也告訴我們，他們不愿意總是多花錢去購買綠色食品。”

????赫西伯格并不認(rèn)同這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)，他表示，讓老百姓接受綠色食品的關(guān)鍵是把他們的注意力從價(jià)格轉(zhuǎn)移到質(zhì)量。他說：“我們要打破廉價(jià)的神話。”據(jù)赫西伯格介紹，他們付給奶農(nóng)的價(jià)格比其他公司高，生產(chǎn)過程也更環(huán)保，因此毛利率低于其他酸奶制造商，但凈利潤卻高于競爭對手。“這是因?yàn)槲覀兊目蛻糁艺\度更高，而且我們的市場推廣費(fèi)相比競爭對手來說簡直微不足道。人們可以訪問石原農(nóng)場的網(wǎng)站（YoTube），看看那些正在悠閑吃草的奶牛。”

????諾登承認(rèn)，沃爾瑪在自身的可持續(xù)發(fā)展方面取得了很大進(jìn)步，但在引導(dǎo)消費(fèi)者關(guān)注綠色環(huán)保方面做得還不夠。他介紹說，沃爾瑪正在考慮增加綠色指標(biāo)來評估供應(yīng)商，有可能明年就會啟動這一方案。這種做法將會產(chǎn)生巨大的影響。只有魔鬼、或者說只有天使才能辦到。

????譯者：珠珠

????"A lot of eco-fascists in my world were very upset when I started selling to Wal-Mart," says Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farms. They said "'This is the devil.' But this is the angel in my world."

????Speaking as part of the "Boundaries of Sustainability" panel at Fortune's Brainstorm Green conference on Tuesday, Hirshberg's comment shows just how much green business has changed in recent years. Instead of seeing huge consumer companies as the enemy, they have become the preferred partner.

????That's partly because of the huge changes in the mindset of companies like Wal-Mart (WMT), which have embraced sustainability on many levels. But it's also because many of the smaller producers have realized it's the only way to scale.

????The panelists, which also included Wal-Mart EVP and CMO Duncan Mac Naughton and Google (GOOG) sustainability head Rick Needham, who shared details of the company's investment in clean energy assets, all agreed that large company partnerships are key to making progress in the green area.

????But they disagreed on how to get there—primarily when it came to price. Mac Naughton, EVP and CMO at Wal-Mart, reiterated that for Wal-Mart, the key to making sustainable food work is its cost. "We believe that good food shouldn't cost more," he said. "But our customer tells us that they're not always willing to pay more."

????Hirshberg disagreed, saying the key to getting people to embrace sustainability was to move the focus from price to quality. "It's about banishing the myth of cheap," he said, noting that while his gross margins are lower than other yogurt makers because he pays his farmers more and uses sustainable practices, his net margins are higher. "I've made it up by building consumer loyalty," he says. "My marketing spend is a rounding error [compared with competitors,]" he says. "But you can go on Stonyfield's web site (YoTube), and watch cows chewing their cud."

????Naughton admitted that Wal-Mart has made more progress in greening its own company than in convincing the consumer why they should care about sustainability, and said the company was considering adding sustainability metrics to the way it evaluates suppliers, possibly next year. That would have a huge impact—in the way that only a devil—or is it angel?—can.