2degrees

Executives at a big electronics firm were in a quandary. With the sluggish economy, they were shipping fewer items, but they still had the same delivery contracts, meaning they were sending out trucks half-empty and needlessly burning fuel.

Seeking a greener solution, they did something that their kids do every day but grownups have been slower to embrace — they tapped into the collective knowledge of their peers on a social networking web site.

This isn't your typical Facebook or MySpace network, of course. The company logged into an exclusive business-to-business site called 2degreesnetwork. There, it was able to set up a blind challenge among business leaders from around the world to find a solution.