Books

The Sustainable Company: How to Create Lasting Value through Social and Environmental Performance

Average customer rating:

Worst book ever written?
informs as well as it entertains
A great primer
The business value of sustainability

The Sustainable Company: How to Create Lasting Value through Social and Environmental Performance
Chris Laszlo
Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Sustainable Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Ethics | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1597260185

Book Description

"This is not a book of fluff or feel-good case studies. It's a handbook for organizational change. The instructions are specific, potential pitfalls are highlighted, and the appendix provides a detailed discussion of outside evaluation tools." -GREEN MARKET REPORT

"The Sustainable Company offers some genuinely practical insights into what it really takes to improve stakeholder impacts." -ETHICAL CORPORATION

"Laszlo endeavors to translate social and environmental concerns into the language of marketing and corporate strategy...well-meaning executives will find much food for thought here." -PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"What Mr. Laszlo calls 'Planetary Ethics' or the integration of economic, environmental, social and high ethical objectives into long-term business strategy, is the new price of entry for corporate survival. Those who 'get' this and do it best will enjoy increasing shareholder value. I believe this book carries a critical message for today's corporate executives."-DEBORAH D. ANDERSON, PH.D., FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY WORLDWIDE, THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY

The Sustainable Company shows how to create value for shareholders while balancing responsibilities to society and the environment. Its step-by-step approach and tool-kit for managers make this book the solutions manual for the twenty-first-century manager.

Customer Reviews:

Worst book ever written?.......2007-04-26

This may be the worst book ever written. The "arguments" are not only circular, but contradict one another. Terms are poorly defined and lack continuity. The focus for change is inappropriately placed on the business side of the business/consumer relationship. I'm dumber for having read it.

informs as well as it entertains.......2006-09-08

Chris "CC Storm" Laszlo has done it again! Another best seller that informs as well as it entertains. He makes compelling arguments promoting environmental sustainability via fuel cells operating on a Slim Jim and Mellow Yellow mixture rather than Hydrogen. The author is no doubt a briliant business and social strategist, but he is a really nice guy, good looking and available too! I can't wait for the sequel coming in December: "Son of Sustainable Company". Happy reading!

A great primer.......2006-05-31

This book is an effective primer on this important cultural trend and is divided into three parts:
(1) The basic ideas behind sustainable development and value
(2) Four examples of sustainable companies
(3) Some business tools for creating and measuring stakeholder value

In Part I, Chris Laszlo presents the key concepts, history, importance of developing an increasingly conscious, sustainable and responsible business. He covers all the major elements of sustainability (such as triple bottom-line, various stakeholders, measurements, ethics etc.) but in language that does not reduce these exciting topics and trends to dull, academic abstraction. Most interesting is Part II on successful corporate models of sustainability (such as Patagonia clothing, ARCO) which give a real human face to the concepts. Many managers will find most useful the charts, graphs, models for creating, communicating and managing an effective sustainability program. Its not an MBA-level of detail, but a solid, conceptual starting point that will be appreciated to those newer to these ideas. However, I found his language a more academically labored in Part III, reducing its effectiveness to engage. Other popular books on the topic worth reading are "Natural Capitalism" and "Cradle-to-Cradle."

The business value of sustainability.......2003-10-03

This landmark work helps managers assess the business value of sustainability. Many companies are keen to show that they are responsible corporate citizens. They are taking lots of actions on the environmental and social front, but have no idea which ones are important for their businesses. This book offered me a structured management process for thinking about "stakeholder" value-at-risk and value-opportunities. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a set of practical guidelines to integrating stakeholders into their company's core activities. It helped me to make the business case for greater corporate responsibility in a language that other managers could understand

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