Green to gold how smart companies use environmental strategy to innovate, create value, and build competitive advantage /

This book explains what every executive should know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and the business world. Based on the authors' rich experience with forward thinking companies around the world, it demonstrates how corporations create value by building environmental think...

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Main Author: Esty, Daniel C.
Other Authors: Winston, Andrew S.
Format: Book
Language: English
Published: New Haven, [Conn.] : Yale University Press, 2006.
Physical Description: xv, 366 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
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Online Access: Table of contents only
Contributor biographical information
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Summary: This book explains what every executive should know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and the business world. Based on the authors' rich experience with forward thinking companies around the world, it demonstrates how corporations create value by building environmental thinking into their overall business strategies. The authors provide clear, how to advice for making sense of environmental challenges, and they offer detailed case examples of how companies achieve both environmental and business success, establishing an "eco-advantage" in the marketplace. This book is written for executives at all levels and in businesses of all kinds. It guides the business leader through issues of pollution and natural resource management and the growing pressure from outside stakeholders to strive for "sustainability." While highlighting successful strategies, the authors also examine why environmental initiatives may fail despite best intentions. With practical suggestions for incorporating environmental thinking into core business strategy, and with a clear focus on execution, not legalisms, platitudes, and abstractions, they present a thoughtful, pragmatic roadmap that shows how companies can use environmental pressures and responsibilities to spark innovation and drive growth.
Item Description: Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-348) and index.
Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Introduction : The environmental lens -- pt. 1. Preparing for a new world. -- 1. Eco-Advantage : issues and opportunities for business in an environmentally sensitive world -- 2. Natural drivers of the Green Wave : environmental problems and how they shape markets -- 3. Who's behind the Green Wave? : Stakeholders and the power they wield -- pt. 2. Strategies for building Eco-Advantage. -- 4. Managing the downside : green-to-gold plays to reduce cost and risk -- 5. Building the upside : green-to-gold plays to drive revenues and create intangible value -- pt. 3. What WaveRiders do -- 6. The Eco-Advantage mindset : looking through an environmental lens -- 7. Eco-tracking : understanding your company's environmental "footprint" -- 8. Redesigning your world : designing for the environment and "greening" the supply chain -- 9. Inspiring an Eco-Advantage culture : creating an organizational focus on environmental stewardship -- pt. 4. Putting it all together -- 10. Why environmental initiatives fail : pitfalls to avoid on the way to Eco-Advantage -- 11. Taking action : execution for sustained competitive advantage -- 12. Eco-Advantage strategy : key Eco-Advantage plays, tools, and plans -- appendix 1. Additional resources -- appendix 2. Methodological overview -- appendix 3. Most relevant tools for each green-to-gold play -- Notes -- Index.
This book explains what every executive should know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and the business world. Based on the authors' rich experience with forward thinking companies around the world, it demonstrates how corporations create value by building environmental thinking into their overall business strategies. The authors provide clear, how to advice for making sense of environmental challenges, and they offer detailed case examples of how companies achieve both environmental and business success, establishing an "eco-advantage" in the marketplace. This book is written for executives at all levels and in businesses of all kinds. It guides the business leader through issues of pollution and natural resource management and the growing pressure from outside stakeholders to strive for "sustainability." While highlighting successful strategies, the authors also examine why environmental initiatives may fail despite best intentions. With practical suggestions for incorporating environmental thinking into core business strategy, and with a clear focus on execution, not legalisms, platitudes, and abstractions, they present a thoughtful, pragmatic roadmap that shows how companies can use environmental pressures and responsibilities to spark innovation and drive growth.
Introduction : The environmental lens -- pt. 1. Preparing for a new world -- 1. Eco-Advantage : issues and opportunities for business in an environmentally sensitive world -- 2. Natural drivers of the Green Wave : environmental problems and how they shape markets -- 3. Who's behind the Green Wave? : stakeholders and the power they wield -- pt. 2. Strategies for building Eco-Advantage -- 4. Managing the downside : green-to-gold plays to reduce cost and risk -- 5. Building the upside : green-to-gold plays to drive revenues and create intangible value -- pt. 3. What WaveRiders do -- 6. The Eco-Advantage mindset : looking through an environmental lens -- 7. Eco-tracking : understanding your company's environmental "footprint" -- 8. Redesigning your world : designing for the environment and "greening" the supply chain -- 9. Inspiring an Eco-Advantage culture : creating an organizational focus on environmental stewardship -- pt. 4. Putting it all together -- 10. Why environmental initiatives fail : pitfalls to avoid on the way to Eco-Advantage -- 11. Taking action : execution for sustained competitive advantage -- 12. Eco-Advantage strategy : key Eco-Advantage plays, tools, and plans -- Appendix 1. Additional resources -- Appendix 2. Methodological overview -- Appendix 3. Most relevant tools for each green-to-gold play.
Physical Description: xv, 366 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-348) and index.
ISBN: 9780300119978
0300119976