Book Description
Walking the Talk represents a first: major business leaders arguing that sustainability is not only compatible with but crucial to business success. Drawing on nearly 70 case histories of companies around the world, the authors show how the three pillars of sustainable development -- economic growth, ecological balance, and social progress -- work to improve the bottom line even as they create a better world.
Customer Reviews:
Credibility.......2005-09-26
One of the authors of this book is Mr. Philip Watts, chairman of Shell until 2003. He left the company after it was revealed that under his mandate, Shell has inflated its oil reserves by 20%, with his knowledge and influence. Although the book seems consistent and based on real facts, his presence as an author make it a bit unreliable. I did not realize he is one of the authors. If I knew it, I would never buy it. Check "Chapter 2 - The Right Framework", particulalrly the item "Transparency and Accountability" and then check the reports on Mr Watts' activities and behaviour at Shell. How can one trust on what reads??
Read this book if you want to improve your bottom line.......2004-03-04
Business has always had as its prime responsibility making profits and this is what most stakeholders seek from their investment. It is only when business is convinced that it will make better profits over the long term by being socially and environmentally responsible that we will see the changes that are required to leave a better world to our children. It was therefore like a breath of fresh air to discover this book written by influential businessmen showing that corporate social and environmental practice will improve both the bottom line and the planet. More than 160 companies have joined the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and are trying to run their companies in the best interests of human society and the natural environment. Emerging from the vision of a small group of business leaders prior to the 1992 Earth Summit, the WBCSD published this book prior to the 2002 Johannesburg Summit. They found that the term 'sustainable development' is unknown to most of the world's inhabitants and that it is mildly annoying to almost all environment actors and thinkers but some corporations were drawn to it because it is not anti-growth and serious economic growth is required to meet the needs of the current population. Moreover, the issues of sustaining a planet are similar to those of sustaining a corporation - primarily managing a balancing act between the short-term and the long-term - and getting it wrong in either direction can mean extinction. Thinking in terms of sustainable development opens up new ways to grow and led to the more business friendly term of 'sustainable growth'.
As the market is good at reflecting short-term economic realities but poor at reflecting long-term economic realities and environmental realities the WBCSD prepared a report for the 1992 Summit calling for full-cost pricing, taxes and tradable permits rather than regulation, phasing out of subsidies, and accounting changes to reflect environmental scarcity. However, adoption of these measures would result in higher prices and the other two pillars of society - civil society and government - needed to accept such a change. Each sector tends to wait on the other; politicians do not want to become unpopular by pushing for higher prices nor do consumers want to spend more. "There will not be real progress until business, government, and civil society team up in new and dynamic partnerships."
Adoption of the phrase 'eco-efficiency' was a conceptual breakthrough that allowed moral and ethical practice to be linked to good business practice and set an agenda of producing more with less - a package that would make companies more competitive. Companies could be more profitable while keeping a human face and as few companies were prepared for consumer's ability to get their concerns into board rooms, managing a company's reputation became a central element in managing a corporation. This led to companies adding an environmental section to their annual financial report and reporting on the triple bottom line - financial, environmental and social. This has already brought about some radical changes. "Companies that once sold paint to car companies now sell the service of painting cars. So where once they improved their bottom line by maximizing cans of paint sold, they now improve the bottom line by minimizing the use of paint per car." DuPont decided that if it wanted its business to be sustainable it had to improve earnings by using fewer raw materials. This lead to the concept of shareholder value added (SVA) per pound of production and the goal of doubling the SVA of Kevlar fiber over the next five years. "Dupont Flooring Services has developed a system to offer certified installation, patented maintenance and end-of-life recycling to the already world-class carpet offering of DuPont Antron." At DuPont the question of whether sustainability improves the bottom line is not asked any more: "That is how we will get our bottom line, and that is how we will create value for our shareholders and for society."
By devoting 2% of its annual capital investment to environmental performance, a Swiss-based company has a vision of being a 'zero-equivalent carbon dioxide emission company' through a 5% pa annual reduction of energy per unit, increased use of alternative and renewable energy and by planting 35,000 hectares of land with trees to compensate for the remaining emissions, with a projected saving of $1 billion between 1994 and 2010. "Thanks to these measures, the planet has been spared the burden of another 100-megawatt power plant; the water we have saved could quench the thirst of 50 million people a year. We are using 28% less electricity and 45% less water than in 1994 for the same output. This translates, with a large increase in volume today, into a saving of $50 million in 2000 alone."
This book has 67 case studies that present current leading edge thinking. For a company that believes that it will remain competitive by neglecting environmental issues, this book will be an eye-opener. For others it is impossible to read this book without coming away with ideas for improving performance and the bottom line.
a persuasive business case.......2003-04-30
In the next society', observes Peter Drucker, 'the biggest challenge for the large company - especially for the multinational-may be its social legitimacy: its values, its missions, its vision.' (quoted on P. 128 of Walking the Talk).
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is an association of over 160 large companies who believe that the imperatives of making a profit are compatible with "... [running] their companies in the best interests of human society and the natural environment, now and in the future."
The book seeks to explore the opportunities and problems in doing so, and to describe the progress made over the last ten years. It is overtly evangelical, seeking to recruit more successful businesses (and specifically their CEOs) to the cause of sustainability as the authors define it. The authors are writing within a mental model that believes in the benefits of free markets, globalization, continuing economic growth and in the contemporary model of business. Although they recognize that there are alternative mental models, their primary purpose is not to address these, but to persuade those who share their broad views (which would include the vast majority of business people) that a concern for environmental sustainability and social justice is good business - that pursuit of these wider goals is the best way of ensuring a healthy bottom line now and in the future.
The book is well argued within its framework. More important, it carries the names of three of the world's most senior Chief Executives, which gives it immense clout in its avowed task of persuading other CEOs to joint the sustainability movement.
A 'foundation' chapter, which describes the business case for sustainability, is followed by a brief overview of each of ten key elements in moving toward sustainability, with each chapter illustrated with detailed case studies (significantly, they are nearly all companies and utilities which supply to industrial markets).
In building their case, they identify the dilemmas, and particularly the issue of how to balance concern for the future with prudence in the present. They also note that current market failures (failure to price for 'externalities', perverse subsidies, inappropriate tax regimes) make it more difficult to persuade many companies that pursuit of sustainability is in their best interest. In consequence, they call for partnership with government to correct these problems, and describe experience to date and needs for the future.
The 'ten building blocks' therefore include chapters on The Right Framework - what conditions are needed for business success truly to reflect sustainable operation - and From Dialogue to Partnership - how to enter partnership with the full range of stakeholders.
Too much of the literature on sustainability is taken up with immoderate attack on business and globalization - often with the inference that it is inherently evil - and equally immoderate defence of the (implied) perfection of the present state of globalization and behaviour of companies. It is therefore very refreshing to have an impeccable business source that acknowledges the move to sustainability as important business that is still in its early stages and is prepared to describe the successes, failings, dilemmas and rewards on the journey to sustainability.
Given their objective, there are some important and difficult issues that the authors do not tackle. For example, Hamilton in Growth Fetish, points to:
* the inadequacy of economic measures of progress,
* the importance of a distinction between growth and development and
* the evils of a framework that systematically promotes over-consumption.
These issues need to be argued, and could have very serious implications for business, but they are not the subject of this book.
Those who have a radically different view of the current business system and who disagree with the authors' views on globalization may well see the book as simply offering symptomatic solutions without tackling the real issues. They will none the less take comfort from the fact that community protests about unacceptable business activities (environmental degradation, comfort to repressive regimes, sweatshop labour) clearly send signals that influence the behaviour of corporate decision makers.
A fascinating insight into better business practise........2002-11-24
This book will be of interest to anyone remotely curious about economics, finance, society and progress. It is a concrete and realistic account of how businesses can engage in a medium/long term win-win game, benefiting both sustainable development and companies. It shows the evolution in business practise, and the future trend it is likely to take because of the new dimension of competitively in such troubled times: sustainability.
A clear and transparent account of how to achieve it (and what the past and current attempts are) is made through theoretical definitions of eco-efficiency, corporate social responsibility, the role of innovation, the attempt to control market failures, and make both frameworks and consumer choice allies in achieving more environmentally and socially viable economic growth. Those are illustrated by 66 case studies ranging from all sectors and countries. It dares to face many different scenarios so as to recognise possible costs or tradeoffs, but manages to prove the overwhelming victory of the business case for sustainable development.
The importance of this book, setting the trend for the next 60 years or so, comes from the fact that it was written by credible businessman. Their vision on today's and tomorrow's business practise is sharp. As a student at the London School of Economics, concentrating on how markets can bring more efficient solutions to poverty, corruption and environmental crisis, this book comes in as one of my absolute favourites. It is easy to read, and very actual. Though there aren't any easy answers to the problems it tackles, the book provides an important insight of the role of businesses in achieving sustainable development, and the clear advantages that emanate from doing so.
Read before walking!.......2002-11-18
First of all I should declare my interest and bias: I was involved in the production of the book. But this is also an advantage. I know first hand what the authors wanted to convey - a serious sense of the responsibility and opportunities for business to make globalization and markets work for all and our environment. This book engages in one of the broadest review of the issues of sustainable development as perceived by engaged business leaders. From the "technocratic" approaches to material efficiency and minimizing environmental impacts and risks to the "soft" and daunting issues of fighting poverty through enterprise and wealth creation. It also does not duck the questions of corporate accountability and market reforms.
Plenty of books have covered the issues of globalization but most have an anti-business perspective. Here at last we have a powerful business view.
As business people the authors take a lot of space to provide evidence, from their own organizations and like-minded peers, in the form of case studies. They also look under the top line of financial sustainability indices and provide exclusive statistics of business behavior from the 2002 survey that is at the basis of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
Any downside to this book? Yes - It begs the question why the companies next door are not yet following the lead. If they were to "read the talk" would they also "walk the talk"?
Book Description
When it comes to business growth, bigger is not always better. The key to achieving growth is to change the way we think about it. Genuine growth has more to do with reaching maximum potential than reaching maximum size. Based on ten years of research and dozens of personal interviews by the author, Bigger Isn't Always Better identifies seven key habits of mind that lead to real growth, and shows, through many examples, how they have been applied successfully. Examples include Darcy Williams at Nike, who championed a range of products for women that did not fit into the established market segments (men) of her employer; Bill Greenwood of Burlington Northern, who found a way to turn truckers, his railroad's most difficult competitors, into its best customers; Al Bru, who eliminated trans fats from Pepsico's Frito-Lay snack foods and got health-conscious consumers to embrace the products; and Jane Friedman, HarperCollins publisher, who was determined to give her company a brand identity and reduce its dependence on a few blockbuster books. Combining real-life stories and insightful analysis, Bigger Isn't Always Better shows how to move an organization forward -- to grow smarter, not fatter.
Customer Reviews:
Bigger Isn't Always Better.......2007-07-15
Often in business, we spend so much time and effort on making our business bigger, adding new products, and focusing on stock market prices that we forget to ask ourselves if this growth is actually helping our business or if it is slowly draining our resources until we are no longer productive.
Bigger Isn't Always Better examines this issue and suggests that growth is not necessarily about getting bigger. Bigness is not sustainable. Instead, the author suggests that business look at growth as moving forward and continuously progressing. This kind of growth is purposeful, thoughtfully planned with the intention of bettering the business' products and customer services.
There are quite a few gems in this book. I found the descriptions of the 21 mind bugs particularly useful. Mind bugs are common ways that we think and things that we tell ourselves that distort reality and act as hurdles to healthy growth. I also thought that the section "Are You a Fixer or a Grower?" was quite enlightening. This section analyses what drives each of these personality types and how they correspond with very different business strategies.
How growth-oriented business goals can kill the golden goose.......2006-04-13
Robert M. Tomasko's BIGGER ISN'T ALWAYS BETTER: THE NEW MINDSET FOR BUSINESS GROWTH draws some important distinctions between growth and expansion. While increased size is desirable, too often companies grow too quickly and many may ultimately see their demise in their very growth-oriented goals. Real growth lines in progress and knowing how to link success to strategic plans and logical organizational changes - the types of changes BIGGER ISN'T ALWAYS BETTER covers in chapters which probe growth cycles, judgement calls, and knowing how to access opportunity for its real-world applications.
What is your mindset?.......2006-02-28
What we have in this volume is a brilliant explanation of what "real business growth" is, and, how to achieve and then sustain it. Tomasko suggests seven characteristics which "growers" share. They are guided and informed by a mindset which recognizes that real growth "is about reaching full potential, not maximum size. It means progress, not excess; it is fueled by imagination, not expansion." He devotes a separate chapter to each of the seven common characteristics. In Part 1, he describes what growth is and isn't, then in Part 2, he explains what growers do. They know what they need to know and where to locate it. They know what they want to achieve and tell the truth when pursuing it. They initiate creative attention to generate and sustain forward movement, meanwhile winning hearts and minds of others involved. They master what Tomasko characterizes as "momentum with bounce." They know when to let go, agreeing with Jason Jennings that "if it's DOA, bury it." And they "share the wealth" when collaborative effort achieves the given objectives.
The more "growers" there are within a given enterprise, the more likely that it will achieve "real business growth." Hence the importance of recognizing and supporting them, of course, but also doing so with regard to prospective "growers" as well. Every effort should be made to accelerate their development. When paraphrasing one of the exemplary growers, psychologist Martin Seligman, Tomasko observes that "business is not just about fixing what is broken. It is about taking what is best in an enterprise and nurturing its further development. Leading this kind of growth requires a very different mentality from that needed to manage ongoing activities. The best growth champions are not the people who are in charge of today's successful organizations. What makes best sense for sustaining the status quo is often irrelevant or counterproductive for surpassing it." When Reginald Jones selected his successor as GE's next CEO, he urged Jack Welch to "Blow it up!"
While re-reading this book, as is my custom, I highlighted key passages. In this instance more than 100 which caught my eye. Here are two representative excerpts.
When knowing where to look for growth opportunities: "Blinders from existing business models or getting caught up in the hot concept (convergence, deregulation, Internet-means-that-everything-is-different, and so on) will also limit our ability to see the market clearly. When we see something new, we seldom stop to appreciate it for what it is. Instead, evolution seems to have trained us -- hard-wired our brains -- to slot things into categories or explanations that are derived from our past experiences. In pigeonholing things this way, wee run the risk of filtering out what it is that makes the novel news." (page 119)
However, "As Picasso once noted: `Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.' The trick is to plan the movement from old to new in a way that does not lead to mindless destruction and chaos. This means starting out with the grower's clear idea of somewhere better to end up, and knowing what is wanted with as much clarity as what is not wanted. That's how real growth happens. This kind of growth, of course, has little to do with getting better or prevailing over others." (page 238)
In this book, Tomasko shares brilliant insights in combination with practical recommendations which can help his reader to develop and then sustain a new mindset, "an internal logic system, the model that you carry around in your head." With meticulous care, Tomasko explains how and why a mindset gives birth to our beliefs and assumptions, how it determines what facts we notice and what we make of them. "And even more important, it determines what [we] do as a result." I continue to be amazed by those decision-makers whose mindset causes them to follow the same course of action which had repeatedly failed before... and then expect different results. That doesn't make any sense, does it?
Book Description
The next-step book for managers who are charged with implementing their company?s strategies.
In this hands-on book, Timothy J. Galpin outlines the steps managers need to take so they can confidently implement corporate strategy within their departments and divisions and throughout their organizations. The author bridges the gap that so often exists between strategy and action, and offers the tools managers need to translate plans into results-oriented strategic change. In addition, this practical book outlines the foundations of strategic planning, presents a conceptual model for making corporate strategy work, and shows how to apply a project perspective to strategy.
Customer Reviews:
Wasn't really a strategy book.......2007-03-21
Naively I expected this book to be about how to make strategy an integral part of a company's management process. According to Gartner aligning strategy with action is still one of the stumbling blocks most companies are having. Unfortunately I didn't get the answers to any of my questions from this book. Instead of discussing strategy Dr. Galpin spends the entire book discussing the basic concepts of how to organize and manage a change management PROJECT.
To clarify a little more, if a company was planning on implementing six sigma as both a standard within the manufacturing area and as a cultural underpinning for the company, the book attempts to provide some very basic information about setting up a project team to deploy the cultural side of the six sigma message. Unfortunately as a book on project management book I found it both underwhelming and possibly even unnecessary.
I was equally frustrated with the efficacy of this book in terms of its contribution to expanding the knowledge base on how to do change management successfully. I felt that he didn't spend enough time on culture, communication and resistance to change which I believe are the three major components that would need to be addressed to discuss true change management.
Once again if you are looking for a book on making strategy work in your organization - then you have the wrong book.
The "Citizen Kane " for Corporate Strategy.......1998-01-16
Dr. Galpin has, once again, put the "practical" back into corporate strategy. The theories are broadbased, allowing for multiple applications within the workplace. It is, truly, the "Citizen Kane" for Corporate Strategy
Average customer rating:
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Maximizing Forest Product Resources for the 21st Century
Richard F. Baldwin
Manufacturer: Backbeat Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Strategy & Competition
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
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Production & Operations
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
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Sustainable Development
| Economics
| Business & Investing
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Natural Resources
| Economics
| Business & Investing
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General
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
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Forests & Forestry
| Natural Resources
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
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History of Technology
| Technology
| Science
| Subjects
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Industrial Technology
| Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
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Management
| Forestry
| Agricultural Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
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Forests
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
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Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0879305991 |
Book Description
Written by industry expert Richard F. Baldwin, Maximizing Forest Product Resources for the 21st Century looks to the lessons of the past and present to identify opportunities for global industry renewal in the future. Subtitled New Processes, Products, and Strategies for a Changing World, this practical guide helps industry professionals navigate the coming era of increasing complexity, new technology, and rapid change.
The book focuses on the producers formula for success in the forest products industry: be flexible, low-cost and, above all, innovative. Baldwin demonstrates how and why innovation is essential in how mills work, in creating new products, and in finding new raw material sources -- all to address consumer concerns and meet their changing demands. The book explores the big picture for the 21st century, advising readers on such key topics as:
* Future implications of the 20th centurys significant industry developments * Manufacturing technologies that respond to the changing raw material base * How adapting mills for change leads to improved products and profits * Marketing and sales strategies that address emerging consumption trends * Leadership tactics for achieving success in the face of unprecedented change
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Strategic Finance, published by Institute of Management Accountants on April 1, 2004. The length of the article is 2252 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Return of the socially conscious corporation: how can you reap the rewards of good corporate citizenry? Be one--and broadcast it!
Author: Paul M. Clikeman
Publication:
Strategic Finance (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2004
Publisher: Institute of Management Accountants
Page: 22(5)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Strategic Finance, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1269 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Should all companies report on their corporate responsibility?(Ethics)(Business Roundtable issued sustainable growth initiative called "S.E.E. Change")(socially responsible investment)
Author: Curtis C. Verschoor
Publication:
Strategic Finance (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: 17(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Sustainable Corporate Growth: A Model and Management Planning Tool
John J. Clark ,
Thomas C Chiang , and
Gerard T. Olson
Manufacturer: Quorum Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Macroeconomics
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
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Microeconomics
| Economics
| Business & Investing
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Corporate Finance
| Finance
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General
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Management
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Organizational Change
| Organizational Behavior
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Marketing & Sales
| Business & Investing
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| Advertising
| Consumer Behavior
| Customer Service
| Marketing
| Public Relations
| Sales & Selling
ASIN: 0899302386 |
Book Description
An important new resource for managers in marketing, finance, acquisitions analysis, and strategic planning, this book explores a question central to the financial health of every company: Is there a rate of corporate growth that is both desirable and sustainable? As the authors point out, excessive growth in sales can be as destructive to the survival of a firm as no growth. Here they present analytical models and tools that enable corporate planners to evaluate their own growth needs, target realistic expectations, and assess the collateral risks of growing either too fast or too slow. Focusing throughout on the concept of managed growth, the authors begin with a theoretical micro/macroeconomic analysis and proceed to a practical, applied presentation of growth theory in management decision making. They present models useful for both short- and long-term management, all of them illustrated with concrete data taken from corporate annual reports and SEC 10K reports. By employing these models, planners will be able to accurately forecast optimal and feasible growth rates, evaluate the impact of price fluctuations on the sustainable growth rate, isolate the effects of productivity trends, plan working capital requirements, determine the most favorable capital structure of the firm, and measure the impact of potential mergers or takeovers on sustainable growth. Each of the models can easily be programmed for computer usage. The authors also pay considerable attention to remedial actions that can be taken when the actual growth rate either exceeds or falls short of the sustainable growth rate, making this an especially practical tool for anyone charged with financial, sales, and strategic planning responsibilities.
Books:
- Weird Ideas That Work: 11 1/2 Practices for Promoting, Managing, and Sustaining Innovation
- What Color Is Your Parachute? 2007: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers (What Color Is Your Parachute)
- Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
- Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
- Wind and Solar Power Systems: Design, Analysis, and Operation, Second Edition
- Workflow Modeling: Tools for Process Improvement and Application Development
- 75 e-Learning Activities: Making Online Learning Interactive
- A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 (New York Review Books Classics)
- A Timber Framer's Workshop: Joinery, Design & Construction of Traditional Timber Frames
- Applebee's America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community
Books Index
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Harvard Business Review on Business and the Environment (A Harvard Business Review Paperback)
