A book for anyone wanting to improve their business

books:


	• Sustainable Value: How the World's Leading Companies Are Doing Well by Doing Good Chris Laszlo Stanford Business Books, 2008 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent, Timely Book

Chris Laszlo has written an excellent, timely and useful book, especially for business leaders. Sustainability is rapidly becoming a mainstream business issue, primarily because environmental and social issues are having growing financial impacts on firms. To an increasing degree, business success in essentially all sectors will require sustainability leadership. Sustainable Value provides the specific business case language, tools and case studies needed to implement a leading edge sustainability strategy. Business is the most powerful force in the world. It can play a major role in addressing complex environmental and social challenges. By adopting the approaches laid out in Sustainable Value, companies will benefit society while improving financial and competitive performance.

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Three books in one

This book provides new, valuable content in several areas not found in other books on sustainability. First, it provides a management fable which brings sustainable value to life beyond the theory. Second, it provides some excellent case studies including superb insight into the Wal-Mart story. Finally, it provides tools in the last third of the book to help managers create sustainable value in their own companies. Since it is essentially three books in one, its title speaks also to the value to the reader.

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A book for anyone wanting to improve their business

Sustainable Value is a refreshing addition to the increasing literature on "green" which often focuses on the ethical and emotional reasons for sustainability but does not make any suggestions for how businesses can actually implement sustainability. The book provides a practical framework as well as examples for business leaders so that they can integrate sustainability into the strategy and daily practices of their business. The key word is "integrate"... Most employees on a personal level probably agree that we need to take care of our our planet but when it comes to their work, they see sustainability as an addition to the their work, which is increasingly becoming demanding and full of stress. Unless sustainability can help them achieve their business goals, most people will not get around to implementing sustainability. Laszlo's book explains in compelling and easy to understand language how sustainability can truly be what helps a business become a leading star.

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Taking Corporate Responsibility to the next level

This is an important book. One often hears about the need for companies to `balance' social, environmental and financial concerns, but Chris Laszlo takes these concepts to the next level. He demonstrates convincingly that these three areas are all integral part of doing business. Ignoring a company's environmental or social impact not only puts financial interests at risk; doing so also means missing key opportunities for innovation, profits and sustainability. As Unilever CEO Cescau says in the foreward, "it's not just matter of doing well - it's about doing better by doing good." Laszlo proves his points in several ways - with a fable based on actual observation, several case studies of top companies, and finally, with an 8 step approach to making it happen in your small or large company. What if you're convinced of these things already ? Think seriously about giving this book to somebody who isn't - especially if you work for a large company as I do.

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Excellent resource on business sustainability

If you're looking for a framework to build sustainability into your business and solid case studies to support that logic, look no further. Laszlo's extensively researched book draws on real-world experience to demonstrate the sometimes surprising value forward-looking businesses can create by integrating sustainability considerations into their operations and their mindsets. This is a practical and very welcome resource in the field, from someone who has not only worked in the trenches, but also spent a lot of time analyzing from a 30,000 foot view. Valuable for managers, consultants, students, and outside observers alike.

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In Sustainable Value, Chris Laszlo illustrates how the competitive strategies of some of the world's largest businesses are changing as their leaders begin to take on a number of the world's most important social, environmental, and economic issues. The book's website is at www.sustainablevaluebook.com.

Part I of the book is a management fable about a young CEO and the challenges she faces in addressing her company's impact on society and the environment, while remaining profitable. Based on forward-thinking business leaders the author has worked with over the past twenty-five years, her character reveals how a small but influential group of leaders are re-inventing the role of business in society by offering new solutions to global problems that the public sector has been unable to tackle alone.

Part II outlines the new competitive environment in which societal challenges are becoming huge business opportunities. It showcases global industry leaders who are successfully integrating sustainability into their core activities as they respond to issues such as climate change, ecosystem health, and global poverty?not only from a sense of moral correctness, but because it makes good business sense. It demonstrates that, in the "new" competitive environment, stakeholder value built on a company's economic, ecological, and social impact is becoming an effective way to achieve competitive advantage. The real-life sustainability stories of DuPont, Wal-Mart, Lafarge, and Cargills NatureWorks are guided by top management with Profit & Loss responsibility.

Part III introduces the Sustainable Value tool-kit?a step-by-step approach to creating and managing value for stakeholders in a broad range of sectors in today's shifting competitive environment. The tool-kit is based on the authors many consulting engagements and executive working sessions in Fortune 1000 companies. These sessions, and this book, are designed to equip managers with the skills to identify how and where they can do well by doing good, thus providing them with the means to build sustainable value and compete effectively in the twenty-first century.

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