The Exxon Valdez incident in 1989 sparked a firestorm of public debate over the role of business in ensuring a safe, healthy environment for ourselves and our children. Today, consumers, employees, shareholders, politicians, and interest groups all demand more environmental awareness from
business.
To help executives meet the challenge of being profitable, doing the right thing, and helping save the Earth, Environmentalism and the New Logic of Business outlines a program for change that firms can use to maximize their profits and minimize their impact on the environment. Drawing on
examples from corporations large (DuPont, McDonald's) and small (Johnsonville Sausage), the authors demonstrate how companies around the world are putting values and a concern for the environment to work to motivate employees, improve service levels, and respond to the constant pressure for
innovation, competitive advantage, and care for the bottom line. A highlight of the book is the author's discussion of "the four shades of green" which can be used to gauge of firm's environmental policy and highlight where it might be improved. "Light green" or legal green logic relies on the
public policy process to drive its strategy; "market green" logic focuses on customers' demand for better, cheaper, faster; "stakeholder green," similar to the logic of quality processes, includes suppliers, employees, communities, and shareholders; and "dark green" commits a company to being a
leader in making environmental principles a fundamental basis of doing business.
Challenging the conventional wisdom that green thinking leads to red ink, the authors show how executives can add environmental awareness to the strategic mix and still compete successfully.
About the Author:
R. Edward Freeman is Olsson Professor of Business Administration and Director, Olsson Center for Applied Ethics, The Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. He is the well-known author of several books on management and strategy, including Management (now in its 6th edition) and The
Portable MBA. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jessica Pierce is Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive and Societal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she is Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and
Religion at Chatham College. Richard H. Dodd is a consultant with A. T. Kearny in London.