Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage

The essential guide for forward-thinking business leaders who see the Green Wave coming and want to profit from it.

This book explores what every executive must know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and business. Based on the authors' years of experience and hundreds of interviews with corporate leaders around the world, Green to Gold shows how companies generate lasting value, cutting costs, reducing risk, increasing revenues, and creating strong brands, by building environmental thinking into their business strategies. Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston provide clear how-to advice and concrete examples from companies like BP, Toyota, IKEA, GE, and Nike that are achieving both environmental and business success. The authors show how these cutting-edge companies are establishing an "eco-advantage" in the marketplace as traditional elements of competitive differentiation fade in importance. Esty and Winston not only highlight successful strategies but also make plain what does not work by describing why environmental initiatives sometimes fail despite the best intentions.

Green to Gold is written for executives at every level and for businesses of all kinds and sizes. Esty and Winston guide leaders through a complex new world of resource shortfalls, regulatory restrictions, and growing pressure from customers and other stakeholders to strive for sustainability. With a sharp focus on execution, Esty and Winston offer a thoughtful, pragmatic, and inspiring road map that companies can use to cope with environmental pressures and responsibilities while sparking innovation that will drive long-term growth. Green to Gold is the new template for global CEOs who want to be good stewards of the Earth while simultaneously building the bottom line.

"1118907704"
Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage

The essential guide for forward-thinking business leaders who see the Green Wave coming and want to profit from it.

This book explores what every executive must know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and business. Based on the authors' years of experience and hundreds of interviews with corporate leaders around the world, Green to Gold shows how companies generate lasting value, cutting costs, reducing risk, increasing revenues, and creating strong brands, by building environmental thinking into their business strategies. Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston provide clear how-to advice and concrete examples from companies like BP, Toyota, IKEA, GE, and Nike that are achieving both environmental and business success. The authors show how these cutting-edge companies are establishing an "eco-advantage" in the marketplace as traditional elements of competitive differentiation fade in importance. Esty and Winston not only highlight successful strategies but also make plain what does not work by describing why environmental initiatives sometimes fail despite the best intentions.

Green to Gold is written for executives at every level and for businesses of all kinds and sizes. Esty and Winston guide leaders through a complex new world of resource shortfalls, regulatory restrictions, and growing pressure from customers and other stakeholders to strive for sustainability. With a sharp focus on execution, Esty and Winston offer a thoughtful, pragmatic, and inspiring road map that companies can use to cope with environmental pressures and responsibilities while sparking innovation that will drive long-term growth. Green to Gold is the new template for global CEOs who want to be good stewards of the Earth while simultaneously building the bottom line.

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Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage

by Daniel C. Esty, Andrew S. Winston

Narrated by Fred Stella

Unabridged — 10 hours, 55 minutes

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage

by Daniel C. Esty, Andrew S. Winston

Narrated by Fred Stella

Unabridged — 10 hours, 55 minutes

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Overview

The essential guide for forward-thinking business leaders who see the Green Wave coming and want to profit from it.

This book explores what every executive must know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and business. Based on the authors' years of experience and hundreds of interviews with corporate leaders around the world, Green to Gold shows how companies generate lasting value, cutting costs, reducing risk, increasing revenues, and creating strong brands, by building environmental thinking into their business strategies. Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston provide clear how-to advice and concrete examples from companies like BP, Toyota, IKEA, GE, and Nike that are achieving both environmental and business success. The authors show how these cutting-edge companies are establishing an "eco-advantage" in the marketplace as traditional elements of competitive differentiation fade in importance. Esty and Winston not only highlight successful strategies but also make plain what does not work by describing why environmental initiatives sometimes fail despite the best intentions.

Green to Gold is written for executives at every level and for businesses of all kinds and sizes. Esty and Winston guide leaders through a complex new world of resource shortfalls, regulatory restrictions, and growing pressure from customers and other stakeholders to strive for sustainability. With a sharp focus on execution, Esty and Winston offer a thoughtful, pragmatic, and inspiring road map that companies can use to cope with environmental pressures and responsibilities while sparking innovation that will drive long-term growth. Green to Gold is the new template for global CEOs who want to be good stewards of the Earth while simultaneously building the bottom line.


Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A manual on how to turn your company into an eco-success, catching the current wave of consumer and government interest in saving the world from environmental catastrophe.”—Fiona Harvey, Financial Times

Green To Gold is a comprehensive catalogue . . . jam-packed with eye-opening corporate programs, defying the usual cant that environmental concerns will only hurt companies.”—Toronto Globe and Mail

“Offers invaluable advice to any manager or investor who wants to profit in our age of corporate accountability.”—Bloomberg News

“Two experts from Yale tackle the business wake-up-call du jour—environmental responsibility—from every angle in this thorough, earnest guidebook: pragmatically, passionately, financially and historically. . . . For the responsible business leader, this volume provides plenty of (organic) food for thought.”—Publishers Weekly

“With analytic rigor, corporate environmental advisors and Yale professors Esty and Winston probe the intersection of business concerns and environmental stewardship. . . . A nuanced picture of the challenge and complexity that adding an environmental dimension creates for businesses.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Tackling everything from supply-chain management to how to get diverse departments within a company all working toward the same environmental goals, the book’s chapters systematically outline the steps required to put green policies into action. . . . With charts and diagrams outlining how to manage environmental initiatives, Green to Gold provides a clear-cut game plan for companies ready to establish an ‘eco-advantage’ over their competitors. It’s a simple way to get started on an important goal.”—Brenda Krebs, Miami Herald

“While this book would have done a service in simply laying out its analysis of what is happening to make companies go green and why, the authors go far beyond that step and provide an extensive description of strategies for building eco-advantage. . . . For a comprehensive guide on the rapidly emerging norm of environment-inspired management and innovation, this book is a must-read.”—Inside Green Business

“A forthright but hopeful book about how to win the green revolution.”—Biz Ed

Green to Gold is exceptional in both the breadth and depth of its argument. . . . An outstanding introduction to environmental strategy for any corporate executive, board member, legal counsel, or business student who is coming to grips with the subject for the first time. For those who have already labored in the vineyards, it offers a means of systematically reviewing your environmental efforts to date and benchmarking against the outstanding WaveRiders showcased throughout its pages.”—G. Tracy Mehan III, Environmental Forum

“Based on their personal experiences and interviews with global corporate leaders, Esty and Winston chronicle the successes and failures of contemporary organizations to enhance their corporate value through a strategic commitment to global sustainability. . . . Although the book is oriented toward business leaders, anyone with an interest in business and global environmental issues will find it of value.”—Choice

“What executives must know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and business.”—Number 1 on CEO-READ’s list of best-selling business books (November 2006)

“The authors present a new way of thinking about corporate strategy and take a comprehensive look at the pressures affecting corporations of all sizes and in all industries.”—Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment

Selected as a “Top 25 Business Book: What Corporate America Is Reading,” by (800) CEO-READ

Selected one of the best business books of 2006 by Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Selected as a 2007 “Outstanding” book by AAUP University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries

Winner of the Bronze ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award in Business & Economy

Finalist for the 2007 Terry Book Award given by the Academy of Management

“The future of our country and our children’s world depends on getting society on a sustainable track with regard to both energy needs and environmental requirements. It is up to corporate leaders to meet this challenge, and Green to Gold blazes a trail for businesses of all kinds to follow.”—Michael Morris, CEO, American Electric Power

“Environmental issues and community concerns are increasingly part of the core business model and day-to-day operations of many companies. Green to Gold provides cutting-edge guidance for executives on how to execute this agenda—and gain an ‘eco-advantage.’”—Antony Burgmans, chairman, Unilever

“Every business, big or small, in manufacturing or services, faces environmental risks and opportunities. Esty and Winston show how companies have benefited from taking these challenges as strategic opportunities, but they also detail why corporate environmental initiatives often fall flat. There are important lessons to be learned from both the successes and the failures.”—Bertrand Collomb, chairman, Lafarge

“Environment and sustainability issues have become an important focus in business generally and in the financial world in particular. Green to Gold is rich with both big-picture thinking and practical ‘how-to’ suggestions that will help bankers, analysts, fund managers, and investors stay on top of the ‘green wave.’”—Larry Linden, advisory director, Goldman Sachs

“Esty and Winston have produced a compelling blueprint for how companies can address critical environmental problems, from climate change to water, and improve their performance, gain competitive advantage, make more money, and win friends.”—William K. Reilly, founding partner, Aqua International Partners, and former administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency

Tensie Whelan

"Green to Gold is a must-read for the twenty-first century CEO. Esty and Winston provide convincing examples of how companies out-compete their peers by tackling sustainability head on, engaging stakeholders, developing NGO partnerships, and folding environmental stewardship into their corporate culture."—Tensie Whelan, Executive Director, Rainforest Alliance

Chad Holliday

"No executive can afford to ignore the green wave sweeping the business world. Esty and Winston show how to make sustainability a core element of strategy—and profit from it."—Chad Holliday, CEO, DuPont

Michael Morris

"The future of our country and our children's world depends on getting society on a sustainable track with regard to both energy needs and environmental requirements. It is up to corporate leaders to meet this challenge, and Green to Gold blazes a trail for businesses of all kinds to follow."—Michael Morris, CEO, American Electric Power

Michael E. Porter

"Green to Gold provides the definitive thinking on how business leaders can address environmental issues in the new economy, a world where companies win by integrating company strategies with social challenges, rather than treating economic and social as separate and different."—Michael E. Porter, Professor, Harvard Business School

William K. Reilly

"Esty and Winston have produced a compelling blueprint for how companies can address critical environmental problems, from climate change to water, and improve their performance, gain competitive advantage, make more money, and win friends."—William K. Reilly, Founding Partner, Aqua International Partners and former Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency

Bertrand Collomb

"Every business, big or small, in manufacturing or services, faces environmental risks and opportunities. Esty and Winston show how companies have benefited from taking these challenges as strategic opportunities, but they also detail why corporate environmental initiatives often fall flat. There are important lessons to be learned from both the successes and the failures."—Bertrand Collomb, Chairman, Lafarge

Larry Linden

"Environment and sustainability issues have become an important focus in business generally and in the financial world in particular. Green to Gold is rich with both big-picture thinking and practical 'how-to' suggestions that will help bankers, analysts, fund managers, and investors stay on top of the 'green wave.'"—Larry Linden, Advisory Director, Goldman Sachs

Mark McGough

"Green to Gold is a must read for anyone interested in investing in the vast emerging environmental markets."—Mark McGough, President and CEO, Pentadyne Power Corporation

APRIL 2009 - AudioFile

The authors provide an excellent survey of the opportunities and potential pitfalls global businesses face as they “go green.” There are many great examples of successful implementation. The material is also an excellent treatise on how to increase brand value through green business practices. Fred Stella's enthusiasm for his subject sounds genuine and powerfully draws the listener into the material. He might have familiarized himself a bit more with some of the jargon and iconic names in the arena; however, this is hardly a large problem. If you want to know who the best performers are so you can buy, invest, or model your enterprise with a clear environmental conscience, then listen here. M.C. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID: 2940172637551
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Publication date: 01/12/2009
Edition description: Unabridged
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