Mid-course Correction

Mid-course Correction

Author: Ray C. Anderson

Publisher: Uit Cambridge

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9780964595354

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Of value to business people, environmentalists, and educators alike, Mid-Course Correction is a business book about the environment that's written from a personal perspective. With passion and pride, Ray Anderson, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of one of the world's largest interior furnishings companies, recounts his awakening to the importance of environmental issues and outlines the steps his petroleum-dependent company, Atlanta-based Interface, Inc., is taking in its quest to become a sustainable enterprise - one that will never have to take another drop of oil from the earth.


Book Synopsis Mid-course Correction by : Ray C. Anderson

Download or read book Mid-course Correction written by Ray C. Anderson and published by Uit Cambridge. This book was released on 1998 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of value to business people, environmentalists, and educators alike, Mid-Course Correction is a business book about the environment that's written from a personal perspective. With passion and pride, Ray Anderson, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of one of the world's largest interior furnishings companies, recounts his awakening to the importance of environmental issues and outlines the steps his petroleum-dependent company, Atlanta-based Interface, Inc., is taking in its quest to become a sustainable enterprise - one that will never have to take another drop of oil from the earth.


Enterprise Sustainability

Enterprise Sustainability

Author: Dennis F.X. Mathaisel

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2009-10-21

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1420078593

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Military supply chains are unique because what is supplied to the end user is routinely returned to the supply chain for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO). Offering a blueprint for transforming military depot workload and processes into those of high-performance commercial facilities, Enterprise Sustainability: Enhancing the Military‘s Abilit


Book Synopsis Enterprise Sustainability by : Dennis F.X. Mathaisel

Download or read book Enterprise Sustainability written by Dennis F.X. Mathaisel and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2009-10-21 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Military supply chains are unique because what is supplied to the end user is routinely returned to the supply chain for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO). Offering a blueprint for transforming military depot workload and processes into those of high-performance commercial facilities, Enterprise Sustainability: Enhancing the Military‘s Abilit


The Sustainable Enterprise

The Sustainable Enterprise

Author: Chris Brown

Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 522

ISBN-13: 9780749442200

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Perceptions of a business's sustainability can have a real impact on the bottom-line. The benefits accrued will far outweigh any costs. Drawing on the experience and expertise of leading professionals and practitioners, it reviews the specific challenges that sustainability can involve from energy use to employment rights, from emissions trading to corporate governance, and from environmental technology to stakeholder relationships. Depending on the nature of the business, they might be critical or they might be routine. However, passively complying with rules and regulations is no longer sufficient. Sustainability is starting to permeate every business decision and needs to be managed in an active, integrated way.The rewards for responsibility, accountability and transparency can be high: brand loyalty, high-calibre recruits, strengthened partnerships, easier entry to new markets and better access to capital. Any failure to live up to a commitment to sustainability, however, can fundamentally undermine prospects for future growth. In securing these rewards and minimising the risks, this book is designed as a practical guide to the strategic and operating challenges in becoming a sustainable enterprise.


Book Synopsis The Sustainable Enterprise by : Chris Brown

Download or read book The Sustainable Enterprise written by Chris Brown and published by Kogan Page Publishers. This book was released on 2005 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perceptions of a business's sustainability can have a real impact on the bottom-line. The benefits accrued will far outweigh any costs. Drawing on the experience and expertise of leading professionals and practitioners, it reviews the specific challenges that sustainability can involve from energy use to employment rights, from emissions trading to corporate governance, and from environmental technology to stakeholder relationships. Depending on the nature of the business, they might be critical or they might be routine. However, passively complying with rules and regulations is no longer sufficient. Sustainability is starting to permeate every business decision and needs to be managed in an active, integrated way.The rewards for responsibility, accountability and transparency can be high: brand loyalty, high-calibre recruits, strengthened partnerships, easier entry to new markets and better access to capital. Any failure to live up to a commitment to sustainability, however, can fundamentally undermine prospects for future growth. In securing these rewards and minimising the risks, this book is designed as a practical guide to the strategic and operating challenges in becoming a sustainable enterprise.


Analytics, Innovation, and Excellence-Driven Enterprise Sustainability

Analytics, Innovation, and Excellence-Driven Enterprise Sustainability

Author: Elias G. Carayannis

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-04-19

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1137378794

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This book offers a unique view of how innovation and competitiveness improve when organizations establish alliances with partners who have strong capabilities and broad social capital, allowing them to create value and growth as well as technological knowledge and legitimacy through new knowledge resources. Organizational intelligence integrates the technology variable into production and business systems, establishing a basis to advance decision-making processes. When strategically integrated, these factors have the power to promote enterprise resilience, robustness, and sustainability. This book provides a unique perspective on how knowledge, information, and data analytics create opportunities and challenges for sustainable enterprise excellence. It also shows how the value of digital technology at both personal and industrial levels leads to new opportunities for creating experiences, processes, and organizational forms that fundamentally reshape organizations.


Book Synopsis Analytics, Innovation, and Excellence-Driven Enterprise Sustainability by : Elias G. Carayannis

Download or read book Analytics, Innovation, and Excellence-Driven Enterprise Sustainability written by Elias G. Carayannis and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-04-19 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a unique view of how innovation and competitiveness improve when organizations establish alliances with partners who have strong capabilities and broad social capital, allowing them to create value and growth as well as technological knowledge and legitimacy through new knowledge resources. Organizational intelligence integrates the technology variable into production and business systems, establishing a basis to advance decision-making processes. When strategically integrated, these factors have the power to promote enterprise resilience, robustness, and sustainability. This book provides a unique perspective on how knowledge, information, and data analytics create opportunities and challenges for sustainable enterprise excellence. It also shows how the value of digital technology at both personal and industrial levels leads to new opportunities for creating experiences, processes, and organizational forms that fundamentally reshape organizations.


The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise - Volume 3: Europe

The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise - Volume 3: Europe

Author: Wayne Visser

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-08

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1351284509

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The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is the first comprehensive global compendium that clearly describes the national approaches to sustainable enterprise. Through a systematic review of each country, this quick-to-access reference guide showcases the similarities and differences in each region. Every country profile includes key information about the relevant history, country-specific issues, trends, research, and the leading organizations operating in the field as well as best-practice case studies. The guide comprises four volumes, each dedicated to a specific region of the world. In a world where organizations are working increasingly across national and regional boundaries and research takes a joined-up and international approach, this book is an essential guide for practitioners and researchers in the disciplines of business sustainability, social enterprise and corporate responsibility. The first of its kind, this reference book provides the reader with a unique insight into what is the current state-of-play in each country. Each edited volume provides expert contributions from around the world; the contributors have been selected on the basis of their knowledge of the country and their clear experience in sustainable enterprise. Each regional/country profile includes the following subsections: Sustainable Enterprise in context; Priority issues; Trends; Government policies; Case studies; Further resources; and References. This unique resource will be an essential acquisition for all organizations who need to benchmark their sustainable enterprise strategies throughout different regions and cultures and want the best possible intelligence on the key issues and concerns relating to sustainable business and social responsibility in all of the markets in which they operate. It provides a useful companion reference collection to the World Guide to CSR, also edited by Wayne Visser. The full Four Volume Set of The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is available for purchase as a single item at a 25% discounted rate.


Book Synopsis The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise - Volume 3: Europe by : Wayne Visser

Download or read book The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise - Volume 3: Europe written by Wayne Visser and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is the first comprehensive global compendium that clearly describes the national approaches to sustainable enterprise. Through a systematic review of each country, this quick-to-access reference guide showcases the similarities and differences in each region. Every country profile includes key information about the relevant history, country-specific issues, trends, research, and the leading organizations operating in the field as well as best-practice case studies. The guide comprises four volumes, each dedicated to a specific region of the world. In a world where organizations are working increasingly across national and regional boundaries and research takes a joined-up and international approach, this book is an essential guide for practitioners and researchers in the disciplines of business sustainability, social enterprise and corporate responsibility. The first of its kind, this reference book provides the reader with a unique insight into what is the current state-of-play in each country. Each edited volume provides expert contributions from around the world; the contributors have been selected on the basis of their knowledge of the country and their clear experience in sustainable enterprise. Each regional/country profile includes the following subsections: Sustainable Enterprise in context; Priority issues; Trends; Government policies; Case studies; Further resources; and References. This unique resource will be an essential acquisition for all organizations who need to benchmark their sustainable enterprise strategies throughout different regions and cultures and want the best possible intelligence on the key issues and concerns relating to sustainable business and social responsibility in all of the markets in which they operate. It provides a useful companion reference collection to the World Guide to CSR, also edited by Wayne Visser. The full Four Volume Set of The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is available for purchase as a single item at a 25% discounted rate.


The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook

The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook

Author: Jeana Wirtenberg

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-29

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 1351279947

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Today, managers and leaders of organizations, in both the private sector and civil society, are being challenged as never before to find ways to play a proactive role in addressing the concerns of sustainable development. But they are often overwhelmed by a bombardment of conflicting messages from the media, shareholders, customers, employees, and NGOs. The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook helps managers deal with this confusion. It teaches them how to strike a better balance, moving from an "either/or" mind-set to one that holistically embraces social, environmental and economic issues simultaneously. It addresses the "what" ("what is a sustainable strategy for a company or organization?") as well as the "how" ("how do we go about building a sustainable enterprise?"). The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook has been put together by an outstanding network of experts from business (Microsoft, Sony, Philips, and AIG), consultancies, and academia. Its aim is to teach and guide leaders, managers, practitioners, students, and professors in every sector of society, and in every industry, in creating a successful and sustainable enterprise. By making the steps needed clear, understandable, and simple to follow, the book naturally engages readers in their journey and encourages their participation in three key ways: by increasing their understanding and awareness of what sustainability means at a conceptual and practical, as well as a personal, level; by energizing and expanding people's commitment to building sustainable enterprises; and by providing readers with extensive tools and techniques so they can individually and collectively take actions that will improve the social, environmental, and economic performance of their organizations in both the short and long term. Each chapter of the book illustrates through models, tools, cases, stories, and examples from a wide range of companies how to integrate sustainability into the day-to-day realities of running a business. Managers are coached, facilitated, and guided to enable them to create a better balance between the short and long term, to help them to become change agents in their organizations and to provide answers to the question "How do I make a difference?" Some of the areas covered are leadership, strategy, managing change, employee engagement, metrics and measurement, networks, and globalization. Readers of The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook will find access to the innovative Living Fieldbook, which is an online community support service providing ongoing updated assistance in building a sustainable enterprise. The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook offers an ingredient that has been missing in the enormous outpouring of information on organizations and sustainability: an holistic integration of solutions, which will make the journey personal for each reader.


Book Synopsis The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook by : Jeana Wirtenberg

Download or read book The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook written by Jeana Wirtenberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, managers and leaders of organizations, in both the private sector and civil society, are being challenged as never before to find ways to play a proactive role in addressing the concerns of sustainable development. But they are often overwhelmed by a bombardment of conflicting messages from the media, shareholders, customers, employees, and NGOs. The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook helps managers deal with this confusion. It teaches them how to strike a better balance, moving from an "either/or" mind-set to one that holistically embraces social, environmental and economic issues simultaneously. It addresses the "what" ("what is a sustainable strategy for a company or organization?") as well as the "how" ("how do we go about building a sustainable enterprise?"). The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook has been put together by an outstanding network of experts from business (Microsoft, Sony, Philips, and AIG), consultancies, and academia. Its aim is to teach and guide leaders, managers, practitioners, students, and professors in every sector of society, and in every industry, in creating a successful and sustainable enterprise. By making the steps needed clear, understandable, and simple to follow, the book naturally engages readers in their journey and encourages their participation in three key ways: by increasing their understanding and awareness of what sustainability means at a conceptual and practical, as well as a personal, level; by energizing and expanding people's commitment to building sustainable enterprises; and by providing readers with extensive tools and techniques so they can individually and collectively take actions that will improve the social, environmental, and economic performance of their organizations in both the short and long term. Each chapter of the book illustrates through models, tools, cases, stories, and examples from a wide range of companies how to integrate sustainability into the day-to-day realities of running a business. Managers are coached, facilitated, and guided to enable them to create a better balance between the short and long term, to help them to become change agents in their organizations and to provide answers to the question "How do I make a difference?" Some of the areas covered are leadership, strategy, managing change, employee engagement, metrics and measurement, networks, and globalization. Readers of The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook will find access to the innovative Living Fieldbook, which is an online community support service providing ongoing updated assistance in building a sustainable enterprise. The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook offers an ingredient that has been missing in the enormous outpouring of information on organizations and sustainability: an holistic integration of solutions, which will make the journey personal for each reader.


The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise

The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise

Author: Wayne Visser

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-08

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1351284541

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The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is the first comprehensive global compendium that clearly describes the national approaches to sustainable enterprise. Through a systematic review of each country, this quick-to-access reference guide showcases the similarities and differences in each region. Every country profile includes key information about the relevant history, country-specific issues, trends, research, and the leading organizations operating in the field as well as best-practice case studies. The guide comprises four volumes, each dedicated to a specific region of the world. In a world where organizations are working increasingly across national and regional boundaries and research takes a joined-up and international approach, this book is an essential guide for practitioners and researchers in the disciplines of business sustainability, social enterprise and corporate responsibility. The first of its kind, this reference book provides the reader with a unique insight into what is the current state-of-play in each country. Each edited volume provides expert contributions from around the world; the contributors have been selected on the basis of their knowledge of the country and their clear experience in sustainable enterprise. Each regional/country profile includes the following subsections: Sustainable Enterprise in context; Priority issues; Trends; Government policies; Case studies; Further resources; and References. This unique resource will be an essential acquisition for all organizations who need to benchmark their sustainable enterprise strategies throughout different regions and cultures and want the best possible intelligence on the key issues and concerns relating to sustainable business and social responsibility in all of the markets in which they operate. It provides a useful companion reference collection to the World Guide to CSR, also edited by Wayne Visser. The full Four Volume Set of The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is available for purchase as a single item at a 25% discounted rate.


Book Synopsis The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise by : Wayne Visser

Download or read book The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise written by Wayne Visser and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is the first comprehensive global compendium that clearly describes the national approaches to sustainable enterprise. Through a systematic review of each country, this quick-to-access reference guide showcases the similarities and differences in each region. Every country profile includes key information about the relevant history, country-specific issues, trends, research, and the leading organizations operating in the field as well as best-practice case studies. The guide comprises four volumes, each dedicated to a specific region of the world. In a world where organizations are working increasingly across national and regional boundaries and research takes a joined-up and international approach, this book is an essential guide for practitioners and researchers in the disciplines of business sustainability, social enterprise and corporate responsibility. The first of its kind, this reference book provides the reader with a unique insight into what is the current state-of-play in each country. Each edited volume provides expert contributions from around the world; the contributors have been selected on the basis of their knowledge of the country and their clear experience in sustainable enterprise. Each regional/country profile includes the following subsections: Sustainable Enterprise in context; Priority issues; Trends; Government policies; Case studies; Further resources; and References. This unique resource will be an essential acquisition for all organizations who need to benchmark their sustainable enterprise strategies throughout different regions and cultures and want the best possible intelligence on the key issues and concerns relating to sustainable business and social responsibility in all of the markets in which they operate. It provides a useful companion reference collection to the World Guide to CSR, also edited by Wayne Visser. The full Four Volume Set of The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise is available for purchase as a single item at a 25% discounted rate.


Sustainability in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Operating Mechanisms and Enterprise Growth

Sustainability in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Operating Mechanisms and Enterprise Growth

Author: Gao, Yang

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2020-05-29

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 1799834972

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The construction of a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem is critical for every country in the world, with Silicon Valley an example of a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem that determines the level of national innovation capability and sustainable global competitiveness for the United States. However, at present, the research on entrepreneurial ecosystems in academia is still in its primary stage with few scholars studying the characteristics, composition, and sustainability of the ecosystem. Sustainability in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Operating Mechanisms and Enterprise Growth is a collection of innovative research that systematically explores the operation mechanism of sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem from macro and micro aspects so as to provide value for promoting economic vitality and regional economic development. Covering a broad range of topics including sustainability, economic development, and stakeholder management, this book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, managers, investors, analysts, academicians, researchers, and students.


Book Synopsis Sustainability in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Operating Mechanisms and Enterprise Growth by : Gao, Yang

Download or read book Sustainability in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Operating Mechanisms and Enterprise Growth written by Gao, Yang and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2020-05-29 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The construction of a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem is critical for every country in the world, with Silicon Valley an example of a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem that determines the level of national innovation capability and sustainable global competitiveness for the United States. However, at present, the research on entrepreneurial ecosystems in academia is still in its primary stage with few scholars studying the characteristics, composition, and sustainability of the ecosystem. Sustainability in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Operating Mechanisms and Enterprise Growth is a collection of innovative research that systematically explores the operation mechanism of sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem from macro and micro aspects so as to provide value for promoting economic vitality and regional economic development. Covering a broad range of topics including sustainability, economic development, and stakeholder management, this book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, managers, investors, analysts, academicians, researchers, and students.


Managing the Transition to a Sustainable Enterprise

Managing the Transition to a Sustainable Enterprise

Author: Rob van Tulder

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-23

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 1134749651

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In combining practice and theory, this textbook provides a management perspective on the ‘business case’ for sustainability. Drawing on examples from 20 frontrunner companies located in the Netherlands, it builds upon a unique research project in which CEOs and middle-managers gave access not only to their decision-making process, but also revealed how their perceptions shaped the transition process. This book identifies four different archetypes of business cases and related business models that business students and managers can use to identify phases and related attitudes towards sustainability. The book provides in-depth analysis and insight into: • theoretical concepts and an overview of the relevant literature • the different business cases for sustainability • behavioural characteristics of each phase and the typical barriers between them • more than 70 tipping points • approaches to shaping stakeholder dialogue • effective engagement of stakeholders in each phase of transition • how companies move through the phases towards higher levels of sustainability • insights of employees of the 20 companies whether the business case was really achieved • summary of the interventions which have proved successful in these companies. This book offers students as well as managers of vocational and academic institutions at undergraduate and postgraduate level insight into real-life transition processes towards sustainability.


Book Synopsis Managing the Transition to a Sustainable Enterprise by : Rob van Tulder

Download or read book Managing the Transition to a Sustainable Enterprise written by Rob van Tulder and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-23 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In combining practice and theory, this textbook provides a management perspective on the ‘business case’ for sustainability. Drawing on examples from 20 frontrunner companies located in the Netherlands, it builds upon a unique research project in which CEOs and middle-managers gave access not only to their decision-making process, but also revealed how their perceptions shaped the transition process. This book identifies four different archetypes of business cases and related business models that business students and managers can use to identify phases and related attitudes towards sustainability. The book provides in-depth analysis and insight into: • theoretical concepts and an overview of the relevant literature • the different business cases for sustainability • behavioural characteristics of each phase and the typical barriers between them • more than 70 tipping points • approaches to shaping stakeholder dialogue • effective engagement of stakeholders in each phase of transition • how companies move through the phases towards higher levels of sustainability • insights of employees of the 20 companies whether the business case was really achieved • summary of the interventions which have proved successful in these companies. This book offers students as well as managers of vocational and academic institutions at undergraduate and postgraduate level insight into real-life transition processes towards sustainability.


Eco-efficiency and Beyond

Eco-efficiency and Beyond

Author: Jan-Dirk Seiler-Hausmann

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-29

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1351281542

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Business-as-usual, it is widely accepted, will exceed the Earth's carrying capacity in an alarmingly short space of time. In simple terms, we need to learn to use the world's rapidly depleting resources in a significantly more efficient manner. Practical and readily adopted solutions are needed now. Eco-efficiency-or "produce more with less" – is achieved when goods and services satisfy human needs, increase the quality of life at competitive prices and when environmental impacts and resource intensity are decreased to a degree that keeps them within the limits of Earth's expected carrying capacity. Eco-efficiency – a term first proposed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in 1992 – is a management approach that allows businesses to carry out environmental protection measures from a market-oriented point of view, with the aim of illustrating that ecology and the economy do not need to be a contradiction. Indeed, eco-efficiency has been portrayed as a win-win-for both business and the environment. This book, which developed out of two conferences on eco-efficiency held in Düsseldorf in 1998 and 2001, is edited by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and his team from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, one of the world's leading research programmes on resource productivity. The aim is not simply to explain the past and present of eco-efficiency but to look forward to and encourage a future where the comprehensive take-up of the concept by business, government and consumers could lead to innovation on a grand scale and the possibility of a giant leap beyond towards overall sustainability. There have been considerable achievements to date. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which aims to list the most sustainable corporations for investors, includes companies such as BASF, Climatex, Henkel and Matushita/Panasonic (all represented in this book), who are implementing eco-efficiency measures. A number of political initiatives have also been formed. In December 2001, the German government suggested a National Sustainability Strategy to measure Germany's sustainable development. While this not yet an accepted political target or even law, it shows that politics is moving toward binding targets for increasing efficiency. Eco-Efficiency and Beyond collects together the leading thinkers on the topic and aims to illustrate not only that the concept should be part of every business strategy but that it is a key trigger for innovation. Innovation cuts through paradoxes. It is the creation of solutions to conflicting demands. Flying in a vacuum gave us rockets and satellites; switching electrons through insulators gave us Silicon Valley and the digital age. Sustainable development presents a similar field of paradoxical innovation forces: i.e. provide affordable products and services for the growing unmet needs of the world population while reducing environmental impacts. This book is the definitive collection on eco-efficiency and will be required reading for business, government, NGOs and academicians.


Book Synopsis Eco-efficiency and Beyond by : Jan-Dirk Seiler-Hausmann

Download or read book Eco-efficiency and Beyond written by Jan-Dirk Seiler-Hausmann and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Business-as-usual, it is widely accepted, will exceed the Earth's carrying capacity in an alarmingly short space of time. In simple terms, we need to learn to use the world's rapidly depleting resources in a significantly more efficient manner. Practical and readily adopted solutions are needed now. Eco-efficiency-or "produce more with less" – is achieved when goods and services satisfy human needs, increase the quality of life at competitive prices and when environmental impacts and resource intensity are decreased to a degree that keeps them within the limits of Earth's expected carrying capacity. Eco-efficiency – a term first proposed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in 1992 – is a management approach that allows businesses to carry out environmental protection measures from a market-oriented point of view, with the aim of illustrating that ecology and the economy do not need to be a contradiction. Indeed, eco-efficiency has been portrayed as a win-win-for both business and the environment. This book, which developed out of two conferences on eco-efficiency held in Düsseldorf in 1998 and 2001, is edited by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and his team from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, one of the world's leading research programmes on resource productivity. The aim is not simply to explain the past and present of eco-efficiency but to look forward to and encourage a future where the comprehensive take-up of the concept by business, government and consumers could lead to innovation on a grand scale and the possibility of a giant leap beyond towards overall sustainability. There have been considerable achievements to date. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which aims to list the most sustainable corporations for investors, includes companies such as BASF, Climatex, Henkel and Matushita/Panasonic (all represented in this book), who are implementing eco-efficiency measures. A number of political initiatives have also been formed. In December 2001, the German government suggested a National Sustainability Strategy to measure Germany's sustainable development. While this not yet an accepted political target or even law, it shows that politics is moving toward binding targets for increasing efficiency. Eco-Efficiency and Beyond collects together the leading thinkers on the topic and aims to illustrate not only that the concept should be part of every business strategy but that it is a key trigger for innovation. Innovation cuts through paradoxes. It is the creation of solutions to conflicting demands. Flying in a vacuum gave us rockets and satellites; switching electrons through insulators gave us Silicon Valley and the digital age. Sustainable development presents a similar field of paradoxical innovation forces: i.e. provide affordable products and services for the growing unmet needs of the world population while reducing environmental impacts. This book is the definitive collection on eco-efficiency and will be required reading for business, government, NGOs and academicians.