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

by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston

• ISBN13: 9780300119978
• ISBN10: 0300119976
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2006-10-09
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This book explains what every executive should know to manage the environmental challenges facing society and the business world. Based on the authors' rich experience with forward-thinking companies around the world,Green to Golddemonstrates how corporations create value by building environmental thinking into their overall business strategies. Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston provide clear, how-to advice for making sense of environmental challenges, and they offer detailed case examples of how companies achieve both environmental and business successestablishing an "eco-advantage" in the marketplace. Green to Goldis written for executives at all levels and in businesses of all kinds. It guides the business leader through issues of pollution and natural resource management and the growing pressure from outside stakeholders to strive for "sustainability." While highlighting successful strategies, Esty and Winston also examine why environmental initiatives may fail despite best intentions. With practical suggestions for incorporating environmental thinking into core business strategy, and with a clear focus on executionnot legalisms, platitudes, and abstractionsEsty and Winston present a thoughtful, pragmatic roadmap that shows how companies can use environmental pressures and responsibilities to spark innovation and drive growth.

Author Biography

Daniel C. Esty is Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University with appointments in the Environmental and Law Schools. He is also a former top official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and has advised companies across the world on corporate environmental strategy. He lives in New Haven, CT. Andrew S. Winston is director of the Corporate Environmental Strategy Project at Yale’s Environment School. He has advised companies on corporate strategy while at Boston Consulting Group and has held management positions in strategy and marketing at sucy leading media companies as Time Warner and Viacom. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction: The Environmental Lens	p. 1
Preparing for a New World
Eco-Advantage, Issues and opportunities for business in an environmentally sensitive world	p. 7
Natural Drivers of the Green Wave, Environmental problems and how they shape markets	p. 30
Who's Behind the Green Wave? Stakeholders and the power they wield	p. 65
Strategies for Building Eco-Advantage
Managing the Downside, Green-to-Gold Plays to reduce cost and risk	p. 105
Building the Upside, Green-to-Gold Plays to drive revenues and create intangible value	p. 122
What WaveRiders Do
The Eco-Advantage Mindset, Looking through an environmental lens	p. 145
Eco-Tracking, Understanding your company's environmental "footprint"	p. 166
Redesigning Your World, Designing for the environment and "greening" the supply chain	p. 195
Inspiring an Eco-Advantage Culture, Creating an organizational focus on environmental stewardship	p. 206
Putting It All Together
Why Environmental Initiatives Fail, Pitfalls to avoid on the way to Eco-Advantage	p. 237
Taking Action, Execution for sustained competitive advantage	p. 262
Eco-Advantage Strategy, Key Eco-Advantage plays, tools, and plans	p. 283
Additional Resources	p. 307
Methodological Overview	p. 311
Most Relevant Tools for Each Green-to-Gold Play	p. 317
Notes	p. 321
Index	p. 349
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