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

From the Publishers Weekly review: "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. Though "no company the authors know of is on a truly long-term sustainable course," Esty and Winston label the forward-thinking, green-friendly (or at least green-acquainted) companies WaveMakers and set out to assess honestly their path toward environmental responsibility, and its impact on a company's bottom line, customers, suppliers and reputation. Following the evolution of business attitudes toward environmental concerns, Esty and Winston offer a series of fascinating plays by corporations such as Wal-Mart, GE and Chiquita (Banana), the bad guys who made good, and the good guys-watchdogs and industry associations, mostly-working behind the scenes. A vast number of topics huddle beneath the umbrella of threats to the earth, and many get a thorough analysis here: from global warming to electronic waste "take-back" legislation to subsidizing sustainable seafood. For the responsible business leader, this volume provides plenty of (organic) food for thought. "

Table of Contents:
Preface to the Paperback Edition x i Preface xvii Acknowledgments xxi Introduction: The Environmental Lens 1 Part One Preparing for a New World 1 Eco-Advantage 7 Issues and opportunities for business in an environmentally sensitive world 2 Natural Drivers of the Green Wave 31 Environmental problems and how they shape markets 3 Who’s Behind the Green Wave? 65 Stakeholders and the power they wield Part Two Strategies for Building Eco-Advantage 4 Managing the Downside 105 Green-to-Gold Plays to reduce cost and risk 5 Building the Upside 122 Green-to-Gold Plays to drive revenues and create intangible value Part Three What WaveRiders Do 6 The Eco-Advantage Mindset 145 Looking through an environmental lens 7 Eco-Tracking 166 Understanding your company’s environmental “footprint” 8 Redesigning Your World 195 Designing for the environment and “greening” the supply chain 9 Inspiring an Eco-Advantage Culture 206 Creating an organizational focus on environmental stewardship Part Four Putting It All Together 10 Why Environmental Initiatives Fail 235 Pitfalls to avoid on the way to Eco-Advantage 11 Taking Action 260 Execution for sustained competitive advantage 12 Eco-Advantage Strategy 281 Key Eco-Advantage plays, tools, and plans Appendix I: Additional Resources 305 Appendix II: Methodological Overview 311 Appendix III: Frequently Asked Questions 317 Notes,* 323 Index 353 * References are not noted in the text but are shown by page number and key words beginning after the Appendixes.

About the Author :
DANIEL C. ESTY is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University and Director of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale (www.yale.edu/CBEY). Author or editor of nine books and dozens of articles, Dan is one of the world's leading corporate environmental strategy experts with twenty years of experience working with companies of all sizes and across many industries worldwide. He served as a senior official at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1990s and is presently Chairman of Esty Environmental Partners (www.EstyEP.com). ANDREW S. WINSTON advises some of the world's leading companies on how to profit from environmental thinking. He is also a highly respected and dynamic speaker, exploring the business benefits of going green with audiences around the world. Andrew's earlier career included corporate strategy at Boston Consulting Group and management positions in marketing and business development at Time Warner and MTV. See www.andrewwinston.com for more information.

Review :
"An excellent, updated primer that tracks the A to Z of getting a grip on green as a business leader." (CNBC European Business, April 2009)