What Matters Most: How A Small Group Of Pioneers Is Teaching Social Responsibility To Big Business, And Why Big Business Is Listening - Hardcover

Hollender, Jeffrey; Fenichell, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0738209023 ISBN 13: 9780738209029

Publisher: Basic Books, 2003

Synopsis

Under what conditions can a business hope to deliver consistent financial results, inspire employees, protect the environment, and make the world a better place? The question gets to the heart of a set of fundamental questions: What is the purpose of a business? In what ways does a business create value, and whom does it really serve? Can a business promote social causes and yet remain robust, competitive, and profitable?Jeffrey Hollender has run Seventh Generation, the world leader in creating environmentally friendly, nontoxic household and personal care products for more than fifteen years. That the company's success continued through the 90's bubble attests to an unwavering set of principles and behavioral guidelines based on the premise that social responsibility is a viable, vital, and sustainable business strategy. What Matters Most illuminates the successful practices of Seventh Generation--and many other pioneering companies, including Intel, Chiquita, and BP--to demonstrate a corporate strategy that hardwires social and environmental concerns into a company's culture, operating systems, and business relationships. Outlining seven specific principles of corporate responsibility, What Matters Most shows you how to assess your company's performance, address rising consumer expectations, honestly communicate your game plan, and embark on a path of long-term growth. For general readers, What Matters Most is bound to fuel the debate over the role of business in society and the limits to which it can drive positive change.

About this title

About the Author

Jeffrey Hollender is President and CEO of the Vermont-based Seventh Generation. A frequent commentator on corporate responsibility, he has appeared before such varied groups as the Harvard Environmental Forum, the World Resources Institute Sustainable Enterprise Summit, Nike's Apparel Group, the Environmental Protection Agency's Waste Conference, the United Nations Summit on Sustain-able Growth, and many others. He is the author of the best-selling How to Make the World a Better Place and resides in Charlotte, Vermont. Stephen Fenichell is a nonfiction author. His titles range from Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century and Passport for Profit (with emerging markets pioneer Mark Mobius) to A New Brand World with brand consultant Scott Bedbury. His articles have appeared in Men's Journal, GQ, Business 2.0, Discover , and Newsweek International . He lives in New York. Jeffrey Hollender is President and CEO of the Vermont-based Seventh Generation. A frequent commentator on corporate responsibility, he has appeared before such varied groups as the Harvard Environmental Forum, the World Resources Institute Sustainable Enterprise Summit, Nike's Apparel Group, the Environmental Protection Agency's Waste Conference, the United Nations Summit on Sustain-able Growth, and many others. He is the author of the best-selling How to Make the World a Better Place and resides in Charlotte, Vermont. Stephen Fenichell is a nonfiction author. His titles range from Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century and Passport for Profit (with emerging markets pioneer Mark Mobius) to A New Brand World with brand consultant Scott Bedbury. His articles have appeared in Men's Journal, GQ, Business 2.0, Discover , and Newsweek International . He lives in New York.

Reviews

The corporate scandals of recent years have underscored the growing emphasis on responsibility and accountability, and even the world's largest businesses have been heeding the call. Hollender (with writing and research assistance from professional business scribe Fenichell) checks in with Nike, McDonald's, Starbucks and other companies to see what they're doing about altering their products and processes to fit with sustainability, which values environmental impact as much as consumer satisfaction. Hollender's tenure as head of Seventh Generation, manufacturers of ecologically safe home-cleaning products, ensures his credibility on corporate social responsibility issues, though some readers might wish for more behind-the-scenes stories about grappling with those issues on a daily basis. He's also good friends with the founders of Ben and Jerry's and the organic yogurt makers Stonyfield Farm, both initially small companies that have been acquired by international food conglomerates. Will the smaller companies' values be subsumed by the bottom line or infect their new owners with progressive ideas? Hollender appears to favor "inclusive globalization," but he takes care to devote as much attention to those who would prefer a more radical outcome-crippling the giants and bolstering smaller, local economies. And he's sharply critical of both sides: McDonald's may have a long way to go, he points out, but is it really fair to attack their unhealthy menus while giving Ben and Jerry's a free pass to make fattening ice cream? This honest assessment of the difficulties corporations large and small face in fostering social change adds a welcome tone of moderate optimism to the globalization debate.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A business organization's obligations to its shareholders create a bottom-line mentality that often seems at odds with social responsibility, but these authors argue that conscientious companies actually fare better over the long haul. Hollender has struggled with the difficulties of creating a profitable business that utilizes sustainable resources and provides healthy products to consumers.He is president and CEO of Vermont-based Seventh Generation, a manufacturer of environmentally friendly household cleaning products. His deep involvement in the area of corporate responsibility gives him a unique perspective on the forces that are causing companies such as Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Unilever to take steps to improve their environmental and social impact. This movement is bringing awareness to corporations that they have an obligation not just to shareholders but also to "stakeholders" such as employees and local communities. His book is a well-reasoned contribution to the debate. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0738209023
• ISBN 13: 9780738209029
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336