Growing Local Value: How to Build Business Partnerships That Strengthen Your Community (SVN) - Softcover

Hammel, Laury; Denhart, Gun

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1576753719 ISBN 13: 9781576753712

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006

Synopsis

Growing a successful business is about meeting the needs of customers—and, by extension, the needs of the entire community. Turn your business into a good citizen and you can help ensure its success and contribute to making your community a great place to live and work. Growing Local Value shows how to build a values-driven business that is deeply embedded in local life.

Drawing on real-world examples from Greyston Bakery, Wild Planet Toys, Powell’s Books, and many other companies, Laury Hammel and Gun Denhart show how you can leverage every aspect of your business—from product creation to employee recruitment, vendor selection, and raising capital—to benefit both the community and the bottom line. Growing Local Value explores in depth how your business can contribute to its community—and the benefits it will receive when it does.

About this title

From the Publisher

FROM THE BERKELEY DAILY PLANET
"While people often think of community activism in terms of philanthropy or volunteer work, Hammel and Denhart show how every aspect of a business--from product creation to employee recruitment to vendor selection to raising capital--can be set up to benefit both the bottom line and the local community.

Each of the book's seven chapters offers lessons in building a meaningful and profitable relationship with a key stakeholder group: customers, investors, nonprofits, government, other businesses, employees and the environment itself. Those lessons are illustrated by vivid case histories drawn from a wide range of industries located all over the United States. The authors are keenly aware of the challenges facing small and medium-sized independent entrepreneurs; they tell what worked--and what didn't.

For this reader, it's these stories that make this book compelling. A few examples: Rejuvenation Lighting in Portland, Oregon, established a home-buying program for its employees. TAGS Hardware of Cambridge, Massachusetts, mails every new resident in town a coupon offering a free trash can and a duplicate house key and sends out "free light bulb cards" to frequent customers. Hammel's Longfellow Clubs helped an inner-city indoor/outdoor tennis club founded by African Americans to get back on its feet with generous donations of time, money and expertise."

About the Author

In 1980 Laury Hammel founded The Longfellow Clubs, a group of health, tennis, and sports clubs located outside Boston and servicing over 10,000 members. The Longfellow Clubs has been a leader in the fitness and tennis industries and has won numerous awards. Laury has been inducted into the New England Tennis Hall of Fame, and his emphasis on growing local value has led Club Business International magazine to call him the “conscience of the industry.” His family was named the National Tennis Family of the Year in 2000, and he is currently the number one tennis player in New England in his age group.
Gun Denhart cofounded the Hanna Andersson children’s clothing company in 1983. Through her leadership, the company has become known for its high-quality clothing made from soft cot- ton materials as well as community involvement and family- friendly work practices.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1576753719
• ISBN 13: 9781576753712
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192