The Bottom Line of Green Is Black: Strategies for Creating Profitable and Environmentally Sound Businesses

Uses case studies to show business decisions that produce profits and work for the environment

Saunders, a winner of the President's Environment and Conservation Challenge Award, and McGovern, a writer, have compiled case histories that illustrate how ecologically compatible businesses can also be greatly profitable. Saunders, whose family owns the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, championed 90 environmental initiatives at his hotel. The results? Excellent public relations, a marketable competitive advantage, and higher profits. This book also offers a practical guide that managers can use to make their businesses more ecologically benign. Among the volume's notable features are a resource guide for further information, a chapter on ecological marketing, and several checklists for activities such as conducting an environmental audit. Recommended for managers seriously interested in making their organizations more environmentally friendly.
- Gene R. Laczniak, Marquette Univ., Milwaukee
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Saunders heads an environmental consulting business and his family owns and operates a chain of hotels, including the 977-room Boston Park Plaza. Four years ago at the Boston hotel, Saunders instituted an aggressive environmental improvement program, which included recycling, waste reduction, and conservation. Changes ranged from replacing bars of soap with dispensers to installing more than 1,200 thermal-paned windows. Not only have operating costs been lowered, the hotel now attracts new, environmentally conscious guests. Along with cowriter McGovern, Saunders makes the case that these benefits can be reaped by businesses of almost any sort. The authors specifically detail environmental programs and policies at 30 different companies, offering a variety of practical examples that are sure to encourage others to make similar efforts. David Rouse