Profits with A Purpose

At a time when unethical business practices continue to dominate the business press, PROFITS WITH PRINCIPLES offers persuasive proof that when businesses combine profit making with a concern for values and the greater good, they do better in the marketplace than those that concentrate only on the bottom line.

In PROFITS WITH PRINCIPLES, Ira A. Jackson and Jane Nelson show the quantifiable and enduring business advantage to “doing the right thing.” The companies profiled in PROFITS WITH PRINCIPLES–including Starbucks, Citigroup, Alcoa, General Motors, General Electric, Dupont, and Dell–come from different industries and have implemented different strategies to build trust and gain a competitive advantage. What they share, however, are basic operating principles of making values integral to the way they do business. By focusing on creating societal as well as shareholder value, they have built market share, improved risk management, enhanced innovation, strengthened consumer loyalty, and attracted the best talent.

Jackson and Nelson’s seven principles include Harness Innovation for the Public Good, as in the simple, low-cost water purifier from Proctor & Gamble that has the potential to save thousands of lives; Spread Economic Opportunity, exemplified by Marriott’s “Pathways to Independence” program that creates job opportunities for former welfare recipients and gives the company a competitive advantage in the marketplace for low-skilled employees; and Put People at the Center, a value practiced by Alcoa that reduced its lost workday injury rate by more than 90% since 1988.

This breakthrough guide on how companies can build trust and grow market share by making a difference opens the door to a new kind of capitalism, providing a wealth of infinitely useful and practical recommendations a company of any size can adapt.

IRA A. JACKSON is the former director of the Center for Business and Government at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and most recently was the first president of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation in Atlanta. Previously, he served as the Massachusetts commissioner of revenue under Michael Dukakis, and was an executive vice president at Bank Boston. JANE NELSON is director of Leadership and Strategy at the International Business Leaders Forum and a senior fellow and director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. She is a former vice president at Citibank and worked in the secretary-general's office at the United Nations.