Small Actions, Big Difference: Leveraging Corporate Sustainability to Drive Firm and Societal Value

Despite dire warnings about global warming, carbon emissions by the world’s largest companies are increasing and only a few companies have strategies for managing carbon emissions and water resources.

So what separates the best from the rest? In one word, the answer is ownership: companies that are winning at sustainability have created the conditions for their stakeholders to own sustainability and reap the benefits that come with deeper experience with and ownership of social and environmental issues: a happier, more productive workforce, increased customer loyalty, higher stock valuations, and greater long-term profits.

Based on interviews with 25 global multinational corporations as well as employees, middle managers, and senior leaders across multiple sectors, this is the first book to connect sustainability to the theory and principles of psychological ownership and to propose a succinct, easy-to-digest model for managerial use.

Watch the author talking about the themes in the book at the TedX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XpmsD2b76U

CB Bhattacharya is the H. J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics at the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a world-renowned expert in business strategy innovation aimed at increasing both business and social value. He is co-author of Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value and co-editor of Global Challenges in Responsible Business.