Product Description

The Triple Bottom Line is the groundbreaking book that charts the rise of sustainability within the business world and shows how and why financial success increasingly goes hand in hand with social and environmental achievement. Andrew Savitz chronicles both the real problems that companies face and the innovative solutions that can come from sustainability. His is a hard–line approach to bottom–line fundamentals that is re–making companies around the globe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195452 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
Andrew Savitz recalls a conversation he had with a purchasing manager at a large telecommunications company. The man was adamant that social responsibility had nothing to do with his job, which was to buy products at the lowest price.

"Would you buy from a foreign supplier that you knew was employing 10–year–old girls and paying them 60 cents a day for their labour?" Savitz asked.

"Of course I wouldn′t do that," came the reply.

"Not even if the supplier offered the lowest price, if child labour was legal in that country and if no one could possibly find out?"

"No," the manager replied. "It would not be right."

"Do you think your company would support your decision to sacrifice profit in this case?" Savitz persisted.

"Absolutely, I′m certain of it," the manager said.

Do not be deterred by the unfortunate title of this forthcoming book. In just 250 pages, rich in anecdotes, Savitz makes a lively and cogent case that no company or manager can afford any longer to ignore the world around them. Many of the reasons companies face "the age of accountability" are familiar, but it is useful to see them pulled together: our shared sense of vulnerability, fostered by climate change and natural disasters, coupled with the awesome power that global corporations have accumulated; the goldfish bowl in which companies operate; their increased exposure through networks of business partners and global supply chains; the campaigns mounted by lawyers, non–governmental organisations and shareholder activists.

But this book is not a tract admonishing business to take its responsibilities seriously. Its central argument is an upbeat one that is gaining currency: it makes financial sense for companies to anticipate and respond to society′s emerging demands. In the long run, says Savitz, the sustainable company is likely to be highly profitable.

There is a flipside: companies that fail to respond, or thumb their noses at society, are likely to pay the price.

What is a sustainable company?

Savitz and Karl Weber, his co–author, spend time on their definitions–a sensible move given the confusion and spin that often surround this debate. Sustainability is not about philanthropy, which has nothing to do with the company′s main purpose. Nor is it merely about ethics. The authors even prefer "sustainability" to "responsibility", arguing that the latter emphasises benefits to society rather than benefits to the company.

For Savitz, who created the environmental practice at PwC and has worked with some of America′s biggest companies, it is about conducting business in a way that benefits employees, customers, business partners, communities and shareholders at the same time. It is "the art of doing business in an interdependent world". The best–run companies find "sustainability sweet spots"–areas where shareholders′ long–term interests overlap with those of society. Implausible? Look at General Electric, with its revenue–boosting Ecomagination green technology, says Savitz. Or Toyota′s fuel–efficient Prius. Or Unilever′s Project Shakti in India, training 13,000 women to distribute its products to rural customers and thereby greatly increasing families′ income while expanding its market penetration. Every company can find a sweet spot, he suggests, even if it is the minimal one of cutting costs by reducing energy use, employee accidents or the chances of a lawsuit–though some of this could just as well be called smart risk management.

In the second half of the book, he explains how to translate all this into "business as usual": how to decide what it means for the company; how to work with stakeholders, not against them; how to set enforceable goals in difficult areas such as child labour. Throughout, the arguments are driven by pragmatism, not dewy–eyed altruism. The narrative occasionally suffers from its American slant. The English Quakers, after all, pioneered decent working and community practices long before Henry Ford.

Even if you do not agree with it all, this is a thoughtful guide for managers who still harbour doubts about the point of sustainability, who are taking tentative steps towards it or who are seeking a clearer path through the maze. With luck, it should also help the anoraks in the sustainability industry to distinguish the wood from the trees.

–Financial Times, July 5, 2006

"…excellent new book… a compelling case for change." (The Marketer, January 2007)

"Important issues, well presented, that deserve a wide audience" (Long Range Planning, July 2007)

Review
"...Savitz makes a lively and cogent case that no company or manager can afford any longer to ignore the world around them...a thoughtful guide for managers who still harbour doubts about the point of sustainability..." (Financial Times, July 5, 2006)

"…excellent new book… a compelling case for change." (The Marketer, January 2007)

"Important issues, well presented, that deserve a wide audience" (Long Range Planning, July 2007)

From the Inside Flap
Your company′s sweet spot is where its financial interests coincide with social and environmental interests.

It is called sustainability, and Fortune 100 companies like DuPont, PepsiCo, and Toyota are beginning to see it as the most transformative business concept in years. Responding to growing pressure from regulators, environmentalists, and socially concerned shareholders, these and other firms are charting solutions that will reap environmental and social rewards along with financial ones. Companies that defy the principles of sustainability find themselves suffering significant setbacks to their business objectives.

The Triple Bottom Line is the groundbreaking book that charts the rise of sustainability within the business world and shows how and why financial success increasingly goes hand in hand with social and environmental achievement. Andrew Savitz chronicles both the real problems that companies face and the innovative solutions that can come from sustainability. His is a hard–line approach to bottom–line fundamentals that is re–making companies around the globe.

Savitz identifies and explains this new management concept in plain language and with good humor, showing leaders in organizations of all sizes and industries exactly how they can benefit. He provides memorable stories and simple rules of the road to help you find your company′s sweet spot. In the end, he shows that sustainability is a fundamental approach to management that lets businesses protect and grow the resources they need to succeed.

Customer Reviews

The Triple Bottom Line
A great informative read with a variety of case studies demonstrating CSR related issues from Nike's production processes to bad management at Hersheys.

Triple Bottom Line
This book is very easy to read and it started off extremely well, but after a while I realised that the examples were very repetitive - just the same few companies mentioned all the time! A bit more variety would be good, and also using examples of smaller companies as well as the big giants.

Engaging guide to better fiscal, environmental and social performance.
Sustainability is "the art of doing business in an interdependent world" according to consultant Andrew W. Savitz, who urges companies to focus on the "triple bottom line": solid profit, environmental quality and improved human welfare. Drawing on his experience as head of PricewaterhouseCoopers' sustainability practice, Savitz (writing with Karl Weber) makes a compelling case for moving your business toward "a sustainability sweet spot" where shareholders, environmental interests and other stakeholders can all feel satisfied. Sound like reheated corporate responsibility leftovers? Don't worry. This book offers much more than soft-headed "birdies and butterflies" rhetoric or a few threadbare anecdotes. Savitz marshals truly compelling arguments based on widely accepted demographic, regulatory and cultural trends. Even robber barons will feel the pull of his message, partly because the book is so engaging and well-paced that it reads like a novel, and partly because his prescriptions are so clear, coherent and actionable that they seem like common sense. We highly recommend this sustainability guidebook to those who want to begin the journey on which such companies as Toyota, GE, PepsiCo, Nike and Unilever have already embarked. Bottom line: you can't afford to ignore sustainability.