1st Edition

A Thousand Shades of Green Sustainable Strategies for Competitive Advantage

By Peter Winsemius, Ulrich Guntram Copyright 2002
    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    251 Pages
    by Routledge

    'What does it mean for the environment?' is a strategic corollary of almost any significant business decision today, and companies must take seriously their responsibilities to regulators, customers, employees and the wider society. A Thousand Shades of Green is aimed at business leaders in need of a clear understanding of the key corporate environmental challenges and the insight and vision to meet them - imperatives such as engaging stakeholders and developing partnerships, understanding the policy-making process, forming corporate responses and drafting environmental management strategies - with the promise of genuine competitive advantage for their companies. Drawing on their extensive consultancy experience with some of the most progressive companies around the world, the authors examine why and how businesses must confront the rapidly developing agenda set by environmental constraints and social and regulatory pressure. They identify the corporate environmental challenge with that of change management and advocate a recognition that there is no single strategy or endgame applicable to all companies - there are a thousand shades of green. Only by pursuing thorough, reflective, consistent, competitive and proactive strategies will businesses be able to avoid being embroiled in costly and complex reactive approaches.

    Part I The challenge: The Environmental Management Challenge - Changing Stakeholder Needs, Evolving Corporate Responses * Towards an Environmental Management Endgame - Scanning the Environmental Horizon, Selecting the Preferred Endgame * Understanding the Environmental Arena - Government and NGOs, The Policy-making Process, The Changing Responses of Key Environmental Players * Defining the Path to the Endgame - Making Value Creation Choices, Generating Options, Assessing Options for Action * On the Eve of Change - Validating the Endgame, Assessing Change Preparedness, Preparing for Change. Part II Integrated Response: Implementing an Integrated Environmental Management Strategy - Initiate, Orchestrate, Activate, Motivate * Developing Partnerships - Selecting a Partnership Type, Leading the Partnering Process. Part III Proactive Response: Proactive Environmental Management - Building Inspired Corporate, Communities Telling a Story, Understanding the Corporate Pyramid of Needs, Tailoring the Story to Stakeholder Needs * Developing a Corporate Partnership Culture, Facilitating Contract Renegotiation, Anchoring Renegotiated Contract Terms, Getting Started with ABC *Epilogue * Notes * References * Index

    Biography

    Authored by Winsemius, Peter ; Guntram, Ulrich

    'Difficult to put down.' Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 'The book is well structured, allowing a reader with little knowledge of business strategy and the environment to understand the topics facing business and then moving forward to overcome them.' Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management 'This is a highly readable and relevant book, which deserves a place on the bookshelf of any responsible manager.' Business Strategy and Environment