Customer Reviews

Capitalism at the Crossroads: Aligning Business, Earth, and Humanity (2nd Edition)

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Is the business sector more then just a entity that creates products and jobs? The author of this book believes that the corporate sector can be the catalyst for a force of global development. The author argues that there is no conflict between making the world a better place and make a profit. He does believe that business leaders need to maintain a principled commitment to civic responsibility, for if nothing else then to keep your company out of the spot light of issues that could arise from actions that are less then ethical.

The author presents a book that gives the reader a scenario in which business can generate growth and satisfy social and environmental concerns. Given the 4 billion people that live in the third world, the author believes there is an unbelievably large and hungry market for all that business can bring. Business owners can reap incredible growth while sowing tremendous improvement in people's lives.

It does sound like a win win situation that is believable in its scope. Overall I enjoyed the book. It was well written and informative. The author might be called an optimist to the extreme, but it is the dreamer that makes big change happen. The book is a fast read that is well worth your time.

Professor Stuart Hart's thoughtful treatise on sustainable and accessible economic growth provides a nice complement to his mentor's similarly themed study, C. K. Prahalad's "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid", which I read myself last month. Both tackle an intriguing premise, though I think Hart is more successful in developing more realistic solutions to the world's economic ills. From Cornell's Johnson School of Management, the author goes beyond standard globalization theories by recognizing the need for companies to move beyond transparency towards "radical transactiveness", i.e., a willingness to engage and learn from people who hold fundamentally different world views.

He adeptly describes how the macroeconomic shift that brings capitalism and environmentalism together mirrors his personal and not uncommon shift from distrusting capitalism to respecting its power to leverage positive social change. The "greening" revolution of the 1980s demonstrated that companies could profit by employing more environmentally benign processes, such as recycling or waste reduction. But greening, we learn, continues to be a myopic approach, and it became apparent in the last decade that reducing the environmental impact of existing business models would prove insufficient to address the imminent environmental and social crises.

Hart was among those who promoted moving "beyond greening" through "creative destruction" of environmentally and economically wasteful processes, replacing them with environmentally (and economically) beneficial processes. The primary business strategy that promises to arise from the ashes of creative destruction is the BOP ("Bottom of the Pyramid") approach of serving the needs of the poor in ways that are culturally appropriate, environmentally sustainable, and profitable. One key to leveraging the BOP market strategy is for multinational corporations to become more indigenous to the culture and people they support locally.

The example of Nike's World Shoe is instructive. The US sports shoe company saw clearly that China's consumers presented an enormous potential market for trainers priced at $10-$15 a pair. The company, however, made a fundamental mistake in choosing to use the same factories, business partners and channels used for its $150 Air Maxx. The result is that the bargain shoe never took off. At the same time, the fact that Nike made the attempt is laudable. With careful scrutiny and ample evidence, the author questions whether many multinationals have the skills to discern the unexpressed needs of consumers in distant, developing economies. Moreover, even if they have recognized the opportunity, these same companies need to transform their business models to be readily available to deliver the right products and services in these markets at an appropriate price.

Hart's penetrating book touches upon its most controversial aspect in applying his reasoning to the problem of terrorism. He considers terrorism a symptom of the more primary underlying problem of unsustainable development culminating of course, with 9/11 when terrorists used violence to attack the symbolic epicenter of capitalism, the World Trade Center. Since violence begets violence, Hart emboldens himself to ask we look to the terrorists' target, not their tactics, to solve the problem. Reforming capitalism to create sustainable global enterprise may hold the key to eradicating the underlying problems of poverty and exploitation that breed terrorism while simultaneously reversing the looming environmental crises. It's a bold premise but one we cannot afford to ignore. This is smart, indispensable reading.

Nobel prize winning physicist Richard Feynman coined the phrase, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom." He used it to describe the many possibilities and advantages of making machines nanometers in size. That phrase can also be used to describe the business opportunities put forward in this book. Hart notes that most business strategies are designed to serve only a small percentage of the people on Earth, those with large disposable incomes. The remainder is poor and largely ignored, and he refers to them as the base of the pyramid (BOP).
This means that approximately four billion people are not a significant part of the business plans of most multi-national companies (MNCs). The conventional wisdom is that since their disposable income is so low, the products of the MNCs are beyond their economic capability. However, that is in many ways a false assumption, and the case studies cited in this book prove that conclusively. One simple example concerns poor people making telephone calls. On the surface, the idea that someone would spend several days' wages for a telephone call appears absurd. However, if that person must obtain the information and the only alternative is to spend more by making a trip, then that "expensive" phone call is in fact a bargain. Therefore, providing cell phone service to remote villages has proven to be profitable to the provider and beneficial to the villagers.
Hart also takes the leadership of the MNCs to task for their emphasis on the short term rather than the complete long term. By complete long term, he means that corporate leaders should include social and environmental consequences when making decisions. He is also emphatic in explaining how environmentally friendly "green" technology can be profitable. Since so many aspects of an environmentally friendly policy is the elimination of waste, almost all such policies lead to lower expenses and higher profits. He also derides some of the MNC whining and disingenuousness that has occurred when the MNC was faced with complying with an environmental regulation.
With four billion people in the BOP, if their incomes were to increase by even five dollars a week, the world economy would rise by over a trillion dollars, not including multiplier effects. This is where the real potential for economic growth is and I applaud Hart for writing a book containing such convincing arguments for making the attempt. It is time to end the age of exploitation and begin the time of economic opportunity for all. When poverty and a sense of helplessness make people hate you, killing them will not solve the terrorist problem. It will only create a new group that will hate you more and that has learned not to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. Therefore, the only effective weapon in the fight against the cycle of terrorism is economic opportunity that is in tune with other societies and not in conflict with them. That is the main point of this book and Hart drives it home with a very large hammer.

This is an important, but flawed, book.

Capitalism at the Crossroads is that rare book that compellingly describes new paradigms with powerful examples . . . but with which almost every reader will find fault in several ways. At the same time, I doubt if many readers will fail to change their viewpoints and actions at least in some ways as a result of reading and thinking about the material in this book.

The book is comprised of three basic lines of inquiry.

First, environmental problems that threaten us all will not be overcome by continuous improvement of reducing pollution of the sort that is being done now. You have to create entirely new business models that are built around the concept of long-term environmental sustainability.

Second, most of the environmental challenges will come in the parts of the world inhabited by the poorest two-thirds of the population. To deal with their economic needs and environmental challenges, you need to solve the problems from their perspective.

Third, new leadership and management paradigms are needed to change the way that organizations operate themselves that allow for the innovative sparks and direction to come from stakeholder interactions in the most difficult environments.

Most authors would feel like they could retire satisfied if they proposed even one of those ideas and explained the idea well. Professor Hart should take great pleasure in having helped give birth to three such important ideas.

Packaging the three ideas into one brief book, however, turns out to be an overwhelming challenge for Professor Hart. He doesn't quite carry it off. That's where the reader disagreements come from.

Let me give you some examples. Professor Hart places the entire burden for solving these problems on business. Now, I agree that business can do a lot . . . and needs to do more . . . but there are other organizations that can play pioneering roles. The U.S. government has played a positive role in encouraging the development of very important technologies in the past (such as the predecessor to the Internet, funding research into making biotechnology feasible, and creating advanced materials). Individual inventors have produced remarkable breakthroughs in the past (such as Jacques Cousteau and the aqua-lung). Charities have funded research to stop dangerous diseases (The March of Dimes and polio vaccine). And so on.

As raw materials and essential resources become scarcer and more expensive, most businesses will be doing a lot of thinking about how to keep operating. In some parts of India today, it's hard to get electricity for about 9 hours a day. Many Chinese plants run on their own generators. Simple initiative will create many of the solutions. This book suggests that only large multinationals can play a big role because they can afford to develop major new technologies. I would argue that large multinationals are not likely to be the largest source of new technologies . . . cash-strapped entrepreneurs will be instead. That's been the history of technology innovation for a long time.

Without taking issue with everything that Professor Hart has to say that I disagree with, I would simply note that this book will have its best and highest use when read and applied by entrepreneurs in emerging market nations who have access to enough skill and resources to address these issues from the perspective of the local culture and economy. "Small Is Beautiful" solutions can come best by equipping those who know the problems best with knowledge, education and some experimental resources. The developed world can probably be most effective in ensuring that happens by encouraging the development of small-scale entrepreneurship as the Grameen Bank does in part.

If I had some many problems with Professor Hart's arguments, why, then, did I grade the book as a five-star effort? First, I found his call for business model innovation to include environmental concerns to be compelling . . . and better than any other investigation of this opportunity that I have read. Second, his ideas are useful and should be used . . . if not exactly in the ways that he envisions. You've heard the old joke about pioneers, I'm sure. They are the ones who die with a back filled with injuries from their critics. The courage of such pioneers to take us someplace else should be applauded . . . even when they get part of it wrong. Otherwise, why would anyone read Freud anymore?

The people of the world need new ideas if industrial development is evolve into something other than the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer. These strategies leave nature - and by implication all of us - suffering and funding the collateral damage

Stuart L. Hart challenges today's corporations with a new manifesto are being challenged to rethink their worldwide strategies. Managers will have to harmonize concerns for the planet with wealth creation. Citing case studies and practical advice, he argues unlimited opportunities for profitable business growth will find those companies that apply innovative technology and solutions to the world's social and environmental problems.

The management professor at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, argues "one-size-fits-all" "command and control" approaches to production and supply are done. They need to be replaced by locally-responsive, locally-responsible and sustainable solutions based on local knowledge.

Only companies with the right combination of vision, strategy, and structure will succeed in developing more inclusive forms of commerce that lift the entire human family while at the same replenishing and restoring nature.

To address the world's ills, Hart argues effectively in this ambitious book, economic opportunity must be in tune with local economies. The days of being in conflict with them are over.

Edited to respect new information I did not have before, and thank the person making the comment. Also adding hot links.

The author, who gives full credit to C.K. Prahalad, has been a co-author with Prahalad and they are both credited with this brilliant vision for a new kind of moral capitalism that addresses the needs of the five billion poor.

This book should be viewed as a valuable distinct contribution in its own right, read read with Prahalad's book as well as a third book from Wharton, The Next Global Stage: The Challenges and Opportunities in Our Borderless World As I edit this, I am also remined of Paul Hawkin's Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, and the forthcoming book by Medard Gabel, Seven Billion Billionaires, with a preview here at Where to find 4 billion new customers: expanding the world's marketplace; Smart companies looking for new growth opportunities should consider broadening ... consultant.: An article from: The Futurist

It also complements Yale Dean Garten's book, The Politics of Fortune: A New Agenda For Business Leaders which calls on business to be more responsible about the state of the world. All of these books contrast remarkably with William Greider's The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy, Clyde Prestowitz's Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions and and John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

The math is quite clear. Business had been focused on high profit margins from the top one billion, with disposable incomes on the order of $20K or so. The bottom of the pyramid, five billion people, with disposable incomes on average of no more than $10 a year, represent a four trillion dollar marketplace.

Where business has gone wrong is in being bureaucratic, immoral, corrupt, and focused on outputs for profit rather than listening for solutions that can be profitable (with low profit margins, very high volume, and transformative effect).

I believe that these two individuals could one day win the Nobel Peace Prize for their work, which could literally save the world. As Jonathan Schell tells us in The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People there are not enough guns on the planet to keep these four billion dispossesed from impacting on us negatively. We can help them create indigenous stabilizing wealth in their home countries, or we can die with them as we all suffer the end of cheap oil, the end of free water, and the rise of pandemic disease.

This author is an extraordinary talent, equal to Prahalad. It merits comment that Wharton appears to have displaced Yale as a phenomenal publishing house. For me to find three world-class books on this topic, and for all of them to be from Wharton, is noteworthy.

This book has a couple of really good points, but has more problems. I am not talking about the points where I disagree with the author, but internal weaknesses and inconsistencies. My view is that if the author makes a strong case for his views, whether or not I agree with him or her, I generally value the book for making me think.

This is a book of advocacy for a dream. The author claims it is a book of optimism and yet the only optimism I could find was a kind of sentiment that at long, long last Malthus could be right. The reasons Malthusian pessimism has always been wrong are well documented. I have a great deal of confidence that they will continue to be wrong, but that is a debate for another day.

Where I think the author is strongest is when he is pointing out that as populations reach certain densities they do indeed have an impact upon where they live. An example I like to use is the way London suffered from cholera epidemics once it reached a certain size. They suffered these because they had always drained raw sewerage into their rivers and streams as a way of getting rid of waste. This worked as long as there weren't many people. However, once the population density reached a certain level they ended up poisoning themselves. So, they finally built sewers and treated the waste.

Improvements continue to be made. Humans are not helpless in the face of problems, but first they have to understand clearly what they are facing and then have the will to fix it. I do like his notion that pollution is the evidence of waste and poor management. He is also correct, I believe, that in the long run it will not be enough to simply make our present ways more "green", but will require a revolution in the way we manufacture, and what we build. However, I am also convinced that the current regime of attacking the economy through lawsuits and regulation will have little impact on global pollution. It will simply hollow out certain economies and push the pollution elsewhere. Rather, it has to be made economically advantageous to pollute less rather than making pollution more costly. Being "sustainable" (whatever that really could mean) has to be a better way of doing business to win, otherwise it won't ever come about.

I think the author is also strong in his view that providing goods and services to the four billion people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) and doing that profitably will have benefits at multiple levels. The poorest of the poor will have improved lives, the physical environment will improve, and the wealthier nations will gain not only profits, but improved methods and technology for their own way of life.

Where I think Prof. Stuart misses the mark is that he relies far too much on arguing from authority rather than hard intellectual demonstration of his ideas. He cites this authority or that NGO or another study to make his points. Yet, if you don't agree with the authorities already, how is that convincing? And if you already agree with his dream, why do we need the book? I am also profoundly tired of business books that cite the beginning of an initiative as proof that an idea works or that early stage results are conclusive. Getting something started or ginning up good results early is proof of nothing. To capture Prof Hart's term, good ideas are proven by being SUSTAINABLE over a long period of time. Early results and startup initiatives are not all that persuasive to anyone with real world experience.

An even more serious problem is internal inconsistency. In most of the book he talks about providing new technologies and methods for improving the life of the poor (while weirdly railing against the "money economy"). Then on page 166 he condemns the way the Westernizing of the Ladakhi people has hurt them. He laments that their population had been stable for centuries and now it is increasing too fast and their communal lifestyle has become too urban and impersonal with real poverty.

While I don't like to see anyone suffer either, Prof. Stuart misses a key point about why the population was stable for centuries. The simple fact is people died. If we let more children die, let women die in childbirth, and kill off the men earlier through backbreaking work and disease, well, all populations will be stable at a lower level. The fact is the technologies he is praising will inevitably increase the population. People want to have posterity. So, whose children are going to die? Who is willing to die early? Yours? Professor Hart's? I didn't think so.

His title is also very misleading. Prof. Hart does not like capitalism at all. He likes a kind of socialized corporation that is somehow guided by all kinds of stakeholders. If you want economic failure and poverty, this is a sure path, in my view.

Still, it is interesting to read these ideas. I just wish they were explained with a more rigorous intellectuality rather than trying to make fantasies real through a powerful enthusiasm.

Stuart Hart is an author, instructor, researcher, and lecturer who has written many books and essays on strategic management and the problems/challenges of globalism in the world economy. His consulting services have been utilized by many large companies including DuPont, Hewlett- Packard, and Proctor and Gamble and he has helped these and other companies like them to develop a more Earth- friendly, poverty- reducing approach to solving the world's problems while still maintaining enough economic momentum to stabilize or even improve the bottom line.

The primary focus of this book is the important task that businesses face in the twenty- first century; namely, the task of expanding the world economy, helping third world nations emerge from poverty, and improving the environment. To many, this idea of companies helping other nations, promoting recycling and environmentally sound business practices, and making a profit seems to be one big contradiction. When most people think of business, we think of the bottom- line goal of earning a profit by whatever means necessary; everything else be damned. But like Hart points out, the reality of environmental issues is too important and too critical for business to ignore. And if the right steps are taken, businesses can not only improve the world and its people, they can also reap profits and other rewards in the process. Thus, not only is it the right direction to take morally, it is also the right direction to take financially and if companies move quickly they can establish themselves as leaders in the global marketplace and enjoy the many benefits that their initiative will bring.

Globalism has been one of the most heated topics in economic discussion groups in the past ten to fifteen years. Proponents of globalism feel that it is the best way to spread prosperity all over the world and eradicate a large number of the world's poor. Opponents, however, have been very vocal in their opposition to globalism, citing many key areas where they feel the earth and its people are worse off when large companies expand to other nations. These activists feel that globalism depletes the world's resources at a faster rate; leads to deployment of "sweatshops" and other inhumane treatment of workers; and does little if anything to alleviate the problems of economic distress, inadequate health care, and the like. But like Hart demonstrates in this book, the pro- globalists and the anti- globalists can and must work together to solve these problems. And he feels that private businesses can make this happen by utilizing present technologies that will produce more abundant goods and services, improve standards of living, and leave the environment unaffected and possibly even better than it was before. Hart is a strong believer that much good can be accomplished if companies will simply change their strategy and embrace the idea of global environmentalism and responsibility. New growth areas exist all over the planet and by integrating some of the new technologies with profitable solutions, companies can make money and make a name for themselves as corporate citizens on a world- wide scale.

Much of what this book talks about seems reasonable now that I have finished it, but I admit that I was a little skeptical at first. How, I wondered, could a company implement all of these changes, pay good wages to foreign workers, protect the environment, and still make a profit? It seems like a very expensive proposition but like the author demonstrates, it really isn't a far fetched idea at all. We have to remember that much of the population of the world lives in conditions that are almost completely devoid of any use of modern technologies. Introducing these technologies can improve productivity drastically- so much so, in fact, that it will easily negate the initial expense of establishing the technology in the first place. One example stated in the book is that of Grameen Phone and Grameen Telecom- two businesses that helped establish a cellular phone network in Bangladesh. Money was loaned to women living in the poverty- stricken rural villages so that they could become private entrepreneurs to sell mobile phone service. The loan money was used to purchase a cell phone and a solar recharging unit and the women were then trained and sent out to sell this service. This business venture has proven to be a great success, profitable in many ways. It has raised many people out of poverty, extended modern technology to people who don't normally have this luxury, and protected the environment through the inclusion of solar charging units. All of this was possible simply because a company was willing to take a chance, grant loans, and extend a useful service to a class of people who would never be able to afford cellular phone service using existing business models.

Most of the information presented in this book deals with spreading economic success to the billions of people in the world who occupy the bottom levels of the economic pyramid but what the author talks about can easily apply to other situations as well. Corporate stewardship and environmental responsibility are admirable goals for a company of any size regardless of whether its customers are economically well- off or financially strapped. Hart concentrates mostly on the problems of the third world because it is here that most opportunity exists and where most of the challenges lie. But much of what he talks about could be applied to anyone, including those at the top of the economic pyramid who consume a large amount of resources with little regard for economic or environmental consequences.

I like the way Hart writes this book. It is well- organized with boldface text to break up different topics/subtopics and with notes at the end of each chapter. I also admire the sense of optimism. Hart is convinced that this approach is not only the right thing to do, it is imperative that corporations take action immediately and if they do so and do it right, they will easily reap the benefits. The old ideas that profit is the number one priority, that humans are disposable components of any business, and that the environment is the concern of governments have all become outdated in the modern world economy.

Overall, Capitalism at the Crossroads is a very good book about business and its critical role in shaping the world economy. Conventional wisdom about what works and what doesn't needs to be tossed aside in favor of (as the author refers to them) "disruptive technologies"- business models that go completely against the established way of doing things and present a fresh perspective tailored to the needs of specific people and cultures that protects the environment and still earns a profit. All of this is possible, and Hart feels it is very important that these large, multi- national corporations wake up and adapt to the new world economy. It is not only economically profitable, it is a necessary part of economic sustainability and world stability.

The bottom line of this book could be summed up as follows: Companies that help other people and protect the environment will be rewarded in many ways, including bottom- line profit, improved living conditions, and a better environment for all. Capitalism is at an important crossroad and the path taken needs to be the one that promotes responsible corporate growth for the good of all.

The book starts with a overview of the dominant position that is occupied by multinationals in today's global economy. Going by the definition of the term, 60000 multinationals produce a quarter of the global output of products and services. Yet they are owned by less that 1 percent of the worlds population and employ about 1 percent of the world's employable workforce. Meanwhile many of these companies in their race for short term earnings have sacrificed sustainable methods of production. In other words they have done irreparable damage to the earth's environment and created social tensions in many countries. In other words, the pursuit of economic gains is at loggerheads with local cultures and environmental interests.

Then comes the interesting hypothesis termed "The Great trade-off illusion". Earlier companies believed that a certain amount of pollution for example was inevitable and any efforts for its reduction will incur expenses for treatment. This is called "end of the pipeline approach" for treating pollutants. Similarly, large companies serving the top 800 million population of the earth's population adopted similar business models and products across countries and cultures. Two thirds of the population was ignored since it was perceived that this huge segment just cannot afford the goods and services offered by the multinationals.

The author offers a radical approach and introduces the concept of "Triple Bottom-line". How can companies win by offering goods and services that are culturally appropriate, environmentally sustainable and economically profitable. This is not wish or ivory tower theory, but a necessity and practically feasible path argues the author.

To serve the base of the pyramid (BOP) population, companies need to adopt disruptive technologies, incubate them in the BOP markets with appropriate functionality and price points. This also needs innovative business models. One should not look at what is bad ( corruption) or what is missing ( western style institutions) in the BOP segment, but understand and serve their needs through innovative products and services through appropriate business processes.

This is essentially a combination of Prof. Clayton Christensen's disruptive innovations ( The Innovator's Dilemma) and the concept of BOP ( The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid - C.K. Prahalad ).

In my opinion the main take away in terms of an excellent framework for business strategy is the concept of "Sustainable Value Portfolio". Defining the Organization's internal capabilities and external constituencies on the horizontal axis, and managing today's business and tomorrow's business opportunity on the vertical axis, we get four quadrants on which companies can operate. Companies typically operate only on the quadrant of internal capabilities and today's business. This is an approach of incremental improvements and greening. The other quadrant below the horizontal axis is the concept of "extended supplier responsibility" or Product Stewardship taking full responsibility for the product including its recycling, in close interaction with existing customers.

To win in tomorrows world, companies need to operate in and fully leverage on internal capabilities to introduce successful disruptive technologies that can cater to the needs of the un-served four billion population( that will grow to about 8 billion by 2050), or B24B, in a manner that is environmentally sustainable. Companies that understand all the four quadrants well and progressively plan their product portfolio are the winners of tomorrow.

Take the automobile industry for example. The author clearly brings out that till the 1970's this industry produced vehicles that polluted the planet with total disregard to fuel efficiencies. Then the focus shifted to emission norms and recycling of used automobiles. A huge opportunity awaits this sector in exploiting disruptive technologies like hydrogen fuel cells and simultaneously use such technologies to offer low cost transportation in countries like India and China.

The book then gets into a detailed discussion on the BOP realities and the right business models to serve this huge market.

A classic by any account, I personally rate it as one amongst the top 10 business books on my bookshelf. One can feel the author's sense of commitment, deep understanding of and a passion for the topic in every page of the book.

“Global capitalism now stands at a crossroads: Without a significant change of course, the future for globalization and multinational corporations appears increasingly bleak. It might be argued, in fact, that global capitalism stands at a juncture similar to the one faced in 1914. Between 1914 and 1945, world war, depression, fascism, and communism almost succeeded in eliminating capitalism from the face of the Earth. The problems global capitalism now faces (international terrorism, the backlash, against globalization, global-scale environmental change) are no less daunting. Constructively engaging these challenges will be the key to ensuring that capitalism continues to thrive in the coming century-to everyone’s benefit (from the Prologue).”

In this context, Stuart L. Hart divides this excellent study into three main parts.

• Part One – Mapping the Terrain: It describes the global situation and establishes the business case for pursuing strategies that aim to solve social and environmental problems. It also outlines the challenges and opportunities that remain to be addressed, particularly those that involve the development of new, more sustainable technologies and the needs of the four billion people who have been largely bypassed thus far by globalization.

• Part Two – Beyond Greening: It develops the logic and content of these ‘beyond greening’ strategies in more depth.

• Part Three – Becoming Indigenous: Stuart L. Hart suggests how corporations might begin to move beyond even these strategies for sustainability by learning to become more embedded in the local context. He argues that learning to become indigenous is the next strategic challenge on the road to building a sustainable global enterprise.

Stuart L. Hart writes, “In this book, I have tried to suggest ‘what’ companies might do to pursue the path of sustainable global enterprise-the strategies, practices, and capabilities that are required. What is less clear is ‘how’ to pursue this path, particularly within the context of large, incumbent, multinational corporations. Indeed, as Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales point out in their book ‘Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists,’ it is precisely the large incumbent corporations that most often stand in the way of fundamental change. I close the book, therefore, with some thoughts on what it will take to make sustainability happen in the real world of budgets, quarterly earning reports, discounted cash-flow analysis, and the discipline of the investor community. Leaders in companies will need to avoid the top-down bias, think as a disrupter, reinvent cost structures, transform the meaning of scale, and align the organization. Most important, to enable employees to build the sustainability cathedral, senior managers will have to step up to the challenge with visible and tangible commitments that far surpass what they have been willing to do to date (pp. 220-221).”

Strongly recommended.