Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage [Hardcover]

Chris Laszlo (Author), Nadya Zhexembayeva (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2011

Companies know how to meet the demands of shareholder value - years of managerial excellence testify to this achievement. Many also know how to create stakeholder value - through traditional approaches such as CSR and philanthropy that predictably lead to trade-offs and added costs. What remains elusive is discovering is how to meet both shareholder and stakeholder requirements in the core business - without mediocrity and without compromise - creating value for the company that cannot be disentangled from the value it creates for society and the environment.

What if sustainability was embedded into the DNA of your organization? How can you incorporate environmental, health and social value into its very core? Many companies, despite their best intentions, 'bolt-on' sustainability as an afterthought to their core strategies. They trumpet green initiatives and social philanthropy that lie at the margins of the business, with symbolic wins that inadvertently highlight the unsustainability of the rest of their activities.

Today's ecological and social pressures require a different business response-one that existing strategy frameworks fail to adequately address.

In Embedded Sustainability, authors Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva explain and predict how companies can better leverage global challenges for enduring profit and sustained growth. They introduce the marquis concept of embedded sustainability: the incorporation of environmental, health, and social value into the heartbeat of the product life cycle with no trade-off in price or quality-no social or green premium. This book helps readers to comprehend and implement the notion of embedded sustainability. At its best, embedded sustainability is invisible, similar to quality. In addition to delivering socially- and environmentally-conscious products for consumers, it is capable of hugely motivating employees. Most of all, it enables smart companies to create even more value for both their shareholders and stakeholders.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"We are in the midst of a tectonic shift: The industrial corporate model of the 19th century is dying and being replaced by the sustainable enterprise model of the 21st century. In this new world of declining resources, radical transparency, and increasing expectations, corporate social responsibility will no longer be enough. In this book, Laszlo and Zhexembayeva show clearly that the defining characteristic of the successful 21st-century corporation will be its ability to embed sustainability in every fiber of its being. And, even more importantly, embedded sustainability will hold the key to future profit and value creation."

--Stuart L. Hart, S. C. Johnson Chair in Sustainable Global Enterprise, Cornell University and author of Capitalism at the Crossroad

"In this elegantly written book, authors Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva make a very compelling case for what is effectively not only a new business model and new business paradigm, but indeed a business imperative. Three dominant external driving forces prevail: declining resources, radical transparency, and increasing expectations. While recognizing what are in many ways stark and quite alarming realities such as the depletion of fisheries the great novelty and value of the book is the beacon the authors provide in showing business leaders how strategically embedded sustainability will be a source of profits as well as value for all stakeholders."

--Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Professor of International Political Economy, IMD (Switzerland); Founding Director, The Evian Group

"Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva have not only created a compelling guide for businesses to do well while doing good through Embedded Sustainability, but have also affirmed the critical importance in contemporary higher education of linking rigorous analytical intellectual development to the testing ground of engagement with real-world problem-solving. This book should be required reading in the environmental studies programs on our campuses from which future leaders of business will surely emerge."

--Rebecca Chopp, President, Swarthmore College

About the Author

Chris Laszlo is the author of Sustainable Value: How the World's Leading Companies Are Doing Well by Doing Good (Greenleaf Publishing and Stanford University Press, 2008) and The Sustainable Company: How to Create Lasting Value through Social and Environmental Performance (Island Press, 2003). He is an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management, where he is the Faculty Research Director at the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value. Chris is also the co-founder and Managing Partner of Sustainable Value Partners, LLC, an advisory services firm specialized in sustainability for business advantage.

Nadya Zhexembayeva is the Coca-Cola Chair of Sustainable Development at IEDC-Bled School of Management, the European business school based in Slovenia, where she teaches leadership, organizational design, and sustainability strategy. Nadya currently serves as Vice-President of Challenge:Future , a global youth think-tank. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value at the Weatherhead School of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Nadya is also an Associate Partner of Sustainable Value Partners, LLC.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Greenleaf Publishing (March 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 190609358X
• ISBN-13: 978-1906093587
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,012,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read March 22, 2012

By Ante Glavas

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Embedded Sustainability is a must read for any business leader and actually anyone living on this planet. The authors provide a compelling case that it's not a choice whether business should embrace sustainability. If a business is to succeed, sustainability should be part of a company's DNA due to declining resources, increased (radical) transparency, and also increasing expectations from stakeholders. However, the question still remains as to how to embrace sustainability. Others have noted as well - such as studies by McKinsey as well as Boston Consulting Group and MIT - that sustainability is not a choice for companies anymore. However, what is missing is understanding the how of embedding sustainability into a company's strategy and daily operations. In that respect, the authors provide an excellent roadmap for organizations. Actually, I do not know of any other book at this time that does so. That is why I think it is a must read. If sustainability is no longer a choice and if there is no better current resource on how to implement it, Embedded Sustainability is a book any manager who wants to succeed needs to read.

Although the book is written in business venacular, implicit in the book is a positive message and hope for the future. If our planet is to become sustainable, not only must business be part of the solution; but also, business can also transform its own image. Currently, business leaders are among the least trusted and most looked "down upon" people in society (very close to politicians). Yet, it can be these same business leaders that can help us get out of this mess we created.... Doing so not only has great consequences for the planet but also builds a favorable image of the business towards consumers, society, as well as motivating employees to actually feel good about coming to work. Having said that, other authors have argued how sustainability can also improve image. But what sets this book apart is that if sustainability is truly embedded, then it is not false marketing or greenwashing. Contrary to companies who might throw a few dollars here and there, have employee volunteer 10 hours a year, or have one-off sustainability projects, embedding sustainability is about completely changing the culture of an organization form one that is short-term exploitation oriented to one that cares about the well-being of all stakeholders - and thus good business. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Embracing Sustainability for Competitive Advantage June 1, 2011

By Kevin D. Lynch, Ph.D.

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Embedded Sustainability makes a compelling case that sustainability is here to stay, and that organizational leaders should embrace the opportunities created by this new phenomenon. Premising their case on the three distinct but interconnected trends of declining resources, radical transparency, and increasing expectations, Laszlo and Zhexembayeva present a powerful new paradigm to turn these challenges into organizational advantage.

Highlighting that the boundaries between organizations, customers, the media and government are blurring, the authors argue that it is time for sustainability to migrate from a bolt-on strategy running parallel to the organization's key strategy to becoming holistically embedded in the culture and operational dynamics of the organization.

A must-read for senior leaders of organizations of all sizes, as well as consultants and scholars, this book describes how to create strategy that creates value for both shareholders and stakeholders of the organization - a concept that the authors term sustainable value. What differentiates this book from other sustainability books is that the authors' work is founded upon research, and not just supposition, while maintaining easy readability. In taking this scholarly approach, this book avoids the trap of ideology that so often surrounds sustainability, and delivers a pragmatic roadmap for organizations serious about competing in the new world reality.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thumbs up! May 1, 2011

By Mary Gorham

Format:Hardcover

Embedded Sustainability is a "must read" for business leaders who want to learn how to create a winning business strategy for their company by embedding environmentally and socially sustainable business practices. Laszlo and Zhexembayeva's premise for their book is that we now live in a world of declining resources, radical transparency, and increasing expectations. Because of this changed landscape, there are now new opportunities to gain a competitive advantage through the incorporation of sustainable practices.

While the authors would undoubtedly acknowledge that sustainable practices are environmentally and socially beneficial, the book is not about promoting environmental or social responsibility for its own sake. Hence, their arguments are not moral in nature. Instead, they describe through numerous examples how embedding sustainability into the DNA of one's business strategy and operations (with no tradeoffs in price or quality) can create the kind of deep sustainable value that leads to business success.

Several aspects of the book are particularly impressive. First are their numerous real world examples of how sustainable practices can be used to improve one's strategic positioning in an existing market, as well as create new uncontested market space. Second, are their descriptions of the processes used by numerous companies to make such changes.

Toward the end of the book, the authors' tone changes radically as they share a vision of a possible sustainable future through the eyes of a remarkably smart fictional job seeker, Jake, in year 2041. Through this story format, the reader is invited to imagine what "business as usual" might mean when sustainability is fully embedded in corporate strategy.... They then conclude by inviting the reader to engage in inquiries into fundamental assumptions underlying business, sustainability, the role of government and the nonprofit sector, strategy, and more. All in all, a very interesting, encouraging, and instructive read. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good concepts which you can use in day to day business August 17, 2012

By Nikhil

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Bought the book as it was a pre-reading for my class. The concepts of tying business and sustainability are amazing and I highly recommend reading the book. I was fortunate enough to attend the class conducted by the writer himself. The examples and future trends will surely help you make sound business decisions. Will surely keep this book in my never do away with list.