Customer Reviews

Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts (Business)

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Making Sustainability work does a significant contribution for practitioners on how to put sustainability principles and ideas into practice. We have seen in the past other important contributions about sustainability. The difference regarding this new book is in putting these ideas in a very explicit way; emphasizing on the challenges of integrating sustainability into the business strategy and in the decision-making that encompasses the implementation of successful strategies at the firm level.

The book goes further giving valuable guidelines in practical methodologies on how to measure social and environmental risks and impacts and in the implementation of systems inside the firms for permanently monitoring such impacts. This has been a weakness in some of the literature we have seen in the past. Making Sustainability Work addresses the necessary evaluation of the impacts of sustainability initiatives on the financial performance to correctly assess the convenience of implementing them in terms of the benefits to both, the firm and the stakeholders. Finally, we have in a very amenable reading style, an important guide for practitioners on how to put sustainability principles into practice.

If you are looking for a book that provides you with a comprehensive understanding what sustainability in an organization is about and how other companies handled this topic, your search is hereby over. There are a few books out there which only contain the theory about the sustainability concept. Epstein's "Making Sustainability Work" provides a well balanced mix between introducing theory and examples of best practices. Covering a lot of topics such as sustainable leadership style, sustainable cultural frameworks, risks associated with sustainability, social impacts, and reporting systems Epstein touches most of the areas that either impact the sustainability of an organization or are influenced by it.

However, sometimes I had the feeling that he could have gone more into depth. E.g. in chapter five, where he covers performance evaluation and reward systems, I missed a few deeper insights into what really motivates employees and aligns them with sustainable strategies. Furthermore, I missed the part about how to market sustainability internally and externally. Nevertheless, the given advices based on Epstein's experience are reason enough to read it, not to mention the most valuable best practice examples.

- Frank Roettgers, author of Going Green Together - How to Align Employees with Green Strategies

Epstein's book is definitely well meaning. Directed mostly towards the field of corporate social responsibility. Attentive readers may also recall a recent Economist magazine that had its central pages devoted to this theme.

The book has numerous quotes from CEOs of large, prominent organisations, espousing how they pursue sustainable goals. Some of these include Shell and BP. Sure, the commitment is laudable. But these oil companies have been facing a shrinking in their proven oil reserves for years. If you regard sustainability in the context of this industry as maintaining or increasing reserves, then the situation is growing parlous, no matter what nice words the bosses say. Granted, the oil companies are spending billions of dollars each year in exploration and extraction. However, a cynic can question the inclusion of these companies in the book's survey.

Whereas others have argued for why corporations must attend to social issues, Epstein helps us understand how. Epstein provides in-depth, thoughtful analysis that integrates the relevant research in the field about how to more effectively manage corporate social responsibility. He grounds this analysis in extensive examples of companies actively grappling with these issues. In doing so, he provides a manual for both academics and practitioners to understand what we know today about how to manage corporate social responsibility , and provides a set of questions for the issues that we must grapple with tomorrow. This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the success of companies and who cares about the future of our communities and our planet.

If you want a single book on how to make your company sustainable, this is the book for you. Epstein distills the latest and greatest thinking into a sensible and comprehensive program for delivering environmental, social, and financial excellence. You don't need to look further for a guide to retool the machinery of your organization to create value for all stakeholders. Epstein is a renowned expert in the field of managing for sustainable performance. It's amazing how many insights and examples he fits into this easy-to-ready book. A great contribution to the field.

Epstein's book aims at filling an important void: After years of arguing that sustainability is essential, there are now very few senior leaders and organizations that deny the need to "do something". What these leaders and organizations now need is solidly grounded help and guidance to "make it happen", i.e., to re-shape the behavior of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of managers and employees so they become better able to generate financial performance in a more sustainable way.

Epstein reviews the major levers that top management can use to make employees more willing and better able to do so: the organization's structure, processes, information flows, the performance measurement, evaluation and rewards systems, the behavior of senior leaders, are all reviewed and discussed. The book builds on Epstein's years of research in this area. It contains scores of examples and is written in a very readable style. It's a great book for leaders who are now convinced their organization needs to do better, and want to "make it happen".

It is important to find out information to make this world have a more sustainable future. If you would like to read a book that contains thought provoking situations, I recommend you give this a try.

The challenges and opportunities facing companies today in the area of sustainability are more complex and have greater potential impact than ever before. Making Sustainability Work fulfills an unmet need for senior executives, board members, and managers seeking better ways to manage these challenges and opportunities. In this book, Epstein provides direction and guidance to help corporate leaders integrate sustainability into their daily decisions and to better understand and manage corporate social responsibilities and corporate performance. Making Sustainability Work is an outstanding contribution to the field. This book will be an invaluable resource for senior executives, boards, and managers searching for the best ways to integrate sustainability into their decision making.
--Mark L. Frigo, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, Director of the Center for Strategy, Execution, and Valuation, Kellstadt Grauate School of Business at DePaul University

This book provides a detailed model that provides guidance on how managers can implement sustainability at their companies. However, it is excellent not only for managers, but also for consumers who want to know what companies are doing or what they should be doing to improve their social and environmental responsibility. It is easy to read and contains many detailed real world examples to help readers understand what corporate sustainability is and how it should work at global companies.

I purchased the text as a guide for developing corporate sustainability guidelines. I found the author to be inaccurate in a number of places and his view of the business world is puerile. Obviously he is an academic with no real world experience beyond any benchmarking he has done in large companies.

For instance, page 107: "Given some of the characteristics of SMEs [small and medium enterprises] this approach to capital investment decisions is not surprising. Indeed, factors such as lack of financial expertise, short-term vision and shortage of capital partly explain their chosen approach." In fact many small companies are extremely well funded and run by CEOs and CFOs from large enterprises looking for a faster pace in a small enterprise. His assertions are equally absurd in many other parts of the book. The text makes assertions about accounting systems, with no apparent knowledge of GAAP, FASB, SOX or tax laws, tells the readers how GAAP "distorts" financial reporting.

With as many inaccuracies, lack of any real business knowledge, and the hostile or slanted view of business realities, I would not recommend this book to anybody who intends to us it as a serious guide to corporate sustainability.