Customer Reviews

The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovations and Governance in the 21st Century

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Despite the enthusiasm generated in the 1990's for the principles of sustainability, debate on implementing the sustainability agenda in recent time has been depressingly pedestrian. Too many senior figures in business and politics unthinkingly condemn any initiative that might endanger the holy grail of conventional economic growth. In truth, this condemnation has more to do with vested interests defending the status quo, and their aversion to innovation, than genuine concern for the longer-term national interest. In so doing, they risk directing the Australian community and business up a blind alley, which may provide some short-term benefit, but which will guarantee our long-term decline as a nation as population and resource pressures intensify.

Fortunately, leading companies are demonstrating that these attitudes are irrelevant as it becomes increasingly obvious that implementing sustainability brings enormous business opportunities along with community and economic benefits. This is highlighted in a new book "The Natural Advantage of Nations - Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance in the 21st Century", edited by Karlson Hargroves and Michael H. Smith. Together with Cheryl Paten and Nick Palousis, the editors make up a team of young Australian scientists and engineers known as The Natural Edge Project, hosted by Engineers Australia.The team was formed to respond to the need for professional development in the area of sustainability.

The book builds on "Natural Capitalism - the Next Industrial Revolution", the seminal 1999 work by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins. It provides an overview of the 21st century business case for sustainable development, incorporating key work from more than 30 of the world's leading sustainability practitioners in business, government and civil society. Its starting point is Professor Michael Porter's competitive advantage theory and practice which, combined with sustainability, demonstrates how the well-being of society and the environment can be improved while driving innovation in an increasingly competitive world.

Emphasis is placed on the need to develop new concepts of "well-being" and "competitiveness" along with dramatic increases in resource productivity, built around inter-disciplinary, whole systems solutions. Valuable international examples are provided, for example, from the Netherlands and China, as well as Australia. The governance component contains thought-provoking debate on the need to address "shorttermism" and reform the fiduciary responsibilities of pension and superannuation fund trustees.

This is a dense read, but it is a powerful and important book which sets out key elements of our future prosperity in a rapidly changing world. It has great relevance for Australia as a resource-rich country with unusual sustainability challenges. It is an essential guide for all forward-thinking directors, for as Dr. Paul Weaver, one of the authors of the Dutch Sustainable Technology Programme puts it: Economic leadership in the 21st Century will lie with those nations that seize the opportunity of responding to the sustainability challenge.

The authors must be congratulated on a mammoth effort in integrating conventional economics with sustainability to form a new framework for innovation and competitiveness They also demonstrate how these issues have seized the attention of younger Australians, a good omen for our future.

Reviewer Ian Dunlop, Published in DirectorBooks Catalog 2005. Ian Dunlop, formerly a senior energy executive and CEO of AICD, currently advises internationally on governance and sustainability issues.

See more reviews on http://www.naturaledgeproject.net/NAON_Reviews.aspx

I teach hundreds of American business school students every year. For many students this course is their first academic exposure to how business can, in the words of Interface Inc's Chairman Ray Anderson, "take nothing, waste nothing, do no harm, and do very, very well by doing good" - good for the planet, for people and for profits.

I find that The Natural Advantage of Nations is the perfect text for getting across this message of hope in a very practical way. That's not to say it's short on theory. By no means-we are introduced to Porter's Competitive Advantage of Nations, Robert's Natural Step, the Lovins's Natural Capitalism, Stakeholder Theory and much more.

For American students who tend to be assigned mostly American texts, The Natural Advantage of Nations is an eye-opener to the innovative initiatives happening in other nations. It serves as a powerful wake-up call to start engaging in tri-sector dialogue and international collaboration.

The authors and their numerous heavyweight contributors make a compelling business case for the Triple Bottom Line, showing in multiple ways how enterprises benefit from paying attention to economic, social and ecological factors. Through theory and case studies, they show how companies can "pick off the low hanging fruit" of easy cost savings to invest in adaptations and innovations for the long term. The book has contributions from many leaders in the sustainability field and is a wealth of practical and theoretical advice. A must buy. None of my students were willing to part with their books for future classes even though I offered to pay them for their copies!

Greetings,

Michael and I (Editors of The Natural Advantage of Nations) would like to refer you to the online companion that we have built for this book. It contains many supporting resources including links to the source documents that we have researched and also contains a number of reviews and endorsements.

www.thenaturaladvantage.info

We hope you will find this book interesting and of use and are happy to respond to any questions you may have, see our site for contact details.

Regards
Charlie and Michael

All the contributors, projects and initiatives mentioned in the book are indeed worthy of applause.

However, the book is simply a hodgepodge of references, difficult to read, and flows poorly.

Finally, Amory Lovins is NOT the author! He contributes a brilliant forward to the publication, but is not the author.

Basically, you're best served buying the books by Lovins and McDonough, then following progress on the topics they discuss via RMI website and the site mentioned by this book's authors.

A must read for anyone serious about understanding the global phenonomen and trend of sustainable development. This comprehensive and well-documented book shows specific examples of how sustainable innovation can and needs to transform our globally linked society and economy. While it's a dense read, it's an important book. We're using this book at the Chicago Manufacturing Center to generate ideas for our GreenPlants program that helps manufacturers change to sustain in an incredibly competitive global economy. Contrary to the popular idea that business and environmental and societal stewardship are at odds, the Natural Advantage demonstrates that the time for new multi-stakeholder collaborations between industry, government, and the global community is here.

Non-renewable raw materials have been the engine and catalyst of the 20th century industrial revolution. A novel way of thinking is indispensable for the opening of this new era which is fully elaborate and comprehensive in "The natural advantage of nations" namely in the midst of surging oil prices.
This chef d'oeuvre must be highly recommended to policy-makers, architects,engineers,university faculty and students.

Amory Lovins, et al., focus on solutions, not problems. Alternative "soft" pathways, from an international perspective provide the first of many blueprints for sustainability through effiiciency. This discusses, in detail, examples from other countries and shows how US arrogance is leaving us behind, costing more and limiting alternatives. We are lagging in every sector - industry, transportation, farming, construction, energy, housing and our global impact.

At present the US has the highest greenhouse gas emissions. India and China are close behind and will soon surpass US emissions. It will take an international effort to mitigate global climate weirding. This provides constructive pathways that apply to individual and regional lives on a personal level.

This book is for everyone who is despondent about humanity's chances of living past the next hundred years. Crucially, this book is both for those who view saving the planet and ourselves as a moral imperative and for those who ask how, and when, and even can we afford it. Lovins' "Natural Capitalism" sketched out how businesses could enhance their profitability by changing their paradigm towards something that thinks beyond the next quarter.

This book differs from Natural Capitalism, another brilliant read, in that it moves past the concepts to look at the nuts and bolts of a movement that encourages business to mesh the pursuit of profitability with environmental security through innovation. This book throws light on the structure behind the sketch of Natural Capitalism.

Previous books such as Suzuki's `Good News for a Change', Benyus' `Biomimetics' and even Lovins' Natural Capitalism describe success stories without ever really detailing what you need to do to make one of these success stories yourself. You won't see much in the way of "this requires...", "they should..." or "they shouldn't.." in other texts; you will in this one. In short, this book is also a "how-to" manual written by people who have experience of `making a difference'.

The section on how to use industry cluster development to reorient firms, communities and government towards long term profitability, or in many cases simple survival, is a case in point. The guidelines on processes and institutional frameworks mesh seamlessly with revolutionary work done by organizations such as ZERI (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives) to provide a sustainable, fruitful, profitable and socially just future for all of us.

My recommendation is that if you're one of those people who say "I'm concerned but what can I do?" then start by buying this book for your political representative, your boss and any concerned friends you might have.

Around the world businesses, governments and societies are about to get serious about sustainability. This is not just an optional choice, nor necessarily a set of mandatory regulated changes. Rather its good business and required for a worldwide viable civil future.

For any group, or individual, wanting to create this future The Natural Advantage of Nations is a must. This book compiles the leading edge sustainable business and society practitioners all in one place and leaves you in no doubt that the future described above is not just possible but indeed being realised by hundreds around the world today. This is not to argue that these changes are easy, especially on a worldwide scale and at the speed we need to implement them, but the book is an essential guide to make it possible.

The book (The Natural Advantage of Nations) shows a lot of good arguments to convince skeptics. To highlight those who have profited from sustainability is a good strategy. I hope the book will be an eye opener for at least a few of those, not yet occupied by sustainability.

Frank Zimmermann, City of Heidelberg, Head Agenda 21-Office



Emerging from Australia, this (The Natural Advantage of Nations) is a tightly textured textbook packed with detail and coming from a multidisciplined source of experienced voices, it is a treat to read, knowing that this is youth at its most powerful - focused, aware and fully integrated in their points of view. It is supported by the CSIRO, which in my small opinion is, with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), one of two Australian organizational Jewels - both now part of the public commons.

....I'm jumping out of my chair to tell you more detail from this book because there is so much excellent material in it for students of any subject.

A reader, Web-of-UNME



I recommend an Australian inspired book "The Natural Advantage of Nations" to anyone who is seriously interested in a sustainable form of capitalism to give all people the chance to enjoy the quality of life of the West.

David Sealey, Reader
7 March 2007


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