Customer Reviews

World, Inc.

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dr. Bruce Piasecki presents proof in World Inc that companies, who plan on staying in business for the long-term by winning the goodwill of a customer base, must create more socially responsible products and services. In addition, they must subscribe to more socially responsible business practices. The day has arrived when the savvy, informed customer who has the bucks to spend, will decide how and where to spend them, in great part, on the image and practices of the manufacturer. The true image, not just the projected, will be measured before commiting to the product. Dr. Piasecki informs Big Business that they must become socially responsible to sustain a competitive advantage in today's markets. "Go Green or Go Bankrupt"! Substantiating his claims, he states that the day of the innovative leader and investor reaping benefits of his new, superior product is over, unless that leader or investor is in tune with issues that matter to our world and realizes his impact on these issues. The severity of climate changes, social problems, environmental issues all concern consumers. Dr. Piasecki's book, World Inc, tells us all it's time to sit up and smell the roses---not to just stop and catch that whif, but to do something about it---and in so doing, we'll all embrace a fresh, clean, fragrant aroma.

Good and interesting concept with questionable written execution.
After reading about a third of this book, I'd had enough. The concept was an interesting one but I felt this book could have been summed up in a 20 page article in a business magazine or Harvard Business Review.
Skimmed through the rest and felt like I got the same amount of info on Socially Responsible business history.

Confused about global warming? Bruce Piasecki's book, "World, Inc."
presents concrete and
rational measures to halt global warming.

If we are serious about solving green issues, it will take more than
well meaning people wearing green rubber
bracelets to accomplish the task at hand.

Piasecki's solutions make perfect sense. I highly recommend that you
read "World, Inc."

The content of the book can be summed up in "Better Products + Social Responsibility = Better World". There you have it. Don't waste your time or money! The book repeats itself to the utmost boredom, does not contain one single original idea, and the author constantly promotes himself, his books, his company and his clients. I'm totally puzzled with the book praise in the cover and with the high ratings here in Amazon. It's definitely one of the worst books I've ever read - take my advice and avoid it!

As a concerned citizen for the environment who is discouraged by the lack of government intervention, I am intrigued by Dr. Bruce Piasecki's book, World Inc. His fresh perspective encourages businesses to use social responsibility as a selling factor for their products because consumers are more and more interested in purchasing goods that don't deplete the environment. He demonstrates that by "going green" corporate profits will also become "greener". In addition, he warns those companies who fail to change will meet their demise. Hopefully business executives will read his book and respond accordingly.

Dr. Piasecki has convinced me that corporations, not government, are our future to a clean environment. "Going Green", is what business must do to be successful now and in the future. His ideas for competing for clean air thru the use of better materials and energy diversity, are right on the money. And those that do not become ECO friendly will fail.

Let us hope our CEO's of the World are listening and reading, "World Inc."

I have had the great pleasure of working professionally with Dr. Piasecki as well as shared several enlightening dinner conversations regarding his work. My summation of World, Inc. may not be as philosophically enlightening as previous reviewers though I fully agree with the message that corporate responsibility needs to evolve and influence our society on a global scale.

As a new professional in the areas of sustainability and climate change there has been much to learn and understand when working on "environmental" issues. From practicing regulatory compliance to developing sustainability reports, environmental responsibilities take many diverse forms. World, Inc. astutely explains these efforts as a functioning being-- a unified sense of practices and actions that will eventually become the way of thinking and doing business on this globe. This book is a script from which a truly conscientious Dr. Piasecki has written to prepare businesses, governments, and people for that evolutionary "step" that is inevitable.

World, Inc. is a sophisticated read which doesn't pose a question- it promotes influential action, a much needed quality for the corporate world. It is no coincidence that those companies mentioned in the book have acted on this understanding and have become branding leaders in their industry. World, Inc. is also an inspiring vision for savvy consumers who know that their influence goes beyond money.

Thank you Bruce for consolidating these ideals and sharing your foresight in a well written literary work that will certainly become a studied classic.

Bruce Piasecki has spent his career bringing people together to discuss the challenging issues of the times. If you spend much time with Bruce, you'll undoubtedly notice that he listens intently and takes copious notes. He always knows when to inject a certain catalyst to spark and stimulate the discussion. World Inc. captures many of these thoughts and his vision into the future, and offers a unique opportunity to benefit from these hundreds and thousands of encounters that Bruce has experienced.

When I was a Board Director of a large financial institution, I met with the newly appointed CEO the day after his selection to advocate our participation as a founding funder of an initiative designed to transform my city's thinking about poverty reduction. I saw it as an opportunity for strategic differentiation of the company in the eyes of its major stakeholders. He told me that he would continue some of his predecessor's commitment to social impact and CSR work but only because "it was the right thing to do." He made it clear that he saw it as philanthropy and a distraction from the core business. I eventually resigned from the Board over precisely that conflict. Four years later, World Inc. has given me the words to express what I was trying to say with the phrase "social branding", and the evidence that my judgement was correct. Thank you Bruce Piasecki! I love being able to say "I told you so!"

World Inc.'s premise that competitive advantage must be driven by price, quality and social brand represents a paradigm shift. Paradigm shifts occur when more than one thought leader articulates the same apparently novel idea at the same time. In the December 2006 Harvard Business Review, Michael Porter describes his version of the shift. In "Strategy and Society: the Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility" he advocates that businesses identify the value proposition in their CSR policy. He argues that "typically the more closely tied a social issue is to a company's business the greater the opportunity to leverage the firm's resources - and benefit society". He then calls for "strategic CSR", which I equate with Piasecki's "Social branding", because it unlocks shared value between corporation and community creating a symbiotic effect. Using language that would be an anathema to those whom Piasecki describes as "senile capitalists", he writes: "The current pre-occupation with measuring stakeholder satisfaction is backwards. What needs to be measured is social impact.".... "We are convinced that CSR will become increasingly important to competitive success."

I take great heart from this powerful combination. Shift has happened!

One of my identities is as a mediator and conflict management specialist. I see the essential idea of World Inc. as being an important part of conflict reduction in our society generally and in workplaces in particular. Employee satisfaction is becoming an increasingly important measure of future success. People are increasingly clear that they want corporations and the other organizations to reflect their values. People are demanding more from their employers than just a pay cheque. This will become a business imperative as we come to terms with the wave of forthcoming shortages in skilled labour. Piasecki's idea that thriving companies are competing on a combination of price, quality and social brand is an essential piece of creating satisfaction and loyalty not just with customers but also with employees. Whenever I do an intervention in a conflicted workplace I always ask whether the vision of the workplace is aligned with the values of those who work there. Usually there is a gap. This important insight will help to close it. As Larry Susskind and others have pointed out the more we can do to build trust amongst adversaries the easier it will be to resolve conflicts in ways that lead to a common future. For too long workers have been told that in order to come to work they have to check their values at the gate. This cannot be a recipe for worker retention. Increasingly we are not willing to trust those actions are dissonant with our values. Piasecki's concepts welcomes in the whole person. Considering how costly unresolved conflict is to business, for this reason alone this book is worth its weight in gold.

My final comment is this: I am also a lawyer. I noticed yesterday that an email newsletter published by Lang Michener, a very large corporate law firm in Canada, featured an article on climate change liability as an issue. Lang Michener is warning its clients that investor, insurance and stakeholder pressure form the potential liability "stick" and business opportunity the "carrot", represented by climate change. Risk management should make World Inc. mandatory risk management reading, not just for CEO's of corporations but for heads of organizations of all kinds. Social branding will necessarily drive climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies through organizations that take it seriously, since no-one can advocate that their social brand is serious if it does not address the pre-eminent threat to us all represented by global warming.

World Inc. provides a carefully researched set of notes from the field written in an accessible style by one of the most experienced observers I have had the pleasure of encountering. It will allow even the most dubious reader to see what is happening and why the dominance of the concepts are inevitable.

World Inc. is a watershed book that is not only relevant and topical, but vital. Bruce Piasecki lays out the moral imperative for our business and political leaders. The game has changed. To be successful in the twenty-first century, all stakeholders must be taken into consideration, from shareholders to workers to citizen-consumers. We will only survive if we work together for the betterment of all. Few people are as qualified as Dr. Piasecki to lead this charge. For anyone concerned about the future, World Inc. is a must-read.