Corporations are under increasing pressure from customers, investors, employees, legislators, banks, and insurance companies to embrace social and environmental responsibility. But Wall Street demands quarterly results, a stringent return on investment, and a short payback period. Up until now, there's been very little evidence expressed in business language showing the benefits of the "triple bottom line" relevant to the short- and long-term priorities of senior executives. So how can these seemingly incompatible goals be accomplished at the same time?

Written in the pragmatic language of business leaders by a senior executive at Big Blue, The Sustainability Advantageshows that the business benefits of sustainable development strategies are quantifiable and real-and executives do not have to be tree-hugging environmental activists to reap these benefits.

Each of the seven sustainability strategies presented in this practical guide are easy to grasp, yet powerful enough to lead to significant business opportunities, from reducing hiring and retention costs and improving productivity, to decreasing expenses and increasing revenue and shareholder value. Executives will especially appreciate a unique spreadsheet into which they can insert their own data to see for themselves whether the business case for sustainable initiatives is a profitable one for their company.

Marketing Plans:

Ads in GreenMoney Journal, LOHAS Journal, Business Ethics

National print review campaign

National radio interviews

Web publicity on greenbiz.com and others

Direct mail to members of The World Business Council on Sustainable Development

Course adoption campaign

Bob Willardrecently retired from his senior executive position at IBM to pursue his commitment to sustainable development full-time. Over his 35 years at IBM, Willard was recognized with numerous awards for outstanding leadership, HR development, marketing and sales. He lives in Ontario, Canada.

Also Available

Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business

TP $21.95, 0-86571-392-8 USA

This book argues that businesses stand to profit from development strategies that are socially and environmentally responsible. Written for corporate executives by one of their own (Willard retired from a senior management position at IBM), the book identifies seven benefits of corporate responsibility, illustrated with a spreadsheet analysis of a hypothetical corporation. Chapters focus on strategy, hiring, retention, productivity, manufacturing expenses, commercial expenses, revenue and market share, and risk and financing. An appendix features sustainability worksheets. Distributed in the US by Consortium Books.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Bob is the author of The Sustainability Advantage: Seven Business Case Benefits of a Triple Bottom Line(New Society Publishers, 2002). He is a leading expert on the business value of corporate sustainability strategies and in the last two years has given over 110 keynote presentations to corporations, consultants, academics, and nongovernmental organizations.

During his 34-year IBM career, Bob held leadership positions in marketing, technical support, education, and human resources, including 20 years in management. Between 1990 and 2000, Bob led leadership development for IBM's 2,000 managers and executives in Canada. Since taking early retirement in 2000, he has worked full time on applying his business and leadership development experience to engage the business community in proactively avoiding risks and capturing opportunities associated with sustainability.

Bob recently served on the boards of Eco-Energy Durham and the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA). He currently serves on the advisory boards of The Natural Step, Canada, and the Certificate in Adult Training and Development at OISE / University of Toronto.