The Future of Value: How Sustainability Creates Value Through Competitive Differentiation

Praise for the future of value

"Creating value in a crowded marketplace is always difficult; doing it in a sustainable fashion is downright painful.?The Future of Value?provides insightful analysis of how successful businesses have been able to make sustainability part of their corporate ethos and more importantly how they have translated this ethos into profits and value for all stakeholders. A worthwhile read." —Anup Jacob, founding partner, Virgin Green Fund

"The Future of Value is an invaluable resource to help companies pivot forward by embracing sustainable practices that will create distinct competitive advantage and long–term stakeholder value." —John Replogle, CEO, Seventh Generation

"Think sustainability is about altruism and good citizenship? Think again. Eric Lowitt demonstrates that it′s about business value and long–term corporate survival. Helping people and the planet is a great fringe benefit." —Thomas H. Davenport, President′s Distinguished Professor of IT and Management, Babson College

"I have always been a believer in ′whatever it takes′ to get the business sector and consumers on the road to sustainability. The Future of Value provides strategic frameworks and concrete actions that tie sustainability to competitive differentiation and value creation. And if there is anything that corporate executives listen to, it′s how to win in the marketplace! Kudos Eric!"—Bonnie Nixon, executive director, Sustainability Consortium

"An excellent look at the role sustainability can and does play in creating successful business strategy today. Filled with compelling examples and rich insights from real strategists, this book is sure to inform even the most active reader of sustainability best practices. It provides a clear how–to guide that can enable any company to make sustainability a key part of a winning strategy. This book is sure to prove valuable." — Paul Nunes, executive director of research, Accenture Institute for High Performance, and coauthor, Jumping the S–Curve

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

About the Author xxi

Introduction 1

Part One: How Sustainability Creates Value 17

1. Sustainable Companies Are Market Leaders 19

2. Sustainable Market Leaders Compete on Sustainability 31

3. Competing on Sustainability Creates Value 51

Part Two: How to Create Value in Your Organization 83

4. Crafting Sustainability Strategy 85

5. Leading Strategy and Management Efforts 113

6. Embedding Sustainability into the Value Chain 141

7. Analyzing and Communicating Performance 177

8. Renewing Sustainability Efforts 195

9. Keeping Sustainable and Agile 209

Appendix A: Research Methodology 221

Appendix B: Interviewees 225

Appendix C: Interview Protocol 227

Notes 229

Index 237

Eric Lowitt is a strategy and sustainability consultant and speaker with fifteen years of management consulting and strategy experience in companies such as Accenture, Deloitte Consulting, and Fidelity Investments. He is author of numerous articles about sustainability, strategy, and value creation and has been published in mainstream and practition–er journals, including Forbes, Reuters, and Business Strategy Review. He writes a regular column for both GreenBiz and Sustainable Life Media and blogs at his website, www.EricLowitt.com.