Green Giants: How Smart Companies Turn Sustainability into Billion-Dollar Businesses

In this well-documented but repetitive book, Williams identifies and analyzes nine different companies, all worth at least $1 billion, that prioritize sustainability and social responsibility. Arguing against economist Milton Friedman, Williams asserts that altruism and profit are not mutually exclusive; rather, companies such as Ikea, Natura, Tesla, and Unilever can and often do outperform solely profit-oriented competitors while being motivated by idealistic goals. But developing and running such a business is not as simple as PR-driven “greenwashing.” It requires counterintuitive product development with end results so preferable to competitors that the innovation does indeed—to use a common buzzword—disrupt an entire industry. Williams offers several examples of this disruption: Chipotle committed to ingredients that cost more but are also tastier and healthier, GE became an advocate for clean energy in an industry built on fossil fuels, and Tesla designed its corporate strategy around building a car that ran on zero emission electrical power. Yet in order to appeal to the mainstream, these “green giants” lose or de-emphasize the eco-labels. This book does point toward one new direction businesses can take to survive and prosper in the 21st century, but its overwritten style is likely to deter most aspiring “green giants” in its audience. Agent: Cynthia Zigmund, Second City Publishing Services. (Aug.)