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

  • 3h 31m
  • E. Freya Williams
  • AMACOM
  • 2015

What do Brazil's top beauty brand, America's second-fastest-growing restaurant chain, and the world's third bestselling car have in common? They are shattering the myth that acting sustainably and building a billion-dollar business are mutually exclusive. Green Giants examines nine companies that are merging social responsibility with wild profitability - and reveals the six factors responsible for their success, including: iconoclastic leadership fueled by deep conviction and a rebellious streak; disruptive innovation that uses sustain ability to spur the development of radically better products and services; a higher purpose that ignites the company - when the mission leads, profits follow. Mainstream Appeal with positioning and packaging stripped of the crunchy clichés that alienate the average customer. This new breed of billion-dollar businesses proves it's possible to achieve enormous success while implementing sustainable principles that help consumers live better lives. Ranging from start-ups to business lines incubated within major multi nationals, these companies collectively represent over $60 billion in revenue. What's more - many command wider profit mar gins and are growing faster than their conventional counterparts. Packed with eye-opening research, exclusive interviews, and enlightening examples from Chipotle, Toyota, Unilever, Tesla, General Electric, and more, Green Giants serves as a blueprint for sustain able success that anyone can follow.

About the Author

E. Freya Willams has advised organizations as varied as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Waste Management, and the United Nations, on how to incorporate sustainability and social good into their businesses and brands. The co-founder of OgilvyEarth, she now serves as EVP of Business+Social Purpose at Edelman. Her expertise has been featured in Newsweek, The Financial Times, and on NPR. She lives in New York City.

In this Book

  • Green Giants—How Smart Companies Turn Sustainability into Billion-Dollar Businesses
  • Introduction—Billion with a “B”
  • The Iconoclastic Leader
  • Disruptive Innovation
  • A Higher Purpose
  • Built In, Not Bolted On
  • Mainstream Appeal
  • A New Behavioral Contract
  • Conclusion—Next Billions and the Green Giant Effect
  • Appendix—Methodology for Research Cited in Chapter 1