The commercial challenge of solving the ills of the world, by Simon London
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
What better time to read Capitalism at the Crossroads than in the wake of General Electric’s announcement that it would invest big bucks in eco-friendly technology? The grandfather of industrial conglomerates believes it can make good profits from products that promote fuel efficiency and environmental protection.
Stuart Hart, professor of sustainable global enterprise at Cornell’s Johnson School of Management, has been imploring companies to look seriously at such initiatives since the early 1990s. In 1997, he wrote Beyond Greening: Strategies for a sustainable world, an influential Harvard Business Review article that told chief executives they needed to do more than clean up their smoke-stacks.
Economic growth would be sustainable in the long run, he argued, if they developed products and services that promoted sustainable growth by, for example, helping to close the gap between rich and poor nations.
Review found here.
Source: Financial Times
