Better Green Business: Handbook for Environmentally Responsible and Profitable Business Practices

Better Green Business brings together practical insights and start-to-finish strategies for moving any enterprise to a higher level of environmental stewardship. Drawing on his extensive experience at IBM, Dr. Eric Olson shows how to systematically drive “win-win-win” gains: growing top-line revenue, helping customers increase efficiency, and improving the environment at the same time. Olson’s business-focused guidance covers every step of your green business program, from strategy formulation through continuous improvement. He first offers a complete framework for approaching and formulating green strategy, using case studies to identify potential opportunities and business benefits. Next, using real case studies, he demonstrates how to define initiatives, construct roadmaps for transforming vision into reality, and link each investment to business strategy, so businesses can accurately measure results. Olson introduces powerful business process transformation methodologies and technologies for increasing operational efficiency and reducing waste, including IBM’s breakthrough Green Sigma approach. He also identifies new opportunities to drive value by “instrumenting the planet,” and introduces new technologies that make this possible. Finally, Olson assesses long-term trends that will make “green business” even more crucial in the coming years.