Sustainable Excellence

In Sustainable Excellence, Aron Cramer and Zachary Karabell tell the stories of the companies who are transforming themselves in response to paradigm shifts in the traditional business model—and shaping the future in the process. Natural resources are growing ever more scarce and expensive. Technology and changing consumer expectations are making transparency a fact of life. The rise of emerging economies creates vast market opportunities for companies—and better living standards for hundreds of millions. Today’s business landscape is changing in fundamental ways, and only the companies that adapt business strategies to keep pace with those changes will prosper in the new climate.

From their work with these Global 1000 companies, Cramer and Karabell know firsthand how business can successfully grapple with big-picture issues like resource scarcity, supply chain complexities, and the diverse expectations of government and the public. In Sustainable Excellence, they tell the story of how Coca-Cola and Greenpeace collaborated on a refrigerator that fights climate change. They show how companies like Best Buy and Nike are transforming the very products they sell to deliver more value to consumers with less waste. They recount how GE and Google created an innovative partnership that is developing “smart grids” that radically reduce energy use. And they show how business leaders like Starbucks’ founder and CEO Howard Schultz put sustainable excellence at the center of his company’s business strategy.

Sustainable Excellence makes the case for a different way of doing business—one that will define both business success and economic vitality in the 21st century.