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Business Management Book Store > Business Management books beginning with J
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Just Good Business: The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand |
Author: Kellie A McElhaney
Published: 2008-11-01 |
List price: $29.95
Our price: $20.96
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As of: September 10th, 2010 08:30:22 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 A basic treatise on CSR practices in a title for managers and leaders alike
Kellie A. McElhaney's JUST GOOD BUSINESS: THE STRATEGIC GUIDE TO ALIGNING CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND BRAND uses ten years of the author's consulting experience inside companies to build a basic treatise on CSR practices in a title for managers and leaders alike. From knowing a customer to practicing consistency, JUST GOOD BUSINESS is a top pick.
 A Guide to Kinder, Gentler and Richer Companies
Kellie McElhaney is a well-regarded pioneer in the emerging field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the founder of the University of California's Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business. She also serves as the University's Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Corporate Responsibility. In "Just Good Business," McElhaney provides a strategic guide to make CSR count in any business.
In "Just Good Business," McElhaney ties corporate acts of social good to good business practice, branding, and financial growth. In the book, she provides her "Seven Rules of the Road," and provides useful anecdotes and case studies from her years of research and consulting about corporate CSR pioneers like Hewlett-Packard, Brown-Forman (Jack Daniels), EBay, Whirlpool, Timberland and Nike among others.
"Just Good Business" serves as a good resource and alignment tool for companies that seek a brand that is kinder and gentler, and a bottom line that is richer.
The Why and How of Corporate Social Responsiblity (CSR)
Just Good Business is a must read for any company considering a new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy or a redesign of an existing CSR program. McElhaney offers a world of advice and practical steps to shape how CSR can (and should) fit within the firm's business mission and to guide it through the development process. Especially useful to those new to CSR, McElhaney brings color to each of her points with enough real world examples to help anyone envision how such strategies could be put to work in his or her own company.
It is easy to see how McElhaney's wisdom would be valuable to any large corporation working to make CSR an integral part of an established business. As an entrepreneur with a company still in the early stages of development, I found this book to be just as useful. Although my startup is a social venture and by nature committed to CSR, reading Just Good Business reminded me that we need to take time to effectively communicate that fact, rather than assuming our customers will "just know" without being told. I highly recommend other entrepreneurs read this book, as it will be far easier to launch with a CSR plan that already supports your branding strategy and visa versa, than to redesign down the road.
One last note for non-profit organizations - McElhaney peppers the book with ideas for what corporations ought to look for in non-profit partnerships. Assuming companies heed her advice - and they should - this knowledge gives non-profit organizations a valuable peek inside the minds of the decision makers at companies with whom they may want to collaborate. By understanding McElhaney's advice to companies, non-profits are better equipped to find corporate partners that would benefit from being tied to them and their social mission.
Highly recommended!
Ethical, Green Approaches are Good for Business
McElhaney's key point: It's not enough to have CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives in place; they have to be strategic, thorough, and properly marketed:
Strategic: aligned with-and actually fostering-the company's overall goals. CSR initiatives need to be consistent with other branding, add to the bottom line (or at least not subtract from it), and demonstrate benefit not only to the community but to the company itself (not had to do, as I point out in my own book, Principled Profit)
Thorough: able to withstand accusations/investigations of "greenwashing"
Properly marketed: Once you've got the initiatives in place, tell the story to all your stakeholders: top brass, line employees, customers, suppliers, neighbors, etc. Even better: get your nonprofit partners to tell your story for you, and give them the support they need to develop and disseminate those marketing messages.
The effects can be astonishing. She shares two stories from a cell phone company called Digicell whose success and not only doing but communicating CSR had a clear positive impact on profitability: During the 2008 food riots in Haiti, local residents protected their stores through community policing efforts, even as stores on either side were burned and looted. When the CEO, Denis O'Brien, was one of several cell phone providers chosen to make a 10-minute pitch to the Nicaraguan government, President Daniel Ortega interrupted his presentation and told him, "Listen, I know wheat you have done for the people and the communities of Jamaica and Haiti. We would be honored to have your company serve not only our mobile telecommunications needs but also the needs of our communities." WOW!
She frequently cites Pedigree dog food as a company that understands the power of thoroughly incorporating CSR into its core mission AND its branding. Visit that company's website and you can't miss the attention to adopting homeless dogs: a perfect message for a dog food maker, and a strong creator of consumer loyalty.
Interestingly, she spends a lot of energy discussing companies that have not always been perceived as good corporate citizens, including Wal-Mart and Dow Chemical. Perhaps, she seems to imply, those companies cans how their sincerity and turn public opinion to their favor, much as Nike did.
The book winds up with action steps, a comprehensive (if somewhat repetitive) section on measuring the results of CSR on profitability, and a look at the CSR big picture and future trends.
Highly recommended.
Shel Horowitz is the award-winning author of Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, which shows how to succeed in business through ethical, Green approaches.
"Strategic" is the key
McElhaney does an excellent job of taking what has been a controversial topic and boiling it down into terms that make it impossible to ignore the benefits of looking at CSR as a strategic corporate asset. Her clear writing punctuated with great examples makes the book a simple but powerful read.
I took away two key points. The first is that strategic CSR is about aligning your CSR goals with your corporate goals. Replace "CSR" with "branding", "product development", or any number of other business words in the preceding sentance and the concept will be immediately apparent to anyone in business. The key is that creating an effective CSR strategy is no different than any of the other critical aspects of doing business and the same processes and thinking can (and should) be used.
The second point is that strategic CSR is a conscious effort to do well as a business while also doing good. It's not about picking out a charity and writing a check. It's about leveraging what your business does to have a positive effect on society in a way that helps your business. This isn't as easy as it sounds, but the payback on many levels can be huge.
I'd highly recommend that all business leaders read this book and think about how to implement and leverage strategic CSR their companies.
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