Getting the green light
For many people, the word “sustainability” has evolved over the past two decades from the simple concept of energy efficiency and recycling to a widely held philosophy that promotes the careful and efficient stewardship of the world’s natural resources and human well-being. But in the corporate world, too often sustainability can be viewed as a feel-good marketing idea that carries little weight with executives and investors because it appears to play no driving role in a company’s future success and growth. Some professors at Harvard Business School (HBS) are trying to change that perception as they prepare to host the School’s first-ever academic conference on sustainability and corporations this weekend. Robert Eccles, professor of management practice at HBS and one of the three conference organizers, said that although there has been plenty of talk in the business community about the merits of sustainability in recent years, there has been little meaningful action to...