World Inc.: When It Comes to Solutions - Both Local and Global - Businesses Are Now More Powerful Than Government. Welcome to Worl

by Bruce Piasecki

Book Overview

Fifty-one of the world's top 100 economies are now corporations. More than 40 percent of world trade now takes place within multinational corporations. We now know that the world is flat, but what does that mean for the future of business and society? Bruce Piasecki, one of the top energy and environmental consultants to companies such as Toyota, BP, Chevron, DuPont and Dow Chemical, just to name a few, provides a groundbreaking new work showing that...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402208715
• ISBN13: 9781402208713
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Reader Comment on World Inc. Patricia Lane-Maclure Victoria BC Canada

When I was a Board Director of a large financial institution, I met with the newly appointed CEO the day after his selection to advocate our participation as a founding funder of an initiative designed to transform my city's thinking about poverty reduction. I saw it as an opportunity for strategic differentiation of the company in the eyes of its major stakeholders. He told me that he would continue some of his predecessor's commitment to social impact and CSR work but only because "it was the right thing to do." He made it clear that he saw it as philanthropy and a distraction from the core business. I eventually resigned from the Board over precisely that conflict. Four years later, World Inc. has given me the words to express what I was trying to say with the phrase "social branding", and the evidence that my judgement was correct. Thank you Bruce Piasecki! I love being able to say "I told you so!" World Inc.'s premise that competitive advantage must be driven by price, quality and social brand represents a paradigm shift. Paradigm shifts occur when more than one thought leader articulates the same apparently novel idea at the same time. In the December 2006 Harvard Business Review, Michael Porter describes his version of the shift. In "Strategy and Society: the Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility" he advocates that businesses identify the value proposition in their CSR policy. He argues that "typically the more closely tied a social issue is to a company's business the greater the opportunity to leverage the firm's resources - and benefit society". He then calls for "strategic CSR", which I equate with Piasecki's "Social branding", because it unlocks shared value between corporation and community creating a symbiotic effect. Using language that would be an anathema to those whom Piasecki describes as "senile capitalists", he writes: "The current pre-occupation with measuring stakeholder satisfaction is backwards. What needs to be measured is social impact.".... "We are convinced that CSR will become increasingly important to competitive success." I take great heart from this powerful combination. Shift has happened! One of my identities is as a mediator and conflict management specialist. I see the essential idea of World Inc. as being an important part of conflict reduction in our society generally and in workplaces in particular. Employee satisfaction is becoming an increasingly important measure of future success. People are increasingly clear that they want corporations and the other organizations to reflect their values. People are demanding more from their employers than just a pay cheque. This will become a business imperative as we come to terms with the wave of forthcoming shortages in skilled labour. Piasecki's idea that thriving companies are competing on a combination of price, quality and social brand is an essential piece of creating satisfaction and loyalty not just with customers but a

Confused About Global Warming?

Confused about global warming? Bruce Piasecki's book, "World, Inc." presents concrete and rational measures to halt global warming. If we are serious about solving green issues, it will take more than well meaning people wearing green rubber bracelets to accomplish the task at hand. Piasecki's solutions make perfect sense. I highly recommend that you read "World, Inc."

No more excuses for inaction

Five years ago the topics of green and sustainability suffered from nebulous definitions and uncorroborated testimonies. But as the topics have matured, we find both tremendous responsibility and business opportunity embedded in our responses as corporations and communities. The implications of the topics and discussion in World Inc. will help business crystallize its thinking in structurally addressing sustainability to maximize the business and environmental outcomes.

A Watershed Book

World Inc. is a watershed book that is not only relevant and topical, but vital. Bruce Piasecki lays out the moral imperative for our business and political leaders. The game has changed. To be successful in the twenty-first century, all stakeholders must be taken into consideration, from shareholders to workers to citizen-consumers. We will only survive if we work together for the betterment of all. Few people are as qualified as Dr. Piasecki to lead this charge. For anyone concerned about the future, World Inc. is a must-read.

Sit up and smell the roses!

Dr. Bruce Piasecki presents proof in World Inc that companies, who plan on staying in business for the long-term by winning the goodwill of a customer base, must create more socially responsible products and services. In addition, they must subscribe to more socially responsible business practices. The day has arrived when the savvy, informed customer who has the bucks to spend, will decide how and where to spend them, in great part, on the image and practices of the manufacturer. The true image, not just the projected, will be measured before commiting to the product. Dr. Piasecki informs Big Business that they must become socially responsible to sustain a competitive advantage in today's markets. "Go Green or Go Bankrupt"! Substantiating his claims, he states that the day of the innovative leader and investor reaping benefits of his new, superior product is over, unless that leader or investor is in tune with issues that matter to our world and realizes his impact on these issues. The severity of climate changes, social problems, environmental issues all concern consumers. Dr. Piasecki's book, World Inc, tells us all it's time to sit up and smell the roses---not to just stop and catch that whif, but to do something about it---and in so doing, we'll all embrace a fresh, clean, fragrant aroma.