HBR Green Wrap-Up: No Company Is an Island

For the twelve weeks from January 23 to April 16, 2008, HBRGreen hosted six discussions on the emerging intersection of business and the environment. Leaders of the business world asked provocative questions and readers from around the globe answered with robust and lively commentaries, bringing an unparalleled level of insight and experience to the conversation.

What did we learn? We learned that going green is more than a slogan. It's a complicated business practice that requires a sustained and unified effort from a diverse set of companies, customers, suppliers, workers, nonprofits, governments, and NGOs. Indeed, no facet of doing business remains untouched. In this, the final post on HBRGreen, Gregory C. Unruh, director of the Lincoln Center for Ethics in Global Management at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, wraps up the conversation. Read it here.

Should Managers Have a Green Hippocratic Oath?

Featured from Apr. 2 - Apr. 16
Widespread recognition of climate change and other major environmental problems has made it clear that the next generation of corporate leaders will be forced to grapple with a set of enormously complex and important issues. Given how business activities affect the environment, should new managers be asked to take an oath similar to the ones that doctors recite--requiring business leaders to first do no harm, including harm to the environment? Harvard Business School professors Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria say that they should, and encourage you to help them write such an oath.

Green Stakeholders: Pesky Activists or Productive Allies?

Featured from Mar. 19 - Apr. 1
Clashes between companies and NGOs are often more about drama than results. Green activists "ambush" executives to get their message out; companies respond to pressure by publishing sustainability reports with more PR than substance. But neither tactic really helps address complex environmental problems. Lip service and theatrics must give way to productive relationships, says Judith Samuelson of the Aspen Institute, but can companies, investors, and NGOs find a way to act as partners--with real skin in the game--to connect the power of markets to a green future?

Staying Green in a Tough Economic Climate

Featured from Mar. 5 - Mar. 18
Most annual reports make a respectable nod to "sustainable" these days--it's easy for companies to devote serious resources to green growth when the economy is chugging along. Sir Stuart Rose, chief executive of the British retail giant Marks & Spencer, says his company is making great leaps forward with Plan A--its ambitious 100-point plan to be carbon neutral and send no waste to landfill by 2012. But what happens to those good intentions when business gets rocky and shareholders see red, not green? What are the true bottom-line trade-offs? Will today's noble initiatives fade to historic footnotes when companies struggle to survive?

Winners and Losers in a Carbon-Constrained World

Featured from Feb. 14 - Mar. 4
You know the old poker saying, "If you don't know who the sucker is in a game, it's you." Well, sometimes business can be a lot like that. Concerns about climate change will undoubtedly spur massive market shifts--whether they come from changes in regulations, capital markets, consumer demand, or something else. And when changes come, they will create both winners and losers. Which will your company be? And what can you do to make sure that your company is a winner?

You Are Only As Green As Your Supply Chain

Featured from Feb. 6 - Feb. 13
No company is an island and no company can go green on its own. Recent headlines about the presence of lead paint in children's toys prove the point. You are only as good or as green as your supply chain. In this commentary, Brian Walker, CEO of furniture maker Herman Miller, shares three critical steps his company has taken on the long road to being green. Read his commentary and then join the discussion: What do you think it means to be green, and how do you work with your suppliers to make it happen?

Don't Bother with the "Green" Consumer

Featured from Jan. 23 - Feb. 5
Making the strategic transition from a traditional business to a green business is fraught with challenges—including the unexpectedly hard marketing question facing companies today: Should we market to the green consumer, and if so, how? Steve Bishop from IDEO answers with a surprising "No." Think he's got it wrong? Read his thoughts here, then share your ideas.