CENTER FOR BUSINESS
AS AN AGENT OF WORLD BENEFIT

Batesville Casket Company’s innovative reforestation program is an exemplar for the sound business strategy of reducing carbon footprint while, in turn, generating higher revenues. The organization realized the growing demand for wooden caskets, and returned to production of wooden in addition to metal caskets around 1970’s. Wood being a renewable resource provided an opportunity for reforestation, positioning it as a chance for a ‘living memorial’ for the deceased through planting a tree sapling. The program has had huge success in terms of preserving the environment as well as increasing the revenues for the organization.

It is possible for a very small number of committed, enterprising people to make substantive positive change. The development of the Beachland Ballroom & Tavern in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood has served as an impetus for community redevelopment and urban renewal. Its owners continue to promote the area’s improvement with an eye toward business growth and economic stability that will revitalize the district.

Project Shakti is an alternative distribution system and a bottom-of-the-pyramid initiative created by Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), a subsidiary of Unilever. Shakti allows HLL access to the previously untapped market of rural villages in India, which do not fit the traditional distribution infrastructure. Shakti is oriented to both income generation and community development. By targeting low-income populations, particularly women, this project addresses deep social problems - like iodine deficiency or diarrhea disease - by training Shakti women to provide education about products that address these health issues, and also making the products available in remote areas of the country.

Interface, a highly regarded eco-conscious company, and one of the largest manufacturers of commercial flooring in the world, has created the industry's first post-consumer recycled polyester commercial fabric. Terratex® is made from 100% recyclable or renewable material, manufactured using increasingly sustainable processes, made to meet or exceed industry standards for quality and performance, and recyclable or compostable at the end of it's useful life. Interface believes Terratex makes an impact, not an imprint, on the environment.

Interface began the QUEST (Quality Utilizing Employee Suggestions and Teamwork) program in 1995 to identify, measure and eliminate waste. Since then, associates have contributed valuable suggestions to improve the efficiency of the equipment and processes. To date, the program has generated significant savings for the company. In 2001, Interface took QUEST a step further by engaging areas of the company, such as Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, that previously had not been as involved. Rather than hold each facility to generic guidelines, individual Interface facilities are encouraged to discover ways to reduce waste that are unique to them. Interface is expanding the breadth of the program and encouraging involvement and accountability at all levels of its operations.

KBA, a landscape architecture and environmental design firm, practices “restorative redevelopment.” This holistic approach calls for reclaiming and renewing existing property, and promotes economic development, sustainable design and ecological restoration. The company encourages learning from past practices in order to improve planning and land development.

Miles and Associates/Success by Choice International combines traditional for-profit training and consulting services with the agenda of youth development and HIV/AIDS prevention. The guiding principles of skills transfer, sustainability and community empowerment make this a story of a successful business serving the needs of society.

Patagonia defines the quality of its company by the degree to which it can reduce its impact on the environment. To that end it has celebrated the cultural histories of the communities it is located in by recycling and restoring existing structures whenever possible. From 1996-1998 the company restored two buildings - one in Reno and one in California - and became more energy efficient with the goal of demonstrating that alternatives to conventional, waste-intensive construction practices and energy generation exist and yield structures that are more sustainable and in harmony with the environment.

In 1993, Patagonia adopted fleece made from post consumer recycled plastic soda bottles into its clothing product line, becoming the first outdoor clothing manufacturer to do so. Known as PCR® clothing, it created a positive step towards a more sustainable system. Today, the company uses PCR® fleece in about 31 products, and has saved some 86 million soda bottles from the trash heap and reports the addition of PCR® filament yarn to some products in its line. PCR® filament yarn contains 30-50% post-consumer feedstock and the remainder is post-industrial feedstock, allowing Patagonia to make both lining and shell out of recyclable materials.

In 1996, Patagonia converted its entire sportswear line to 100% organically grown cotton. This decision followed the findings from an independent research company commissioned by Patagonia to give an environmental impact assessment of four major fibers. The company learned that oil-based polyester and nylon were big energy consumers and sources of pollution, but nowhere near that of cotton. They made a decision in the fall of 1994 to take the cotton sportswear 100% organic by 1996, giving the company eighteen months to make the switch for 66 products – and only four months to line up the fabric.

As president of Reebok’s Apparel and Retail Products Group, Marilyn Tam realized the soccer ball manufacturing operations in Pakistan were harmful to the children being forced to make the products and detrimental to the local community. By taking a long-term approach, she oversaw a process to correct the situation so that adults would take over the jobs and children would return to their schools.

Seventh Generation Inc. articulates its commitment to be beyond solely producing cleaner and greener products; for them it is about cultural change in consumer behavior and business ethics. Living up to its name from the Great Law of Iroquois that prescribes deliberating the impact of each of our actions on the next seven generations, the novel formulas of the company’s household and personal care products ensure that with each use the consumer is making a difference through keeping toxic material out of the environment, saving natural resources and reducing pollution.

Sustainability and social responsibility are at the very core of Seventh Generation's identity as a business. Today the company is the natural products industry leader in the paper products, household cleaning, and baby diaper/wipe market segments. Through its packaging, web site, e-newsletter, booklets and presentations by their CEO, Seventh Generation provides information on its products and answers questions consumer most frequently ask about household products and their impact on the health of both people and the environment.

Procter and Gamble no longer looks at the developing world as a distraction: now they see it as a key to their future. One result of this shift in mindset is PuR, a water-purification treatment system, developed in partnership with The International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is already saving many lives by providing clean drinking water. The potential impact for improved health and profitability is high.