CENTER FOR BUSINESS
AS AN AGENT OF WORLD BENEFIT

A company driven by the desire to improve global sustainability, Monsanto India is not only helping the farmers in the country increase their yield but simultaneously educating them about practices that help improve their lives. Recognizing the immense business potential in India with 25 percent of world’s cotton fields and combining this with its breakthrough research in Bt gene (bacillus thuringiensis), Monsanto has helped millions of farmers live a more prosperous and healthier life.

By building upon a non-invasive, non-drug therapy for correcting ADD, ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disorders Open Pathways To Learning has found true benefits of innovation; developing people in the course of developing a sound business model. The therapy is based on ‘Brain Integration Technique’ that utilizes principles of applied kinesiology and acupressure to help children and adults overcome their learning difficulties.

London Cleaners is a dry cleaning company that chose to break the environmentally unfriendly connotations attached to such establishments. By adopting a newer and greener way to clean called the GreenEarth cleaning system; the company has ensured excellent service for its customers, health of its employees, and sustainability for itself.

TOMS shoes are the harbinger of what has been christened as the ‘one to one movement’- for every shoe a customer buys, TOMS donates a pair to a child in need. Going beyond corporate philanthropy, TOMS has integrated the spirit of positive world impact in the very heart of its business, making it a truly sustainable model.

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.

Brooks Sports, Inc. designs and markets a line of high performance running shoes, apparels and accessories in more than 40 countries. Building a strong brand through community support and outreach programs, Brooks encourages healthier minds and bodies, healthier planet and a healthier bottomline. As an organization that is not only committed to encouraging long-term health in people but in providing this impetus through environmentally friendly product innovations, ‘Brooks’ has discovered and successfully implemented the mantra of sustainability.

Realizing the urgency of action and leveraging the strength of business for making a difference, Global Ethics Ltd launched a bottled drinking water called ONE. The idea was simple: the profit generated from every bottle of water sold would be channelized toward installation of water pumps in parts of Africa where clean drinking water is almost a luxury. One billion without access to drinking water resulting in 2 million deaths (source: onewater.uk.org; UNICEF and WHO report, 2006) sounds almost ludicrous in today’s world. The magnitude of the problem escapes most of us who take a basic necessity like clean drinking water completely for granted. Unfortunately it is not so in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern and Southern Asia. For many of the millions affected, the time that should be devoted to school and agriculture is spent walking miles to collect water.

Enhancing the physical health, body image and self-esteem of teenage girls is the spirit behind Shift Inc., a club created solely for teenage girls who strive to achieve a healthier life. The objective of helping the members of Shift take action and actuate a behavioral change is manifested through building strong, surrounding community that provides support and encouragement, valuable information that helps teenage girls make wiser decisions toward their health and tools that bring planning and focus in achievement of these goals.

Coca-Cola is the largest private sector employer in Africa, with more than 60,000 employees. It has operated in Africa for more than 75 years and over the last five years has invested more than $600 million in new plants, updated equipments and employee training. Africa has been a profitable region for the company with continuous increase in revenues as well as unit case volume. But this rate of growth is threatened by the prevalence of AIDS/HIV crisis in the continent. The company has launched several initiatives to educate, protect and curb the crisis for its employees, in turn helping the economic growth of the whole region. Through partnerships and collaborations several innovative programs have been institutionalized. The prevention and education within the company cascade down, contributing to the health and development of the whole community.

Starbucks Coffee Company’s C.A.F.E (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices program ensures that Starbucks sources sustainably grown and processed coffee by evaluating the economic, social and environmental aspects of coffee growing along the supply chain. In 2005, Starbucks purchased 76.8 million pounds of coffee from the C.A.F.E Practice providers, which represents 24.6% of all coffee purchased by the company. By improving the environment, economy, and the educational and health services within local communities, Starbucks creates stability for its farmers and, in turn, for the company, according to Cindy Hoots, Senior Specialist at Starbucks in the Corporate Responsibility Office.

Newman’s Own Organics is an organic food manufacturer that focuses on providing the kinds of products people loved as kids, but takes them one step further by using the highest quality of available organic ingredients. Nell Newman, daughter of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, along with Peter Meehan founded Newman’s Own Organics in 1993. Newman’s Organics has been an innovator of organic food products since its conception, concentrating on developing products with wide consumer appeal, such as pretzels, cookies and popcorn. According to Nell Newman, “Some people have a narrow definition of organic. They see it as heavy and tasteless, being forced to change your eating habits. No way! This is great food that is ultimately better for the environment long, long term.”

A cleaning company that is committed not only to keeping the client’s house clean but also ensuring that environment is equally pristine by adopting and promulgating natural and safe cleaning practices – ‘Green Clean Inc’ is an example of how high quality customer service, productive work environment and a healthier planet are goals that buttress each other. The organization has successfully achieved this via a strong sense of social consciousness, providing safer alternatives to harmful chemicals in cleaning products and educating customers, public and employees on safer cleaning practices.

In 1999, Restaurant Nora in the Dupont Circle area of Washington D.C. became the first certified organic restaurant in the nation, a distinction currently shared by only two other establishments. Through her commitment to promoting a healthier society, Austrian born Nora Pouillon has become not only a pioneer in the world of organic cuisine, she has demonstrated that organic foods and the upscale dining experience are eminently compatible. In the late 70’s, when healthy eating was associated with vegetarianism and the alternative culture, she set out to show that seasonal, local, and organic cuisine was well suited to the white-tablecloth dining experience. And she has done so decidedly. Since opening its doors in 1979, Nora’s Restaurant has been lauded in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times Magazine, Gourmet, Vogue, and USA Today, and she has granted a considerable number of interviews, including one for CNN, and with the likes of Madeline Albright, Betty Friedan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Jane Goodall for the preparation of the PBS documentary, If Women Ruled the World.

KaBOOM! is committed to a world where each child is within walking distance of a great place to play. To assure such places are available, KaBOOM! created an innovative business model which includes partnering with corporations and fosters team building and community development in addition to building playgrounds.

Women's World Banking's vision is to expand low-income women's economic participation by giving them greater access to financial information and markets. In doing so they are enabling women to not only keep their families fed but also engage in the community and develop a political voice that could bring about great change worldwide.

CoxHealth is a large not-for-profit, integrated health care organization providing healthcare in a twenty-one county area in Southwest Missouri. The organization celebrates its 100th year of providing healthcare in 2006. Currently the system is the largest employer in the region with over 9,000 employees among its three hospitals, long-term care, home health, physician clinics, rural health clinics, full service behavioral health, and multiple other healthcare offerings. The mission of the organization is to “Improve the health of the communities we serve through quality health care, education, and research.” The core values guide and shape the way business is done through compassion, respect, and integrity at CoxHealth. CoxHealth has initiated a program titled Business Associated Student Education (BASE). This program offers a unique learning opportunity for appropriate special education students at risk, yet with untapped potential. The most significant opportunity is to create an easy transition to the real world for these students. They can gain basic life skills to be as independent as possible, to negotiate the world and care for themselves, be employed, and create a productive life for themselves. At the present time there are around seventy students divided among seven jobsites participating in this program. Three of the jobsites are at CoxHealth facilities. Cox was the original business to step out and begin this partnership.

Tetra Pak, a packaging company in a highly polluting and environmentally damaging industry, is working hard to create sustainable activities and become environmentally responsible. In partnerhips with three other companies, Tetra Pak is using plasma technology to create recyclable material. Additionally, the company has committed to following a carbon equalization policy in Canada which helps meet it's commitments to the Kyoto agreement.

Nearly 1.6 billion people living in the developing world need reading glasses, but less than 5% have access to affordable options. VisionSpring is broadening global access to reading glasses, creating and training local entrepreneurs, and improving overall quality of life for many. VisionSpring develops markets for reading glasses at the base of the economic pyramid. They select, train, equip and fund local entrepreneurs to establish new businesses that sell reading glasses. They then provide high-quality affordable reading glasses for these distributors, bringing reading glasses and referral services directly to the customer at the village level. So many people in India, El Salvador, and Guatemala have told VisionSpring how much their lives have changed because of VisionSpring's reading glasses. Who would imagine that a simple pair of reading glasses could have such an effect? VisionSpring did because it researched, studied, and tested its programs inside and out. VisionSpring believes its responsibility is to provide a product and service that is truly superior. For too long, the global economy has failed to recognize the power and influence that people living on less than $1 a day can have. VisionSpring is working to change this perception through simple pairs of reading glasses and determined entrepreneurs.

King’s Medical Group is a US for-profit, faith-based company that is guided by the fundamental philosophy that everyone should have access to state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging services. Health care needs of small communities throughout the country are often overlooked by large hospitals and other imaging corporations due to the high costs and risks associated with the investment. Through financially flexible solutions, KMG has developed a unique business model that makes small community imaging centers a successful business venture. The company’s efforts brought about eight imaging centers to the underserved regions of five states, and executed many consulting projects for health care facilities throughout the US.

OneWorld Health is the first nonprofit pharmaceutical company in the United States. It advances global health by developing effective and affordable new medicines for infectious diseases that disproportionately affect people in the developing world. At the core of the company’s operations is an innovative business model. OneWorld Health receives donations from for-profit pharmaceutical companies in a form of drug leads that have little commercialization potential in the West, develops leads into safe and effective medicines, and then partners with scientists and manufacturers of the developing world to bring the medicine to the consumers at the affordable price. A win-win for all involved and a cure for the neglected diseases that affect millions worldwide.

Freeplay Energy Group of London has found a way to address global needs while making a profit for itself. Combining collaborative research and development with the desire to bring good to those at the bottom of the pyramid, the company grows its revenues while bringing tangible results to people in most remote locations. Freeplay has helped pioneer the windup radio. In 1996, Freeplay designed its first radio charged by cranking a handle so that Africans could listen to public-service broadcasts of health and agriculture information and school lessons. Freeplay has sold 3 million radios. In the West, where they sell for up to $100, they are popular among campers. But they're sold at a discount to aid agencies and governments in poor nations.

PartsSource is the leader in managing the inventory of high quality medical equipment and parts consigned by charitable organizations and healthcare providers. It accepts medical equipment on consignment, or purchases it, and then donates the equipment to a charity, allowing for a fair market tax deduction. Once equipment is received by PartsSource it is carefully reviewed and, if applicable, separated to the parts assembly level. These parts are then made available at a substantial savings to end users who are currently utilizing the exact same piece of equipment. A portion of the revenue generated by the equipment transfer is returned to the consigning organization or a charity. This creates a profit from the (originally) discarded equipment. PartsSource delivers tangible benefits to those in need while improving cash-flow for an organization. By donating through PartsSource the medical equipment provider can rest assured that the necessary medical equipment will end up in the hands of a legitimate charity that supports worldwide healthcare. This indirectly allows them the opportunity to provide relief to those in need.

The Benetech Initiative is a non-profit venture that provides social benefits by harnessing the power of technology. It delivers these benefits using a new model of social entrepreneurship which combines market forces with philanthropic capital and entrepreneurial drive. Benetech focuses the efforts of technology and technologists to solve important problems facing society. A quick sampling of projects currently underway illustrates the power and promise of Benetech. Bookshare.org is a legal book-sharing community of people with disabilities, meeting the stringent copyright law exemption for providing accessible books. The Martus Project provides critical tools for the reporting and dissemination of human rights information, improving the effectiveness of the human rights sector worldwide. The Landmine Detector Project will transfer exciting new technologies developed by U.S. Department of Defense to applications to meet the needs of humanitarian landmine removal efforts around the world.

The Social Enterprise El Pan de Cada Día (Our Daily Bread) was born in 2003 as the first of its kind in Peru and the only enterprise of its kind to exclusively employ disabled persons (Personas con Discapacidad a/k/a PCD). The company rescues, recuperates and reinserts into society disabled persons of low economic resources that are totally abandoned and that live in extreme poverty in places like the province of Trujillo in La Libertad. The PCD are given dignified living conditions and the opportunity to work regularly for the first time in their lives. The bread and pastry Our Daily Bread produces is sold to approximately 15,000 persons every day in what Peruvians term the "D and E social strata". This segment of the population benefit from the cost and quality of the products created by Our Daily Bread. Working within that poor population the company is fighting against poverty by combining the employment of those at the bottom of the economic pyramid with producing an affordable product for the same.

Over the past 15 years, Groupe DANONE has moved into a number of emerging markets, including China, Indonesia, India, North Africa, and South Africa. In all of these countries, the sale of high quality food products is held back by the low purchasing power of consumers. Today Asia, Latin America and the Africa/Middle East region account for no less than 24% of group sales. To make its products accessible to low-income consumers, the company launched DANONE's Affordability Initiative. Through this Initiative it has developed products with significantly enhanced nutritional value that meets local needs at an affordable price, without compromising high standards for quality and food safety.

Housing Works, a non-profit which provides vital services to homeless New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS, has transformed from crisis and near extinction to profitability and independence. Housing Works was founded in June 1990 as an outgrowth of the Housing Committee of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), to address the burgeoning crises of homelessness and AIDS, and to restore the fundamental human rights of homeless people with AIDS and HIV through innovative advocacy and direct service programs. A switch from cost-reimbursement Medicaid contracts to fee for service contracts and the development of four highly profitable businesss took Housing Works from being totally dependent upon external funding and financial aid to being almost totally self-sustaining today.

Billing itself as “the hallmark of Environmentally Sensitive Hotels”, The Orchid is a 245-room “ecotel” or Eco-Hotel located in Mumbai, India. It is Asia's first certified eco-friendly, five-star hotel certified as ISO 14001. Guests are encouraged to participate in the hotel’s environmental crusades and they reportedly do so with much enthusiasm and zeal.

Daimler Chrysler is putting its sustainable development into practice in many ways, placing its highest priority on the battle against HIV/AIDS faced by many of the workers at its South African plant. Since the early 1990's, Daimler Chrysler South Africa's Workplace Initiative on HIV/AIDS has been working to combat acquired immune deficiency syndrome and for the social integration of HIV-positive persons at its headquarters just outside Pretoria.

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.

William McDonough & Partners are architects who design buildings and communities worldwide that tell stories of sun, wind, water that surrounds them and of the people who inhabit them. Using a creative balance of nature and culture, they strive to create a sustainable environment that honors the relationship between the human community and the nature that surrounds them.

Cummins is a global power leader and family of four inter-related, yet diversified businesses that create or enhance value as a result of doing business with each other or having those relationships. It averages more than $6 billion in annual sales and is a technology leader in the diesel engine market, providing cutting-edge solutions to the increasingly difficult challenge of producing cleaner-running engines. Currently, Cummins clean diesel engines are powering transit buses in Southern China.

One specialty group of medical providers has largely shielded itself from the rising cost of medical-malpractice insurance. Over the past two decades, anesthesiologists have advocated the use of devices that alert doctors to potentially fatal problems in the operating room. Their innovative practices have resulted in lower fatalities and low malpractice premiums.

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.

Millions of personal computers sit idly on desks and in homes worldwide, but what if they could be linked into a power grid to help address the world's most difficult health and societal problems? IBM asked this question and answered it in 2004 by creating the World Community Grid, a global humanitarian effort to harness unused computing power of individual and business computers and direct that power toward research designed to help unlock genetic codes that underlie diseases like AIDS and Alzheimer's or improve forecasting of natural disasters. Anyone can volunteer to donate the idle and unused time on a computer by dowloading the World Community Grid's free software and registering to participate.

The Co-operative Bank, whose roots go back to 1872, is a full-service retail player in the United Kingdom commercial banking industry. It offers a full range of banking services, including on-line banking, and is an innovator in the field of sustainability reporting. Using sophisticated financial value analysis methods, the bank reports not only shareholder and stakeholder value created but also an analysis of the direct contributions that ethical and ecological positioning has made to the company's profitability.

Whole Foods is the largest organic and natural foods grocer in the United States. Clearing $188 million in profits over the past two years, it has beaten Wal-Mart in overall and comparable store sales growth, while profoundly impacting how Americans eat. The company also prides itself on treating employees in a fair and equitable manner and preventing upper management salaries from skyrocketing out of control. Financial data is released to employees, to help them understand how the company is doing and keep the working environment transparent. Executive pay is limited to 14 times the average frontline worker, while frontline employees qualify for stock options, profit sharing, health insurance for full time employees, and paid time off for volunteer work.

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.

The Greyston Bakery, a for-profit business, incorporates the positive societal agenda into its core business practice via hiring individuals “chronically unemployed” due to lack of skills and education, as well as histories of homelessness, drug addiction and incarceration. Furthermore, the bakery sustains the work of its non-profit affiliate, Greyston Mandela. With an overriding mission to reduce human suffering, both organizations are focused on sustainability, community development and empowerment.

Hair Innovations’ owner designs, makes, and fits wigs for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The service is provided free of charge, and patients are often served at their location (home, hospital). The business also offers support to local Boys and Girls Clubs, and has become a model for community engagement.

As an industry leader in the design and manufacture of air conditioners, Lennox International has not been content to rest on its laurels. The company recently came out with the quietest, most energy efficient unit on the market. In addition, this unit uses a refrigerant that does not deplete the ozone. The new unit is actually ahead of the curve in terms of meeting government requirements, while Lennox maintains a healthy bottom line.

A number of major financial institutions have come together to adopt a framework for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social issues in project financing. These global voluntary regulatory guidelines, the “Equator Principles” (EPs), are revolutionizing the way large projects are financed. Banks that adopt the EPs apply them globally to project financing in all industry sectors including mining, oil and gas, and forestry, and they make loans only to those projects whose sponsors aim to be socially responsible and environmentally sound.

Run by The Chef's Garden, Veggie U is the non-profit arm of their Culinary Vegetable Institute. Veggie U innovatively promotes an ‘earth to table’ educational approach for elementary children to learn how better eating leads to better health. Through educational programming, seminars and outreach programs to schools, Veggie U not only promotes good eating practices among children, but also helps to educate them about sustainable agriculture practices.

Noisette, a property development company, committed to triple bottom line principles, uses an integrated approach to engage community members in its development projects. Their innovative perspective: they see themselves as building sustainable communities, rather than merely developing property investments. Using this model, they have successfully developed an entire island.

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.