Profits and Sustainability

A History of Green Entrepreneurship

Geoffrey Jones author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:15th Aug '19

Should be back in stock very soon

This paperback is available in another edition too:

Profits and Sustainability cover

Are profits and sustainability compatible? This book brings unique perspectives to this key debate by exploring the history of green entrepreneurship since the nineteenth century, and its spread globally in industries including renewable energy, organic food, natural beauty, ecotourism, recycling, architecture, and finance. The book uses the lens of the extraordinary and often eccentric men and women who defied convention and imagined that business could help save the planet, rather than consume it. The social and religious beliefs that drove many of these individuals are explored as the book looks at how they overcame huge obstacles to execute their strategies. The green entrepreneurs seen here are shown to have created new markets and industries, and driven innovations in sustainable practices, even at times when most consumers and governments marginalized the entire subject. The struggles of early pioneers appear to have been rewarded by the growth of environmental awareness among consumers, business leaders, and others in recent years, but the Earth's environmental health continues to deteriorate. If profits and sustainability have proved challenging to reconcile, this book argues that one reason was how they were both defined.

Jones has written a captivating, engaging and thoughtful book about the evolution of green business along with a serious discussion of whether capitalism and sustainability have been, or can be, compatible. Profits and Sustainability is a book which is rich in detail, based on original research, written in delightful language and reflects Jones exceptional knowledge of global business and the history of capitalism. * Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Business History, Routledge *
Profits and Sustainability shows that financial and environmental sustainability are difficult to reconcile as the growing environmental awareness of consumers, businesses and the state has been accompanied by cumulative environmental deterioration. It should be read by anyone seeking to better understand the shifting boundaries of corporate sustainability that is, what businesses can and cannot accomplish in the fight against environmental degradation and climate change. * Ganga Shreedhar, LSE Blog *

ISBN: 9780198845652

Dimensions: 235mm x 157mm x 26mm

Weight: 698g

464 pages