Some reading for the beach
Youtility: why smart companies get ahead by helping, not selling
By Jay Baer
Hardback: 240 pages, £15.99
ISBN: 1591846668
Publisher: Portfolio
Published: June 2013
Marketing used to be about winning customers to your brand. Now, it’s fast becoming about what your brand can do to help your customers. Based around 20 illustrative examples, “Youtility” presents a novel way of winning people’s hearts and minds, as well as gaining profits.
Developing a Sustainable Supply Chain: management issues, insights, concepts, and tools
By Robert Sroufe and Steven Melnyk
Paperback: 250 pages, £24.99
ISBN: 160649371X
Publisher: Business Expert Press
Published: August 2013
Companies are beginning to realise that their supply chains are only ever as strong as their weakest link. This book sets out an integrated, business-oriented approach to deliver sustainability beyond your factory gates and into the practices of your supply chain.
Technologies for Sustainable Development: a way to reduce poverty?
By Jean-Claude Bolay, Silvia Hostettler and Eileen Hazboun (eds)
Hardcover: 287 pages, £126
ISBN-10: 331900638X
Publisher: Springer
Published: July 2013
Important as abstract research can be, the developing world urgently needs relevant science-based insights and solutions. This academic compilation comprises 20 cutting edge examples of applied research that promise to enhance the effectiveness of development interventions.
Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Business World
By Asli Yuksel Mermod and Samuel Idowu (eds)
Hardcover: 382 pages, £90
ISBN: 3642376193
Publisher: Springer
Published: July 2013
Structured around real life case studies, this comprehensive overview of global CSR practices identifies those multinationals that are getting it right – as well as providing lessons from those that aren’t.
The Handbook of Design for Sustainability
By Stuart Walker, Jacques Giard and Helen Walker
Hardcover: 576 pages, £95
ISBN: 0857858521
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: July 2013
Design used to be about aesthetics, utility, “coolness” and that was about it. Now sustainability is central to the designer’s day job too. This textbook provides a state-of-the-art overview of today’s sustainable design methods and practices. Essential reading for all those in the design field.
Fracking: the operations and environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing
By Michael Holloway and Oliver Rudd
Hardcover: 392 pages, £117
ISBN: 1118496329
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: June 2013
Few areas of industry are currently more controversial than hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. This balanced book summarises the basics of the technology and its impacts on the environment. A highly readable and timely contribution on the subject.
Green Politics in China: environmental governance and state-society relations
By Joy Zhang and Michael Barr
Paperback: 168 pages, £18.99
ISBN: 0745332994
Publisher: Pluto Press
Published: June 2013
Drawing on first-hand research with members of grassroots organisations, media and government institutions, this insightful book details the various ways that the Chinese are responding to the country’s environmental dilemmas. Packed with interesting and unexpected initiatives.
Fostering Spirituality in the Workplace: a leader’s guide to sustainability
Paperback: 236 pages, £24.99
ISBN: 1606496522
Publisher: Business Expert Press
Published: June 2013
The business world is slowly overcoming its inherent distrust of all things immaterial. Books on spirituality and business are among the chief beneficiaries of that switch. Of the many titles now in this genre, this is one of the more reflective and grounded.
