In recent years, corporations of all sizes and orientations have become more sensitive to social issues and stakeholder concerns and they are collectively striving to become better corporate citizens (in some cases, urged on by shareholder pressure or government regulations). The best practices in corporate sustainability are no longer the exclusive domain of companies like Ben & Jerry’s or Body Shop as they were a decade ago; now, large, multi-national companies like G.E. and Wal-Mart are leading the way with significant financial and organisational commitments to social and environmental issues.

But senior executives who have committed their organisations to improved sustainability are realising that implementing sustainability is particularly challenging. While there is a lot written on ethical and strategic factors, there is a dearth of information on the practical nuts and bolts of implementation. And whereas with most other organisational changes, functions, and initiatives the sole objective is improved financial performance, which is clear and easy to measure, sustainability broadens the focus to include both social and financial performance. For managers this dual focus often creates a paradox, with significant challenges in evaluating the tradeoffs between social and financial performance when excellence is expected in both.

This book builds on Marc Epstein’s decades of work publishing articles and books like Irwin/McGraw Hill’s widely respected Measuring Corporate Environmental Performance to offer a complete guide to implementing and measuring the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives. It draws on Epstein's solid academic foundation and extensive consulting work and includes best practices from dozens of companies in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Africa. It is intellectually rigorous yet accessible to corporate managers and, like much of Epstein’s previous work, will have broad appeal to both executives and academics.

Many books have been published that describe the need for improved corporate citizenship and numerous books have focused on the development of a sustainability strategy. And some books have offered some general suggestions about the challenges of implementation. Epstein’s is the first to provide managers with detailed guidance on how to implement sustainability and objectively measure its success.