Bloomberg Businessweek
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During the past 20 years, the author has watch China move from being a developing country into an industrial superpower
Money Moves, 5/24: Chocomize Co-Founder Fabian Kaempfer talks with Bloomberg’s Deirdre Bolton about the business of customizing chocolate
The president's campaign has a new rule—no cell phones allowed
In honor of remote control inventor Eugene Polley, we recognize other influential but neglected inventors who have felt the sting of stolen glory
Adam Johnson talks about what trading vehicles can help you earn more money per trade
The Italian automaker and others are adding hybrid technology to elite cars
The storied bridge that links San Francisco and Marin County changed the face of California
Schools cultivate ties with startups before they're big successes
Dave McClure's traveling venture capital show scours the world for promising startups
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Screw Business As Usual inspires when its author casts himself as corporate arbiter, spotlighting companies that already abide by his Capitalism 24902 principles. Salesforce.com, he notes, gives away 1 percent of its time, product, and equity (yes, equity) to charity. GroFin, started by Shell, incubates small businesses in Africa. Kimberly-Clark, the company that makes Kleenex and Huggies, is throwing money at developing tubeless toilet paper rolls. And General Electric’s $5 billion spent on developing clean-tech products in its ecomagination business ended up generating more than $70 billion in revenue.
Somewhat surprisingly, Branson singles out Wal-Mart Stores, “unquestionably the five thousand pound gorilla in the room,” as a model of corporate benevolence and rhymes off some compelling evidence. Indeed, the company has pledged to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain, equaling the removal of about 3.8 million cars from the road. Wal-Mart is also sourcing food from small farmers, and though Branson doesn’t point it out, the company has become the largest global seller of energy-efficient light bulbs.
Wal-Mart wouldn’t be doing all this if it weren’t beneficial to Wal-Mart; pushing sustainability efforts, for example, can help lower operating expenses. The gist of Branson’s new worldview, as he puts it, is that “doing good really is good for business.” With this book, Branson hopes to ditch the wedding dress and rebrand himself as an éminence grise of ethical capitalism. Unlike some Branson stunts, this one may benefit people other than him.
