Will Your Sustainability Efforts Stack Up?
In addressing the sustainability challenge, evidence suggests that book publishers can simultaneously reduce costs and brand-image risks while increasing top-line-growth shareholder value, customer satisfaction and other key measures of business success.
For some, it will still simply be a matter of doing what's "right." But, for others, who have focused solely on the bottom line, a new era has dawned. The bottom line now hinges on a challenging marketplace rife with consumer and investor mistrust.
ACCORDING TO THE WORLD
Business Council for Sustainable Development, the commercial marketplace now faces a "value shift," which "involves recognizing that nonfinancial information is interesting to an entirely … new set of stakeholders. Behind risk minimization lies the assumption that pre-emptive programs cost less than waiting and reacting."
As one of the world's largest and most influential industries, publishing will face growing scrutiny. What will its legacy be?
Donald Carli is a professor of advertising, design and graphic arts at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York, a senior research fellow at the nonprofit Institute for Sustainable Communication and author of the free "Guide to Environmentally Responsible Design for Print," published by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. He is also founder and president of the marketing research firm Nima Hunter Inc. (www.NimaHunter.com).
He can be reached at DCarli@CityTech.CUNY.edu.
