Companies shirk taxes while padding
profits.
Firms foul the planet but keep raking in
revenue.
Reckless greed on Wall Street goes largely
unpunished.
More evidence that bad guys finish first in
business?
No. A different story is unfolding.
Noted economist Laurie Bassi and her
coauthors show that despite the dispiriting headlines, we are entering a more hopeful
economic age.
The authors call it the “Worthiness Era.” And
in it, the good guys are poised to win.
Good Company explains how this new
era results from a convergence of forces, ranging from the explosion of online
information-sharing to the emergence of the ethical consumer and the arrival of
civic-minded Millennials. Across the globe, people are choosing the companies in their
lives in the same way they choose the guests they invite into their homes. They are
demanding that companies be “good company.”
Proof is in the numbers. The authors created the
Good Company Index to take a systematic look at Fortune 100 companies’ records as
employers, sellers, and stewards of society and the planet. The results were clear:
worthiness pays off. Companies in the same industry with higher scores on the index—that
is, companies that have behaved better—outperformed their peers in the stock market. And
this is not some academic exercise: the authors have used principles of the index at their
own investment firm to deliver market-beating results.
Using a host of real-world examples, Bassi and
company explain each aspect of corporate worthiness, providing senior executives with the
tools to adapt to the new road rules for business. The authors also describe how you can
assess other companies with which you do business as a consumer, investor, or employee.
This detailed guide will help you determine who the good guys are—those companies that
are worthy of your time, your loyalty, and your money.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 — The Worthiness Imperative
Chapter 2 — The Economic Imperative
Chapter 3 — The Social Imperative
Chapter 4 — The Political Imperative
Chapter 5 — Goodness Matters
Chapter 6 — Ranking Companies’ Goodness
Chapter 7 — The Good Employer
Chapter 8 — The Good Sellers
Chapter 9 — The Good Steward
Chapter 10 —The Worthiness Era
Chapter 11— A Hopefully Idealistic Vision
Appendix — Documentation for the Good Company Index
264 pages, Hardcover