Merchants of Virtue: Herman Miller and the Making of a Sustainable Company

by Bill Birchard

Company Herman Miller and a band of people determined to make their company a good global citizen. They end up answering one of the critical questions of our Is sustainable business sustainable? Can employees in global companies make great products, take care of the environment, benefit society, and make good money good times and bad?

Genres: Environment

234 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2011

Reviews

[Terry]

good history and perspective of how a company wanting to be env. responsible struggles w/ all the issues (economic, green washing, stock holders, recycling, workers, ...) associated with producing a product healthy for their workers, the environment, and owners.
p 41 3K landfills closed 1982-7, b/c couldn't meet groundwater standards

43 recycle styrofoam
79 Lovins: save energy bigtime by reducing AC needs
88 Bill Dowell, important figure in transformation Herman Miller company

[stopped reading at page 136 b/c due back]

[Tracy Brower]

This book is excellent. It is clear, well-written, and honest. An an employee, I feel like I had a front row seat to much of what Birchard writes about and I also learned new things from his book. I recommend this read!