Author Description

We're losing patience with bad companies. We're fed up with the greed of Goldman Sachs, sickened by BP's pollution, tired of tainted food, tightfisted employers, and phony ''corporate social responsibility.'' And Laurie Bassi and her coauthors have news: the ''bad boy'' days are over. We're at the dawn of the Worthiness Era, when doing the right thing is no longer optional - it's the key to success. And they've got the data to prove it. Good Company lays out the convergence of social, economic, and political forces - ranging from the explosion of online information sharing to the emergence of the ethical consumer and the rapid expansion of the green market - that are ushering in this new era. Moreover, the authors prove the connection between good corporate behavior and the bottom line with their Good Company Index. Using publicly available information as well as original research, the Good Com - pany Index evaluates each of the Fortune 100 companies as an employer, seller, and steward and then gives it a final grade. Among the surprising findings: only two Fortune 100 companies get an A, while a number of highly respected companies get a C or worse. Overall, companies in the same industry with higher rankings on the index consistently outperform their competitors. And this is not some academic exercise: the authors have used the principles of the index at their own investment firm to deliver market - beating results. Using a host of real - world examples Bassi and company carefully explain each aspect of corporate worthiness, offering companies a guide to what it now takes to win customer loyalty. Good Company moves the debate about corporate citizenship from the realm of faith to the realm of facts, showing it's no longer a question of ethics or virtue: it's a matter of survival.