Clean Winners : Sustainability Strategy That Puts Customers First

Despite massive investments, sustainable business still isn’t very profitable for most companies. Here''s a fresh approach to aligning sustainability with customer satisfaction—and profitability.

Store aisles packed with products labeled "environmentally friendly." Businesses scrambling to make their operations sustainable and socially conscious. Ads touting green credentials for all kinds of enterprises. For a long time now, this has been the market landscape we live in, with companies such as Unilever leading the way and creating pressure for others to follow suit.

But the uncomfortable truth is that after years of investment in sustainable goods and services, most companies still aren''t seeing the payoff—not financially, not in value for customers, not in real social and environmental good. Why not?

As IMD professors Goutam Challagalla and Frédéric Dalsace show in this eye-opening and practical book, it''s due to a basic strategic misalignment and a misunderstanding of what actually drives customers'' purchase decisions. The authors flip conventional strategy on its head: companies, instead of asking, "How can we make our offerings more sustainable?" should be asking, "How can we use sustainability to improve the performance of our products, make them more affordable, or both?" In this view, sustainability is an intrinsic, value-generating element of an offering rather than a costly add-on.

The authors call companies that understand this insight—such as John Deere, Nespresso, Michelin, Schneider Electric, and others—clean winners, or "resonators." With vivid and instructive stories, they show how resonators use sustainability to create new customer value and robust profits.

Offering practical frameworks, tools, and tactics, Clean Winners is your essential guide to reimagining your sustainability strategy.