The articles in the online version do not appear in the print edition of Business Ethics. A new electronic bulletin, called The Home Town Advantage , tracks the growing movement by citizens to curb the expansion of sprawling chain stores, and to support local business. This free bimonthly newsletter, published by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance , reports on local efforts, describes land use policies, and provides analysis of economic benefits of maintaining healthy downtowns. There are concrete actions we can take to protect our communities. All the hype about the New Economy looks more and more like a sham, from the employees' perspective.
Many firms have few or no written human resource policies.
The source of value today is not hard assets purchased with shareholder dollars, but the knowledge in employee heads. Now, as many stock options are worthless, the bribes aren't working, and the insane hours look less rational. It will have to be done by turning them from subordinates into fellow executives, and from employees, however well paid, into partners. Earle, the managing director of Assabet Group, studied both academic research and nine different environmentally focused investment funds around the world. He concluded that investing in companies that use environmentally sound business strategies could lead to increase shareholder value.