Dancing with the Tiger: Learning Sustainability Step by Natural Step

Richard G. Kuhn is an associate professor of geography at the University
of Guelph.

Dancing with the Tiger presents four case studies of corporations
embarking on development trajectories that purport to be congruent with
the principles of sustainable development. It follows from the
authors’ 1999 book, The Natural Step for Business: Wealth, Ecology and
the Evolutionary Corporation, wherein they argued that ecological
factors must become integral to the definitions of success in
organizations, be they governmental or corporate. Essentially, the
argument is that corporations must look to more than profit to ensure
their viability, and that issues of environmental and social integrity
should play a major role in defining success.

The authors are advisors on sustainable business practices and
corporate responsibility. In this role, they were able to provide case
studies, including interviews with senior officials and managers, of
four corporations—Nike, Starbucks, CH2 HILL (a global engineering
firm), and the City of Whistler, B.C.—that have chosen to modify their
practices. These corporations are presented as early innovators, those
willing to blaze the trail toward a new era of corporate responsibility.
The trials and tribulations of their attempts to change their corporate
operating principles are related primarily through the voices of those
directly involved. For those not in the business world, the authors
offer an interesting perspective on how change can be initiated. The aim
of the book is to effect change by providing a template (the “natural
step”) that other corporations can adopt.

This is not a critical look at the activities of the corporations, but
rather a study of innovations occurring in the enterprises. Corporate
managers will find it especially interesting. The style is engaging and
the case studies are detailed.