by Rajendra Sisodia, Jagdish N. Sheth and David Wolfe
- Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business (2013)
- Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose (2014)
- The Healing Organization: Awakening the Conscience of Business to Help Save the World (2019)
Today’s best companies get it. From retail to finance and industries in between, the organizations who recognize that doing good is good business are becoming the ultimate value creators. They’re changing their culture and generating every form of value that matters: emotional, experiential, social, and financial. And they’re doing it for all their stakeholders. Not because it’s simply politically correct, because it’s the only path to long-term competitive advantage. These are the firms of endearment. Companies people love doing business with, working for and collaborating with as partners.
Since the publication of the First Edition, the concept of corporate social responsibility has become embraced as a valid, important, and profitable business model. It is a trend that has transformed the workplace and corporate world. This Second Edition (2014) updates the examples, cases, and applications from the original edition, giving readers insight into how this hallmark of the modern organization is practiced today. See the list of companies analyzed on the book's website.
Table of Contents of Firms of Endearment
- Prologue - A Whole New World
- Chapter 1 - Building Business on Love and Care (The Power of Love / What Is a Firm of Endearment? / FoE Stakeholders / Identifying the Original Firms of Endearment / Firms of Endearment vs. Good to Great Companies/ Selecting Companies for the Second Edition / The Unspoken Contract That FoEs Honor / The FoE Way / Endnotes
- Chapter 2 - New Age, New Rules, New Capitalism (The Self-Actualization of Capitalism / Shareholders versus Stakeholders / Emotionally Intelligent Management in FoEs / Finding the Will to Change / Endnotes)
- Chapter 3 - Dealing with Disorder (The Communications Challenge / Endnotes)
- Chapter 4 - Employees: From Resource to Source (FoEs Put Meaning into the Work Experience / The Partnership Advantage in Management-Union Relationships / Building Trust / The Joy of Work / Training and Development Are Priorities in FoEs / Recognition and Celebration Have High Priority in FoEs / How FoEs View Part-Time Employees / Connecting Top to Bottom / The HR Department of the Future / Benefits That Flow to Shareholders from Doing It Right / Endnotes)
- Chapter 5 - Customers: Healing vs. Hucksterism (The New Marketing Paradigm / A New Consciousness / It’s Not News: Committed Employees Yield Committed Customers / How Not to Build Trust / FoEs Are Soulful / Endnotes)
- Chapter 6 - Investors: Reaping What FoEs Sow (The Whole Foods Way to Shareholder Wealth / Who Are Today’s Investors? / The Zen Way of Viewing the Pursuit of Profit / Bonding Investors, Employees, and Customers / Shareholder Returns / Conclusion / Endnotes .
- Chapter 7 - Partners: Elegant Harmonies (Measures That Matter / Stakeholder Concinnity vs. Exploitation / Making Stakeholders Partners Increases Success Potential / Collaboration Is More Profitable Than Exploitation / The Art of Ironic Management / Endnotes
- Chapter 8 - Society: The Ultimate Stakeholder (Business Values vs. Human Values / Pirate or Great Humanitarian? / FoEs and Society / Endnotes)
- Chapter 9 - Culture: The Secret Ingredient (The Greatest Place to Work? / The Primacy of Culture / Unleashing Organizational Energy / Setting Organizational Vision: Seeing the Larger Picture / Nurturing Organizational Values by Building Endearing Cultures / FoE Cultural Characteristics / Culture = DNA / Endnotes)
- Chapter 10 - What We Have Learned (Distinguishing Traits of Firms of Endearment / Challenging Industry Dogma / Aligning Stakeholders’ Interests / Breaking Traditional Trade-Offs / A Long-Term Perspective / Organic Growth / Blending Work and Play / Rejecting Traditional Marketing Models / Conclusion / Endnotes)
- Chapter 11 - The Other Side of Complexity (The Big Challenge of the Times: Transcending a Zero Sum Mindset / FoE Management Requires Holistic Thinking / Getting to the “Other Side of Complexity” / Conclusion / Endnotes)
- Appendix A Brief Company Profiles (U.S. Public Firms of Endearment / U.S. Private Firms of Endearment / Non-U.S. Companies / Endnotes)
About Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth andDavid Wolfe
is the F.W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business and Whole Foods Market Research Scholar in Conscious Capitalism at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. He is also co-founder and co-chairman of Conscious Capitalism, Inc. He has a Ph.D. in marketing from Columbia University. In 2003, he was cited as one of "50 Leading Marketing Thinkers” by the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He was named one of "Ten Outstanding Trailblazers of 2010” by Good Business International, and one of the "Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior” by Trust Across America for 2010 and 2011. Raj has published seven books and more than 100 academic articles. He has consulted with and taught executive programs for numerous companies, including AT&T, Nokia, LG, DPDHL, POSCO, Kraft Foods, Whole Foods Market, Tata, Siemens, Sprint, Volvo, IBM, Walmart, Rabobank, McDonalds, and Southern California Edison.
is the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing in the Gouizeta Business School at Emory University. He has published 26 books, more than 400 articles, and is nationally and internationally known for his scholarly contributions in consumer behavior, relationship marketing, competitive strategy, and geopolitical analysis. His book The Rule of Three (Free Press, 2002), coauthored with Raj Sisodia, has altered current notions on competition in business. Jag’s list of consulting clients around the world is long and impressive, including AT&T, GE, Motorola, Whirlpool, and 3M, to name just a few. He is frequently quoted and interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Financial Times, and radio shows and television networks such as CNN. He is also on the Board of Directors of several public companies. In 2004, he was honored with the two highest awards bestowed by the American Marketing Association: the Richard D. Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator Award and the Charles Coolidge Parlin Award.
The late David B. Wolfe was an internationally recognized customer behavior expert in middle-age and older markets. He was the author of Serving the Ageless Market (McGraw-Hill, 1990) and Ageless Marketing: Strategies for Connecting with the Hearts and Minds of the New Customer Majority (Dearborn Publishing, 2003). David’s consulting assignments took him to Asia, Africa, Europe, and throughout North America. He was widely published in publications in the U.S. and abroad. He also consulted to numerous Fortune 100 companies, including American Express, AT&T, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Hartford Insurance, Marriott, MetLife, Prudential Securities, and Textron.
