Hawken, Paul, Hunter Lovins and Amory Lovins. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York: Little, Brown & Company, 1999.
Most businesses still operate according to a world view that hasn’t changed since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Then, natural resources were abundant and labor was the limiting factor of production. But now, there’s a surplus of people, while natural capital—natural resources and the ecological systems that provide vital life-support services—is in decline and relatively expensive.
The Next Industrial Revolution, like the first one, will be a response to changing patterns of scarcity. It will create upheaval, but more importantly, it will create opportunities. Businesses must adjust to these new realities.
Innovative companies are already doing just that. They’re profiting and gaining decisive competitive advantage—and their leaders and employees are feeling better about what they do, too. They’re in the vanguard of a new business model: natural capitalism. (Text from the Natural Capitalism website)