At the conference, IMPACT invited Better World Books to discuss our awesome business model in a three hour forum entitled “Blurring the Lines: Public Good in the Private Sector.” Jack represented us on the panel, which also had a fellow Holy Cross grad, Ken DeBlois of the Venture Consortium in Providence, RI and some folks from the Willamette University MBA program. It was very interesting and the attendees had a lot of great questions, but it was very clear that we here at Better World Books are doing something decidedly NEW. So new and innovative (I LOVE our business model) that folks at times have a hard time comprehending it. The example that jumps to mind is regarding the triple bottom line – “Even if you do value social and environmental, won’t profit always be most important?”
Now I’m no business major, but I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand some business theory as Better World Books offers a unique opportunity to see something very exciting and new in the world of business from up close. I always start my research projects on the Wikipedia and while you won’t feel like you have an MBA by the time you’re finished with the article, you will have some ideas of good terms to use in your triple bottom line research!
If you want to hear a little more about the topic, a full podcast of this forum will be available later this month!
