regulated.+ At the end of 2009, John Replogle, CEO of Burt's Bees, felt that his company stood at an Burt's Bees has set lofty goals for sustainability, pledging to be a "zero waste, zero carbon important crossroads. Since taking the helm of the natural care products company in 2006. company, operating on 100% renewable energy in LEED certified buildings by 2020." Replogle has made a series of changes that have centred the company's culture and These formalized, ambitious goals can be traced to an early employee movement that was practices around a business model called "The Greater Good". The model includes a strong rooted in the company's eco-centered values. focus on corporate social responsibility, seeking to balance the needs of all members with Defining and Implementing a 2020 Vision! the company's core values of creating natural products and protecting the environment. In 2006, Burt's Bees drafted its first quantifiable sustainability goals and began to In 2008. Burt's released its first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report. stating that standardize the process of collecting data on energy consumption, water use, and waste. 'sustainability thinking (is) imprinted in our DNA". The company articulated a series of By 2007, Burt's Bees recognized that ECOBEES alone was not enough to "keep pace with ambitious goals for 2020, including becoming "a zero-waste, zero-carbon company that the company's growth and expanding environmental objectives."- uses 100% renewable energy in LEED-certified buildings". Achieving these goals will require Social Performance! the creativity and effort of every single employee. Therefore, one of the goals for 2020 is for Beyond operational efficiencies, Burt's Bees wanted 100% employee engagement in the 100% of employees to be involved in Burt's sustainability activities. company's sustainability mission by 2020. This goal was particularly challenging, given the In 2007, Burt's was acquired by Clorox and became a separate unit of the publicly traded company's rapid growth and expanding workforce. consumer goods company, and as such, is now accountable to a parent company that must meet quarterly forecasts. replogle knew that pursuing the company's vision to meet The Greater GoodTM Business Model! society's long-term challenges would undoubtedly require significant trade-offs. Could Burt's Bees operates on a set of principles that CEO John Replogle calls "The Greater Burt's Bees continue to be a social and environmental innovator while also strengthening GoodTM Business Model."- its focus on growth and profitability? Social and Environmental Progress Report! Mission and visions In 2008, Burt's Bees published its first corporate social responsibility report, a 55-page Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, Burt's Bees manufactures and markets more document titled "The Greater GoodTM Social and Environmental Progress Report." The than 150 personal care products and employs more than 400 people. Burt's Bees describes report chronicles the process of setting sustainability goals, collecting baseline metrics, and tself as an "earth-friendly, natural personal care company". Its mission is "to make measuring progress as the movement built momentum across the company people's lives better every day - naturally" and the company's vision is "to be the world's In November 2007. The Clorox Company acquired Burt's Bees. The acquisition followed a number one natural personal care company ...... Living in harmony with (the) process involving the board, led by AEA Investors, and company leaders, including founder environment. "- Roxanne Quimby and CEO John Replogle, When the team set out to explore a sale, they met Kitchen Chemistry! with and evaluated a limited number of companies, with "fit" a key criteria. As a natural personal care business, Burt's Bees is committed to offering products that use natural ingredients and minimal processing, which involves what company officials call a VIDEO: "We did not want to sell the brand"- "kitchen chemistry" approach to manufacturing.~ Burt's Bees was to remain an independent subsidiary of The Clorox Company. Still, internal Natural vs. Organic and external response to news of the acquisition suggested it was difficult to grasp how the Burt's Bees leaders agree they'd rather their products be "natural than partially organic." two companies could be strategically aligned. They believe "organic is a meaningful direction to move toward," although being fully organic would pose challenges because certifying whether certain ingredients are organic can be difficult.~ The Natural Bar Burt's is committed to increasing its "all-natural average" from 99% to 100%. In the meantime, the company pledges 100% transparency about the true natural content of each_ and_every product.~ The Natural Standard! When Burt's began rolling out into mass-market retailers, the company realized there was considerable consumer confusion over the definition of natural, which unlike organic was not a term that was regulated by the government. In 2007, Burt's conducted a survey that found an overwhelming percentage of women thought the use of the term "natural" was