Jonathan T. Scott and the European Foundation for Management Development have put together a terrific resource for businesses that want to create jobs, make optimal use of human and material resources and operate profitably over the long term. It’s a 150 or so page book called, The Sustainable Business: Taking the First Steps Toward Understanding, Implementing, and Managing Sustainability from a Cost/Profit Perspective, and (this IS a surprise) it is available as a free download from the web. Scott makes a great point – sustainability is not just about “going green.” He looks at sustainability as the practice of sound business – financially, legally, operationally, and behaviorally. The meat of the book is seven chapters titled (alliteratively), Preparation, Preservation, Process, People, Place, Product, and Production, each describing one part of the sustainability machine that is designed to do more with less impact. The first three of these component, Scott says, are strategic, and the last three tactical. Forming a critical transition between strategy and tactics are people – which Scott has characterized as the catalyst that makes the whole thing work. According to the promoters at EMD, The Sustainable Business “reveals proven ways to apply long-term (sustainable) business concepts in a concise, easy-to-understand framework.” And, for a book so rich in content and examples, it is a surprisingly smooth read. I was particularly interested in material regarding the relationship of sustainable practices to competitive advantage, changing customer expectations about today’s companies, and the increasingly high cost of procrastination when it comes to implementation of sustainability initiatives. It’s definitely worth your time, and you can’t beat the price of the free download. You don't have to register, login, or hand over  identifying information or your first-born child – it's really free! (And yes, you can order and pay for a printed copy  – $16.55, plus shipping  – there's a link from the download page.) But lots of knowledge for nuthin’ – that’s a great deal!