Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose

11. Crossing Over to the Other Side

We are nearing the end of our journey through the economically fertile fields of the FoE landscape. In writing this book, we were struck by the fact that no one had taken on this topic quite as we have. It is not as though FoEs represent a radically new avant-garde business model. A slew of companies have been around for many decades endearing themselves to their stakeholders. One exemplar that became a household name started doing business as an FoE in the backwoods of Maine in 1912. Tired of trudging through snow and mud with poorly made footwear, hunting enthusiast Leon Leonwood Bean started making better boots in 1912. From its founding, LL Bean employed the stakeholder relationship management business ...