Corporate Responsibility

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  • Football CSR Team Talk at Responsiball

    David Coethica's Blog
    davidcoethica
    2 Dec 2011 | 3:53 pm
    This week for no reason in particular my attention has been gravitating towards football. It may well be a returning passion after recovery following eight years worth of burn out. Behind the media hype  I’m constantly on the look out for any beacons of hope in the form of CSR related developments to really begin to justify the overused ‘Power of football / sport’ cliché. One such emerging gem may well be Responsiball. My football radar started pinging last week with Gary Speed’s sad and untimely death through what appears to a result of depression, then watching a…

  • What’s the Achilles’ heel of sustainability communications?

    Sustainability Conversations
    admin
    11 Sep 2011 | 7:35 pm
    The word ‘sustainability’ itself. And the language that goes with it. Too often, communications and sustainability professionals make sustainability jargon the centrepiece of their communications efforts. But in the end, who understands and relates to such language apart from communications and sustainability professionals themselves? Take the ‘sustainability’ word alone: highly complex and generic buzzword that is seen everywhere but never understood. We all need to be better at borrowing the language of our audiences themselves to skillfully articulate the “so-what” and…

  • Philanthropy Mindset Hampers Sustainability Efforts

    3BL Media blogs
    John Friedman
    10 May 2012 | 11:58 am
    Are we so busy helping others to build their sustainability (environmental, social and economic) pillars that we're neglecting our own personal ones? It is no secret -- in fact many take pride in knowing -- that altruistic endeavors traditionally pay less. Those working for not-for-profits accept that part of their income is psychological. However, the sustainability concept is not based on one of philanthropy. Sustainability is a business model that, to quote from the mission statement of the Sustainable Business Network of Washington recognizes and seeks to "transform the ways businesses…

  • Sustainable supply chains: How to close the gap between policy and practice?

    Sustainability Conversations
    admin
    14 May 2012 | 8:40 pm
    From codes of conduct to factory audits, from environmental scorecards to multi-stakeholder dialogues, the tools for businesses to create sustainable supply chains are countless in numbers. But so do the challenges faced by businesses in implementing these tools and driving sustainable practices across their supply base – an obvious example would be Apple, among many others. To address these challenges, attention has been traditionally given to the buyer-supplier relationship. Most the conferences out there focus on this (see this one for example), but is it where the solutions are? Not…

  • CSR: 8 short questions, 5 long answers

    csr-reporting
    elaine
    11 May 2012 | 7:49 am
    For those of you who don't speak Romanian (which I don't, though I have downloaded an App :)), I thought I would provide a translation of my recent interview which appeared online here The interview is with ResponsabilitateSociala.ro,  the premier portal in Romania for all things relating to CSR. Andreea Giuclea, editor of ResponsabilitateSociala conducted the interview and was responsible for asking me many thought-provoking questions. ResponsabilitateSociala is hosting the annual Europe CSR Lessons on 15th and 16th May in Bucharest, with a fine line-up of speakers and…
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    Business Respect - Corporate Social Responsibility News

  • US: Diageo pulls funding from climate change denier institute

    7 May 2012 | 7:31 am
    Drinks giant Diageo has said it will avoid funding the Heartland Institute following a campaign that compared people who believe in the reality of climate change with mass murderers. (7 May 2012)

  • European voters choose nice things not nasty ones

    7 May 2012 | 6:04 am
    If you want to know how difficult it will be for businesses and governments to achieve sustainability, you only have to look at how the term 'austerity' - in the context of national policy - has become a label for an abusive ideology. (7 May 2012)

  • US: Walmart shares dip over Mexican bribery cover-up

    24 Apr 2012 | 5:50 am
    Walmart has been hit by a bribery scandal involving its Mexican business. Executives paid bribes of around $24 million to gain permits for new stores and, most damagingly, executives at the group's headquarters allegedly covered up evidence of the activity according to the New York Times. (24 Apr 2012)

  • Brazil: Chevron head threatened with 30 years jail over spill

    23 Mar 2012 | 8:45 am
    Criminal charges are being brought against 17 employees of Chevron and Transocean for an oil spill in Rio de Janeiro. Prosecutors said that George Buck, the head of Chevron's operations in Brazil, should go to prison for 31 years for his part in creating a major incident of pollution. (23 Mar 2012)

  • Canada: Tobacco class suit seeks billions for smokers

    13 Mar 2012 | 6:58 am
    A class action lawsuit that argues that three of the major tobacco firms manipulated nicotine levels and hid evidence on the health effects of smoking is coming to trial after 15 years. The suit, which seeks up to C$27bn in damages, is the first of its kind in Canada. (13 Mar 2012)================Responsible Business Exhibition - bringing businesses and NGOs together for mutual benefitFeaturing over 150 charities and social enterprises; free seminars and workshops to help businesses achieve their CSR goals or launch their new CSR programme; and case studies of charities and corporates working…
 
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    csr-reporting

  • CSR: 8 short questions, 5 long answers

    elaine
    11 May 2012 | 7:49 am
    For those of you who don't speak Romanian (which I don't, though I have downloaded an App :)), I thought I would provide a translation of my recent interview which appeared online here The interview is with ResponsabilitateSociala.ro,  the premier portal in Romania for all things relating to CSR. Andreea Giuclea, editor of ResponsabilitateSociala conducted the interview and was responsible for asking me many thought-provoking questions. ResponsabilitateSociala is hosting the annual Europe CSR Lessons on 15th and 16th May in Bucharest, with a fine line-up of speakers and…

  • What makes a Sustainability Report good or bad?

    elaine
    8 May 2012 | 11:20 am
    My friend and CSR & Sustainability Consultant Juan Villamayor, who writes a great blog, is also writing a dissertation on the quality of Sustainability Reporting. In return for the promise of loads of ice-cream the next time I am in Barcelona, I agreed to provide Juan with my thoughts in response to his question: What makes a Sustainability Report good or bad?After I had drafted my response, pretty much off the cuff, I thought I would share it, in case anyone else is writing a dissertation. More ice cream for me, right ? Here is more or less what I wrote:What makes a…

  • The Price of a Sustainability Report

    elaine
    5 May 2012 | 2:53 am
    What value would you place on your Sustainability Report? $1 ? $10 ? $1,000 ?Here is an organization that has an answer. $200.This is what non-members have to pay to read The MPI GRI Sustainability Report on WEC 2011 in which MPI presents its Global Reporting Initiative statement for the 2011 World Education Congress in Orlando. Meeting Professionals International (MPI), apparently, is "the meeting and event industry’s most vibrant global community [which] helps its members thrive by providing human connections to knowledge and ideas, relationships, and…

  • Lilly: Sustainability Report Cone Award

    elaine
    5 May 2012 | 2:01 am
    This is the third in my series of Sustainability Report Cone Awards.  The second was SGS - net 2 cones. The first was Intuit - also net 2 cones. This time, Lilly, the drug people. Can they beat net 2 cones? (Note: All cone pictures were sources from Ice Cream Cone ClipArt)Lilly 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report About the Company:Tenth largest pharmaceutical company in the world. HQ in U.S. $23 billion revenue. 38,300 employees. Manufacturing plants in 13 countries. NYSE listed.   About the report:PDF 103 pages. GRI Application Level B. Not externally assured. UNGC…

  • Local Reporting: How ArcelorMittal Does It

    elaine
    30 Apr 2012 | 1:07 am
    ArcelorMittal is the world’s leading steel and mining company, with 100 million tonnes of annual production capacity and 260,000 employees across 60 countries and annual sales of $78 billion. I tried to imagine what 100 million tonnes of steel looks like. But I scored a blank. All I know is that 100 million tons of ice cream would look a whole lot nicer :). But I do have an idea of what 2,000 tonnes look like - yes, you guessed it -   the ArcelorMittal Orbit. The ArcelorMittal Orbit is a sculpture and public viewing platform was designed by Anish Kapoor and Cecil…
 
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    CSR NEWS | csr-news.net » +english

  • Team from University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand, wins the PRME LEADERS+20 competition

    Matthias Stausberg (Global Compact)
    15 May 2012 | 9:35 pm

  • Iraqi Companies Trained on Global Compact Principles

    Matthias Stausberg (Global Compact)
    15 May 2012 | 9:31 pm
    (Baghdad/Iraq) – Despite difficult circumstances – from security road blocks to sand storms – a training on implementation and reporting of the Global Compact principles concluded in Baghdad today. The training was conducted in Arabic by the Global Compact Local Network Iraq and Deloitte’s local office in the country. Twenty-five business participants from the Local Network participated in the training, with additional representatives from the UN Development Programme. The … [visit site to read more]

  • Sustainability Communication and Reporting at A.P. Moller – Maersk Group (Copenhagen, Denmark)

    Björn Brömmelsiek (CSR NEWS)
    15 May 2012 | 9:23 pm
    We are looking for a colleague for a new position to lead sustainability communication in Group Sustainability. You will be part of a team of 7 people within CSR, environment, climate, health and safety. You will play a key role in communicating internally and externally how sustainability creates business value – and how our businesses create value for society. Start date is 13 August 2012. We work with cross-Group policies and strategies, governance, stakeholder engagement, trend … [visit site to read more]

  • North America and Pacific Research Associate at UL Responsible Sourcing (Los Angeles, USA)

    Björn Brömmelsiek (CSR NEWS)
    15 May 2012 | 9:13 pm
    UL RS is a risk management consultancy specializing in responsible sourcing solutions. UL RS is recognized as one of the world’s leading consultancies in supply chain labor standards, providing benchmark guidance to global Fortune 500 retailers and manufacturers. UL RS has 30 offices worldwide dedicated to carrying out supply chain assessments that focus on child labor, forced labor, wage and hour issues, safety, and environmental concerns in international manufacturing and agricultural … [visit site to read more]

  • Global Compact Calls on Companies to Commit to the Future We Want

    Matthias Stausberg (Global Compact)
    10 May 2012 | 1:18 pm
    (New York) – The UN Global Compact, in partnership with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), announced today a worldwide call for commitments to actions and partnerships that advance progress along the six core themes of the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum, to be held on 15-18 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro. The call urges companies to help address the global challenges highlighted by the UN … [visit site to read more]
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    FabianPattberg.com

  • Buy land, they don’t make it anymore!

    Fabian
    14 May 2012 | 8:31 am
    Yesterday I purchased my first square-meter (m2) of land. Actually 982 m2 to be exact. My wife and I can now call ourself proud owners of valuable land. It is a very gratifying feeling to write that actually. Why? Because in my view land is one of the most undervalued assets we can have a Sustainability practitioners [...]

  • Report Review: Corporate Progress on the Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability

    Fabian
    14 May 2012 | 4:24 am
    I wanted to take a closer look at an interesting new report today. The report called “The Road to 2020: Corporate Progress on the Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability“ provides us with some interesting key findings. Key findings of the report: Companies are moving, albeit too slowly, given the urgency of the sustainability challenges we face. Some [...]

  • I want more sustainability and transparency in politics

    Fabian
    13 May 2012 | 7:55 am
    I just came back from voting in the state parliament elections here in North-Rhine Westphalia. This was the first election for me since moving back to Germany nearly 1,5 years ago. At previous elections I used to do postal voting and to be honest I never really spend much time deciding whom to vote for. [...]

  • The future of Social Marketing? – Recycle Your Facebook Status to Save the Planet

    Fabian
    12 May 2012 | 11:25 am
    Today has been a very busy day and I did not really find the time to blog as extensively as I wanted to. So lets make this quick. Today I want to introduce you to this very cool and at the same time very useful project called the The Great Recycle. The Great Recycle is a national (US [...]

  • Liberate yourself: Unclutter your digital life

    Fabian
    11 May 2012 | 9:42 am
    The day today started out pretty normal. But then I got another newsletter on some strange non CSR / Sustainability topic that I must have signed up a long time ago. This frustration and inability to control what I got sent and where I got notifications from made me curious how much I could actually [...]
 
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    CorpWatch

  • KLM's 'Green' Planes Fly Into Controversy

    4 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    KLM, the Dutch airline, has been forced to backtrack from a plan to use oil from jatropha seeds grown in Indonesia for commercial flights, after Friends of the Earth Netherlands put out a report criticizing the potential impact on local food supplies.

  • Fighting Malaria: Big Pharma or Better Aid Coordination?

    2 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Why don

  • Sweatships at Sea: Carnival Cruises Pay Below International Standards

    1 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Carnival Cruise staff on UK ships are paid $1.20 an hour or $400 a month in basic wages, according to the Guardian newspaper. These workers lose their tips, ie roughly 15 percent of wages, unless they get at least a 92 percent favorable rating from customers.

  • Middle Eastern Investors

    30 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Dalla Al Baraka, a major Saudi conglomerate, has acquired two million acres of farmland in eastern Sudan, to produce food for export. While the investors are hoping to wean Saudi Arabia off imports from South America, such agreements have also caused concern among local Sudanese farmers.

  • Bankers Bonanzas Protested By Blue Eagles and A Cigar-Smoking Rat

    27 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Protestors have rallied this week outside annual meetings of Barclays bank in London, Citibank in Dallas, Credit Suisse in Zurich and Wells Fargo in San Francisco. A surprising number of shareholders have rallied to their side to vote down excessive executive compensation, in an unexpected victory for the Occupy movement.
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    Tax Research UK

  • Unless we close down tax havens we’ll never regulate capitalism or save democracy

    Richard Murphy
    16 May 2012 | 3:43 am
    From the letters page of the Guardian this morning: The euro is a great concept but was badly conceived, without a central bank or political, fiscal and economic harmonisation. But the greatest problem today is how to manage state finances when billions disappear into the world’s tax havens thanks to the absence of any monetary controls and politicians granting their wealthy friends and multinationals all kinds of tax advantages and favours that have diluted tax revenues to the point where there is not enough in the kitty to maintain public services. Even Paul Krugman has admitted that…

  • Does capitalism kill love?

    Richard Murphy
    16 May 2012 | 3:31 am
    I was given a bag with the following on it after my talk in Frome last night. The bag was , apparently, produced locally and seems to correctly reflect the sentiment of some (maybe many) in the town: We had a really good discussion about what capitalism was during the evening. I have to say in my version of capitalism – where it is accountable, regulated and works in partnership with government in a truly mixed economy as described in the Courageous State (see right) then capitalism would not kill love. But this morning David Cameron is apparently set on another £25 billion of…

  • The government’s way to make it easier to tax avoid

    Richard Murphy
    16 May 2012 | 1:52 am
    I loved the following extract from the Tax Journal, based on Monday night’s Panorama: Most tax avoidance would not be caught by the government’s proposed general anti-abuse rule, Graham Black, President of the Association of Revenue and Customs, told Panorama. ‘It’s rather as if you legalise murder and then say that your crime statistics have fallen,’ he said. Graham is exactly right. Graham Aaranson’s GAAR is, I now realise, a great gift to the tax avoidance industry because by not being a GAAR at all (Aaronson says it isn’t) and by tackling only a tiny minority of…

  • The fight against austerity is the fight against fascism

    Richard Murphy
    16 May 2012 | 1:41 am
    Marcus Miller and Robert Skidelsky ask in the FT this morning how Keynes would have solved the Greek / Euro crisis. As they observe: Underpinning the German position is the belief that resolving debt problems is the sole responsibility of the debtor. Keynes, by contrast, held that both creditors and debtors should share the task of getting economies out of holes they had jointly dug. “The absolutists of contract,” he wrote in 1923, “are the real parents of revolution.” As they also note: Talks to form a Greek government have collapsed. This is unsurprising: no government pledged to…

  • Can the police, doctors, nurses and teachers all be wrong?

    Richard Murphy
    16 May 2012 | 1:23 am
    According to the Guardian: The home secretary is “on the precipice of destroying a police service that is admired throughout the world”, the Police Federation will warn her when she addresses their annual conference. The doctors think the same of Lansley. As do nurses. And teachers think that of Gove. Can they all be wrong? I doubt it. In that case is this cock up or conspiracy? I’d say neither. The aim is to destroy these services so that they can be privatised. Big business in the UK may be sitting on £700 billion in cash it has no clue what to do with at present. It…
 
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    CSR International

  • Sign Up for CSR International RSS Feed

    24 Apr 2012 | 7:12 am
    Please note, we will be shutting down this blog site shortly, as it duplicates what is on http://www.csrinternational.org/blog. You can still receive updates of the blog posts by RSS feed or by email. Simply sign up by clicking on the RSS Feed Subscribe button on the CSR International homepage.  I hope to see you "on the other side"Wayne VisserCEO, CSR International

  • The Millennium Development Goals – Are we getting there?

    28 Mar 2012 | 6:48 am
    By Ana Svab When launching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon said that the “Goals are ambitious but feasible and, together with the comprehensive United Nations development agenda, set the course for the world’s efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by 2015." So how far have we progressed on this journey? The answer is: quite far, but not far enough. According to the 2011 Millennium Development Goals Report, some of the global targets are likely to be met, while others will probably be missed. The eight MDGs have been agreed to by all the…

  • Nature vs. Nurture: Are Social Entrepreneurs Born or Made?

    27 Mar 2012 | 6:18 am
    By Dr Wayne VisserPart 7 of 13 in Wayne Visser's Age of Responsibility Blog Series for 3BL Media.What do Taddy Blecher, Anurag Gupta, Wang Chuan-Fu and all of the other social entrepreneurs have in common? Is this a special breed of human being? Are social entrepreneurs born or can they be made? In the academic literature, there is an interesting thread of research that is around the concept of ‘champions’ in organisations, especially ‘environmental champions’. The idea draws on prior conceptions of the human resources champion in the 1970s and 1980s, before HR became…

  • The Impact of Ruggie’s Guiding Principles for Human Rights?

    26 Mar 2012 | 6:16 am
    By Sabrina BasranThe world is no stranger to human rights abuses committed by companies – Union Carbide (taken over by Dow Chemical) in India in the 1980s; Shell in the Niger Delta; Nike and sweatshop labour in Vietnam the 1990s; Trafigura dumping toxic waste in Côte d'Ivoire in the 2000s; and Vedanta Resources in India today – these are a few among many examples.In March 2011 John Ruggie, then Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) submitted his final report for consideration by the UN Human Rights Council. The report set out Ruggie’s Guiding Principles for…

  • CSR 2.0 as a New DNA for Business

    18 Mar 2012 | 6:24 am
    By Wayne Visser Part 6 of 13 in Wayne Visser's Age of Responsibility Blog Series for 3BL Media. By May 2008, it was clear to me that the evolutionary concept of Web 2.0 held many lessons for CSR, and I began to develop my thinking around CSR 2.0. It quickly became clear, however, that a metaphor can only take you so far. What was needed was a set of principles against which we could test CSR. These went through a few iterations, but I eventually settled on five, which form a kind of mnemonic for CSR 2.0: Creativity (C), Scalability (S), Responsiveness (R), Glocality (2) and Circularity (0).
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    CSR Europe

  • Hitachi host EU Science & Technology Forum

    15 May 2012 | 6:00 pm
    The 13th EU Hitachi Science and Technology Forum took place on 9th and 10th May in London. On the topic of Transport and Mobility towards 2050, the Forum discussed and assessed societal issues that will impact the lives of European citizens. More specifically, topics like cost and financing, energy or urbanisation were covered. Some technological innovations such as the European myCopter project were presented and scenarios for transportation in 2050 were debated.In total over 150 persons, coming from all over Europe, from EU or public institutions, from academia and from industry…

  • CSR Europe hosts Webinar on Sustainable Supply Chains

    14 May 2012 | 6:00 pm
    On 10 May, CSR Europe hosted a webinar on Addressing Conflict Minerals in Global Supply Chains. The webinar gave participants the opportunity to gain a critical understanding of the issue of conflict minerals and the work of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Commission in that area, as well as the framework of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict- Affected and High-Risk Areas. Participants were given the opportunity to learn from the experience of companies in the automotive (AIAG), chemical (BASF) and ICT (HP)…

  • First-ever Cefic sustainability report launched

    14 May 2012 | 6:00 pm
    European chemicals sector determined to meet future global resource challenges,  launches sustainable development vision, creates 17 benchmark measures.The European chemical industry is determined to play a key role in ensuring that by 2050 over 9 billion people live well, within the resources of the planet, according to Cefic’s first-ever sustainability report released today.The report presents a vision for how the chemicals industry will help meet future challenges and was unveiled at a special event at the European Parliament in Brussels hosted by European members of…

  • Stefan Crets participates in Close the Gap's Strategic Partner Day in Rotterdam

    14 May 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Close the Gap is an international not-for-profit organisation that helps bridging this digital divide by offering cost-efficient high-quality used IT-equipment to projects in the South. On the 3rd of May, Close the Gap welcomed its strategic partners, including CSR Europe's Executive Director Stefan Crets and key donors to the Strategic Partner Day at Deloitte in the Netherlands. During this meeting Close the Gap’s past, current and future opportunities were presented to the audience of 40 people… read more

  • Could your company benefit from hosting young professionals to support your activities?

    14 May 2012 | 6:00 pm
    The NoviaSalcedo Foundation is pleased to announce that applications are now open to organisations worldwide wishing to host young professionals to support their activities. This new programme, now open to organisations from around the world, helps young professionals from the Basque Region of Spain in gaining international experience, while providing organisations with young talents for periods of 4 - 6 months. Deadlines for applications are end of May 2012 for the 4-month European programme beginning in July, and 15 July for the 6-month Global programme beginning in October… read…
 
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    Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit

  • The Avon Lady Comes to Mozambique, Hawking Cookstoves

    Jen Boynton
    16 May 2012 | 4:22 am
    CleanStar invests in, builds, and scales triple-bottom-line business models in emerging markets around the world. CleanStar Mozambique, their latest and fastest growing project, was founded to tackle the cook stove problem with a bilateral solution: new clean-burning stoves and an ethanol processing facility to fuel them. But how do they gain traction in a saturated market?

  • Interview: Matt Bannick, Managing Partner, Omidyar Network

    Nick Aster
    16 May 2012 | 4:15 am
    TriplePundit's Nick Aster sits down with with Matt Bannick, Managing Partner for Omidyar Network to look for some perspective.

  • Chevron’s 2011 CSR Report Provides a (Too) Rosy Picture of the Company

    Raz Godelnik
    16 May 2012 | 4:14 am
    Few years ago a CSR report released by an oil company sounded like an oxymoron. Even later on when these reports have become more common, it still looked to many people as a greenwashing attempt. After all, can a company really show it cares about the environment and stakeholders when its core business is oil production? I was hoping Chevron’s 2011 CSR report would prove this assumption to be wrong and that the “bad guys try to be better.” Is it too much to ask in 2012? Apparently yes, although to be honest, there is no simple answer of Yes or No to this question. While it does look…

  • Patagonia Maps Out Its Supply Chain For Even More Transparency

    Leon Kaye
    16 May 2012 | 4:13 am
    Patagonia has released its Footprint Chronicles, one tool to help customers and stakeholders learn more about the the company’s global operations and suppliers.

  • Largest U.S. Mutual Funds Not Passing Climate Change Resolutions

    Gina-Marie Cheeseman
    16 May 2012 | 4:12 am
    Although the three largest mutual fund companies in the U.S. (American Funds, Fidelity and Vanguard) voted on a number of shareholder resolutions related to climate change, none of the resolutions passed.
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    corporate-responsibility « WordPress.com Tag Feed

  • APA = ( Love plus Grief )plus 2months = MDD= $?

    thatwoman
    10 May 2012 | 6:38 am
    ED NOTE: UPDATE FROM -MAD IN AMERICA – a very worthwhile read http://www.madinamerica.com/2012/05/crazy-mother-proposes-new-diagnostic-category/ I think Dr. Joanne Cacciatore said it best in her Mother’s Day post of 2012 http://drjoanne.blogspot.com/2012/05/nobility-of-grief-and-weirdness.html Mother’s Day 2012 is arriving. With its arrival also the heralding of deepened grief and longing for countless bereaved mothers around the world. These are mothers who, even decades after the deaths of their children, will weep for their beloved when they are alone- will pace the…

  • Building trusted relationships

    Rory Gregg
    9 May 2012 | 9:02 pm
    Businesses run on trust. No matter how you cut it, the wheels of commerce are greased by promises, good will, and the potential for legal consequences. Our personal and work lives are surrounded by electronic gadgets that can automatically log, record, and preserve our actions for posterity. Data collection and analysis is nothing new. Governments and large businesses have been widely using these tools for 30 years. What has changed recently is the sheer volume of retained data collected automatically, and the potential for extracting value from that data. Retailers and financial services…

  • How the Fed Makes Us Lazy

    Susan Barsy
    8 May 2012 | 10:24 am
    This is not a post about hating the Fed and how we should get rid of it.  This is a post about the rest of us and how convenient it is to have the Fed to complain of. In fact, if I’d had the space, I would have titled this post, “The rabble are out to crucify Ben—there’s even a Judas.”  (Free gift to the first person who can explain the Judas reference.)  But that would have been just one more example of the phenomenon I’m out to criticize: finger-pointing. It would be difficult to judge a finger-pointing contest these days.  Everyone in every party seems…

  • Unilever Looks to Their Network to Meet Sustainability Goals

    jessicaday603
    8 May 2012 | 7:26 am
    In 2010, Unilever set out an ambitious company goal with widespread implications for their company and for their customers. The goal was to implement the Unilever Sustainable Living plan – a ten year voyage to creating a responsible company that is working to improve the world. The goal is three-pronged with the company looking to improve health and well-being throughout their organization and for their customers, reducing the environmental impact of their operations, and enhancing the livelihoods. The program has enjoyed some measure of success so far in its first year and a half,…

  • The Fifth Fuel-Efficiency

    starbryan
    7 May 2012 | 5:16 pm
    Recently I read Daniel Yergin’s book The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World.  This is a sweeping narrative on energy development, management, and policy as world-wide demand continues to grow, and by default, the consumption of energy. Beyond the financial drivers, Yergin provides a good overview of the geopolitics and social issues that have shaped energy policy for the past one hundred years. Chapter 31 was particularly instructive and timely for me as the Smart Energy Now team builds momentum.  Yergin cites the “one energy resource” with “the potential…
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    Green

  • On Our Radar: Coffee and Carbon Trading

    By THE NEW YORK TIMES
    15 May 2012 | 10:53 am
    For every ton of carbon captured by newly planted trees, a coffee-growing community in the Peruvian Andes receives a carbon credit that can later be sold on the global market to benefit local residents.

  • Pondering That Green Label

    By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
    15 May 2012 | 8:53 am
    An environmental group devoted to protecting forests takes issue with a certification program financed mainly by the timber industry.

  • Q. and A.: The Most Endangered Rivers

    By HILLARY ROSNER
    15 May 2012 | 6:12 am
    An environmental group lists American rivers that it sees as threatened by a weakening of the Clean Water Act.

  • Offshore Transmission Line Takes a Step Forward

    By MATTHEW L. WALD
    14 May 2012 | 2:51 pm
    A federal agency cleared the way for an environmental review of a proposed Atlantic wind power transmission backbone.

  • E.P.A. Appeals Coal Mine Ruling

    By JOHN M. BRODER
    14 May 2012 | 2:06 pm
    The agency will contest a judge's finding that it lacked the authority to revoke a waste disposal permit for a mining project in West Virginia.
 
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    David Coethica's Blog

  • Dell’s Social Innovation for Greater Good

    davidcoethica
    23 Apr 2012 | 11:26 am
    As the world of responsible business continues to mature with increasing numbers of elements reinforcing their position within mainstream management practice, we see those organisations leading from the front pushing innovation as the future focus of development. It is scarcely a  secret that I have the attention span of a goldfish when it come to the statistical detail in many projects and I am not by any means the stereotypical  ’completer finisher’ profile type. Give me a problem requiring a solution and I’ll bombard you with variations on ways to overcome /…

  • Apple’s Ethical Watershed?

    davidcoethica
    21 Feb 2012 | 7:59 pm
    A window of opportunity and an open letter to CEO Tim Cook. Is it me or is the current focus on Apple’s supply chain a different tune than we’ve heard before? For years now many from responsible business community have rumbled in frustration at Apple’s lack of commitment and often blatant avoidance of sustainability issues.  Most of these professionals have ironically also either converted to Apple Macbooks / iPhones / iPad or continued their use throughout the regular ethical issues arising. I go to a few industry conferences and they’re often more like a Halloween…

  • Coethica Social Media Test Drive

    davidcoethica
    1 Feb 2012 | 7:53 am
      Hi Everybody. It’s taken a while to get here but the world has finally been introduced to the new Coethica website. We had a handful of technical problems and distractions that saw the previous site slimmed down to 2 ancient pages for far too long. We took the decision to go live relatively early and encourage the strongest possible dialogue with all the audiences we’re aiming to engage with to constantly improve the site over the next 12 months. There are also some other improvements / pages / whole new sections / concepts to be added to the site to take it where we think…

  • 2012 To Be A Big Year For Somebody

    davidcoethica
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    The things I love most about doing what I do are the amazing people I get to meet, no two days are even close to being similar and the exposure to a countless stream of world changing ideas. I’ve always been a natural connector and constantly looking to learn from new and strange sources. The Coethica  social media rollercoaster of the last few years took me from a pretty isolated laptop to a whole new global community of friends, colleagues and connections – all with that similar values set that I’d craved for so long. It’s only now comfortably coming to terms with…

  • Football CSR Team Talk at Responsiball

    davidcoethica
    2 Dec 2011 | 3:53 pm
    This week for no reason in particular my attention has been gravitating towards football. It may well be a returning passion after recovery following eight years worth of burn out. Behind the media hype  I’m constantly on the look out for any beacons of hope in the form of CSR related developments to really begin to justify the overused ‘Power of football / sport’ cliché. One such emerging gem may well be Responsiball. My football radar started pinging last week with Gary Speed’s sad and untimely death through what appears to a result of depression, then watching a…
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    Opportunity Sustainability ℠

  • New Service: Green Career Questions

    Matthew Rochte
    4 May 2012 | 3:35 pm
    NEW: Green Career Questions: Got a quick green career question, new to the field, interested in green career advise, or an understanding of the industry? We've assisted dozens of green career search professionals.

  • LEDs In Chandelier Result In 1700% ROI

    Matthew Rochte
    14 Feb 2011 | 5:59 am
    LEDs in chandelier pays for itself in 2.6 months and represents a 92% cost savings. A $100 upfront expense saved $1716 over its 3.4 year lifespan. Case Study using LEDs in an apartment complex where the chandelier is operational 24/7 offering a breakdown of all the costs associated with energy, bulbs, and maintenance.

  • Trust – Part IV: Corporate Social Responsibility

    Matthew Rochte
    25 Jul 2010 | 10:29 pm
    Part 4 of 4 in series on Trust and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) What are the implications of this model of trust in business? CSR? Sustainability? Leadership? PR? Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability are new for many companies. Corporations may be excellent at producing breakthroughs in pharmaceuticals or be masters in architectural design, yet have few skills in dealing with CSR. Where does this leave us with trusting them? How can a company's CSR activity engender trust from the doubting public towards that business?

  • LEED building complaints – are they really LEED related?

    Matthew Rochte
    22 Jul 2010 | 3:44 pm
    Are LEED building complaints from tenants really related to the building being LEED? In a discussion over several LEED apartment tenant complaints Matthew Rochte LEED AP, who has managed and owned non-LEED apartments, weighs in. The complaints as tenant complaints go are legitimate, but have little or nothing to do with the buildings being LEED certified, rather they have to do with cost cutting and poor design, construction, and facilities mainenance.

  • Start At The Exit – O.S. White Paper

    Matthew Rochte
    3 Jul 2010 | 11:25 am
    New Opportunity Sustainability white paper on the quick ROI available when you switch to LED exit signs. Estimated operational cost savings of 93%.
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    Realized Worth | Employee Volunteering & Workplace Giving

  • 10 Minutes to Make Your Employee Volunteering Event Great

    15 May 2012 | 1:30 pm
    We understand that CSR managers face day to day logistics that don’t always feel inspiring. Let us provide some practical tips that will bring you one step closer to a wildly successful employee volunteer program. In my recent article, “The 3 stages of the Volunteer: What They Need From You and How to Recognize Them” I explained that not all employee volunteers are the same – and they should not be treated the same. If you pay attention, identify which stage your participants are in, and respond appropriately, your volunteer events can become transformational experiences. Employees…

  • 3 Bold Methods for Turning Capacity into Impact

    10 May 2012 | 9:27 am
    Companies that make an impact fitting of their capacity also dare to be bold.  They dream a dream big enough to capture the hearts of their stakeholders and they make a robust action plan to that realize that dream Companies at their best and brightest can be stunning when it comes to getting things done. Whether it's bringing a cancer fighting drug to market, coordinating legions of workers to build a skyscraper, or distributing cans of coca-cola a far as the Himalayas, companies are capable of bold initiatives, brilliant ingenuity and breath-taking productivity.  CSR professionals…

  • The 3 Stages of the Volunteer: What they need from you & how to recognize them

    3 May 2012 | 2:08 pm
     Tourist – Traveler – Guide. This is the journey of the volunteer. The great failure of volunteer coordinators lies in expecting tourists to act like guides, treating guides like tourists, and ignoring the traveler all together. Its time we meet people where they're at. Here's how to recognize employee volunteers at each stage, and how to treat them accordingly. Remember our article on the three stages of the volunteer? (No need to go back and review it, I've covered the basics for you below.) You've probably heard me or Chris describe the stages if you've ever attended one of our…

  • Dollars For Doers - Easy Money For Nonprofits

    11 Apr 2012 | 10:19 am
    Nonprofits have an unparalleled opportunity to move from corporate handouts to corporate partnerships. Dollars for Doers is a great place to start - and here's how. This strikes me as odd. Most nonprofits have little to no awareness of their corporate partner’s Dollars For Doers (DFD) program. Karen Franco asked a great question on LinkedIn a few months ago after reading our article ‘Dollars For Doers: The Incentive Nobody Wants.’  Karen noted: “from the NP side we see the positive outcome from Dollars for Doers programs but never realized how little of the potential is actually…

  • This April, Meet the Great Names of Philanthropy

    6 Apr 2012 | 12:06 pm
    As if you didn't already know, Realized Worth's niche focus is employee volunteering. This is where we spend our time, focus our research, and offer services. However, the circles we run in are chock full of experts in related fields, such as philanthropy, who keep us happily well-informed. Just yesterday in fact, our friends at Waggener Edstrom shared the info for an upcoming event by the Global Philanthropy Forum. There are lot of events this spring that are probably well worth the time and money - and probably a few that don't quite measure up. We know it's hard to choose, so we only…
 
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    Sustainability Conversations

  • Sustainable supply chains: How to close the gap between policy and practice?

    admin
    14 May 2012 | 8:40 pm
    From codes of conduct to factory audits, from environmental scorecards to multi-stakeholder dialogues, the tools for businesses to create sustainable supply chains are countless in numbers. But so do the challenges faced by businesses in implementing these tools and driving sustainable practices across their supply base – an obvious example would be Apple, among many others. To address these challenges, attention has been traditionally given to the buyer-supplier relationship. Most the conferences out there focus on this (see this one for example), but is it where the solutions are? Not…

  • What’s THE single and most important skill that every PR pro needs?

    admin
    17 Apr 2012 | 5:14 am
    I was asked that question yesterday as I was speaking to graduate students in Communication on how to start a career in PR. To me, it’s not really a specific skill that will help make the difference, it’s an attitude: being curious. If you aren’t curious, PR might be the wrong field to get into, because our business environment (the media landscape for example) and our client’s businesses are in a constant state of change. Having a sense of curiosity will drive you to want to learn more, discover new insights, come up with fresh ideas, think in new ways, and navigate the increasingly…

  • Campaign of the day #20: Unilever Makes Every Employee “Head of Sustainability”

    admin
    12 Feb 2012 | 3:19 am
    Some hard truthyou get to know after working in the field for quite some time: the ‘Sustainability Department’ is sustainability’s worst enemy. To truly integrate it into a company’s business and day-to-day operations, sustainability needs to be owned and deployed within the organisation – across all functions, levels and geographies. However, when such Sustainability Department exists, it tends to create the opposite: employees feel it is the reponsibility of that same Department to implement the sustainability strategy of the company and that it is not…

  • What’s the Achilles’ heel of sustainability communications?

    admin
    11 Sep 2011 | 7:35 pm
    The word ‘sustainability’ itself. And the language that goes with it. Too often, communications and sustainability professionals make sustainability jargon the centrepiece of their communications efforts. But in the end, who understands and relates to such language apart from communications and sustainability professionals themselves? Take the ‘sustainability’ word alone: highly complex and generic buzzword that is seen everywhere but never understood. We all need to be better at borrowing the language of our audiences themselves to skillfully articulate the “so-what” and…

  • Snapshot: What’s the state of sustainability leadership today?

    admin
    13 Apr 2011 | 1:52 am
    SustainAbility and GlobeScan have just published their latest survey on sustainability leadership (to download here), which explores who are today’s sustainability leaders and why. I love data and surveys! This one is a must read for anyone looking at corporate reputation and sustainability communications issues as it gauges the perceptions and/or expectations of the most influential thought leaders in the sustainability arena – NGOs, corporate peers, government representatives or academics. This year, the findings are really interesting and worth sharing (click on the pictures to…
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    Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Cause Marketing News

  • How to Embed Sustainability into the Business Enterprise

    bcccc
    15 May 2012 | 4:00 pm
    At Avon the sustainability imperative is embedded with a commitment to identify and leverage sustainable opportunities in the processes required to develop, create and deliver products to the consumer DESCRIPTION:By Susan Heaney, Executive Director, Corporate Responsibility, Avon Products, Inc. For consumer products companies like Avon, there is often a quick assumption that sustainability will focus on the products themselves – products that are green, organic, natural or similar designations.  But at Avon, and many peer companies, the sustainability imperative is embedded organically (no…

  • Banorte Fortalece para Financiamiento de Vivienda para Mujeres

    banorte
    15 May 2012 | 3:20 pm
    SUMMARY:Hipoteca Mujer Banorte amplía la atención diferenciada que el Banco Fuerte de México tiene para el género femenino. DESCRIPTION:(3BL Media) May 15, 2012 - La combinación del conocimiento y liderazgo que Banorte tiene en los mercados tanto hipotecario como femenino dio por resultado la creación de Hipoteca Mujer Banorte, un producto que permite, desde el seno familiar o de manera independiente, que clientas y usuarias accedan a un financiamiento para adquisición de vivienda, construcción, remodelación o mejora de hipoteca.  Banorte amplía los alcances de su concepto “Mujer…

  • Banorte Strengthens Home Financing for Women

    banorte
    15 May 2012 | 3:20 pm
    SUMMARY:“Banorte Woman Mortgage” expands upon the “Strong Bank of Mexico’s”  individualized attention and commitment to Mexican women. DESCRIPTION:(3BL Media) May 15, 2012 - The combination of knowledge and leadership that “Mujer Banorte” (Banorte Woman) has in both mortgages and serving the specific needs of women customers resulted in the creation of Hipoteca Mujer Banorte (Banorte Woman Mortgage), a product that allows clients and users, both individuals and families, access to financing for purchasing housing, for construction, remodeling or the improvement of mortgage…

  • Union Bank Teams with SCA to Protect California Parks

    sca
    15 May 2012 | 3:00 pm
    Partnership includes volunteer restoration project at Chino Hills State Park DESCRIPTION:(3BL Media) San Francisco, CA – May 16, 2012 – California state parks will get some crucial extra hands this summer thanks to a new partnership announced by The Student Conservation Association (SCA) and Union Bank, N.A. SCA, the national leader in youth service and stewardship, will expand the placement of college and high school-aged volunteers in state parks through funding provided by Union Bank.  SCA field members will protect and restore more than 100 public lands across the Golden State this…

  • 50 Canadian Companies Recognized as Best Employers for New Canadians

    Henry Frechette III
    15 May 2012 | 3:00 pm
    DESCRIPTION:In an ongoing series, The Immigrant Answer, The Globe and Mail is exploring the many facets of immigration in Canada. What it means to be an immigrant; how new legislation affects who Canada welcomes; and what it all means to our economy and society as a whole. Stories about Canadian companies that embrace and provide career opportunities to newcomers will hopefully be an inspiration to others. [1] In a country so heavily based and continuously dependent on immigrants, Canadian businesses that embrace recent immigrants are better able to harness an increased pool of potential…
 
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    websitesgiveback.com

  • Two Ears and One Mouth.

    Elena Patrice
    23 Apr 2012 | 9:51 am
    We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. Epictetus Talking more than listening in sales says …I know better than you.What you say really doesn’t matter.It’s really all about me.I’m more interesting than you.Bottom line, I just want to make the sale.Listening more than talking in sales says …You know what you need more than I do.What you say matters.You’re important and I value you.Let’s focus on your needs and nothing else.Bottom line, I want to make the sale if it’s a fit for you.We’ve done a…

  • Today We Eat Steak!

    Elena Patrice
    21 Feb 2012 | 6:27 am
    I Feel Like a Steak!Yes today,  I feel like a steak. No, I don’t actually feel like a steak, but I’d like to eat one! OK, so today I’d like to eat a steak! Gosh, I need to explain. I live in rather a small town and if something new pops up, well, everyone wants to know about it and I’m no exception. Recently, in the local paper was a full page color ad for a new restaurant, Joe’s Steakhouse. Wow! Now I do recall a place being renovated on my weekend jaunts to feed lonely horses with my sweet one and it’s but a country mile from my home … who knew! I…

  • Long Spoons.

    Elena Patrice
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:04 am
    FEED ONE ANOTHER.Upon his death a man was given a tour of both heaven and hell, so he could select his final destination. First he was taken to hell. He saw a lot of people sitting at a long banquet table loaded with all kinds of delicious food. However, he noticed that all the people seated were unhappy, and looked frustrated. They each had a fork strapped to the left arm and a knife strapped to the right arm – they had no elbows. Each had a four-foot handle which made it impossible for them to eat. With all kinds of good in front of them they were not able to taste any of it. After this…

  • Some Days a Diamond, Some Days are Stone.

    Elena Patrice
    10 Jan 2012 | 5:19 am
    Some days are diamonds, some days are stone Some time the hard times won’t leave me alone Some times the cold winds blow a chill in my bones Some days are diamonds, some days are stone.Words/music by Dick Feller Sung by John DenverDiamond? Stone?My body clock decides to not work and I’m late, which means my child is rushing too. The day starts off well … not very sparkly.Diamond: I keep my attitude in check making a conscious effort to be in the moment and happy for and with my child.Stone: I get frustrated and take it out on my child blaming everyone and everything.I choose a…
 
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    The Shareholder Activist

  • For Resigning Yahoo CEO, Ignorance is Far From Bliss

    Craig McGuire
    15 May 2012 | 11:09 am
    In law, there is a principle known as “Ignorantia juris non excusat,” or “ignorance of the law does not excuse.” It holds that a person who is unaware of a law may not escape liability for violating that law. Without such a standard, many could deceptively feign ignorance and avoid real consequences. This principle also ultimately led to the resignation on Sunday of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer from internet giant Yahoo. There is an important reminder here for shareholder activists. Thompson was unable to quell the deafening uproar resulting from allegations, from…

  • End Corporate Demockary – Part Three

    James McRitchie
    11 May 2012 | 11:19 am
    “Corporations determine far more than any other institution the air we breathe, the quality of the water we drink, even where we live. Yet they are not accountable to anyone.” Those words were on the 1991 cover of Power and Accountability: Restoring the Balances of Power Between Corporations and Society by Robert A.G. Monks and Nell Minow, long before 2010 when the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits government from placing limits on independent spending for political purposes by corporations in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. It…

  • CEO Compensation (and Expectations) Fuel Shareholder Activism

    Christopher Bayer, Ph.D.
    8 May 2012 | 11:27 am
    Larger than Life We need and want our CEOs to be charismatic, heroic, fearless and virtuous, above reproach. Recently Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Chesapeake Energy and Yahoo’s shareholders have rallied to challenge CEO compensation and behavior. Shareholders crave value, production, and respect. We must believe in, have confidence and faith in, and trust our leaders. Corporations are made up of people. Shareholders are people. People have basic human needs that when violated provoke anger, pain, and scrutiny. In America, CEOs earn 475 times more than the average company worker. In the…

  • End Corporate Demockary – Part Two

    James McRitchie
    4 May 2012 | 11:24 am
    “Corporations determine far more than any other institution the air we breathe, the quality of the water we drink, even where we live. Yet they are not accountable to anyone.” Those words were on the 1991 cover of Power and Accountability: Restoring the Balances of Power Between Corporations and Society by Robert A.G. Monks and Nell Minow, long before 2010 when the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits government from placing limits on independent spending for political purposes by corporations in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. It…

  • “The Brink of a Shareholder Revolution?” TheShareholderActivist.com Blogger Featured on Fox Business News

    Christopher Bayer, Ph.D.
    1 May 2012 | 8:51 am
    Revolution/Evolution is an Historically Valid and Natural Psycho-biological Reaction to Perceived Oppression and Inequity Last week I was invited to appear on the Fox Business News show “After the Bell” hosted by Liz Claman and David Asman. Right out of the gate, Ms. Claman proclaimed that I had declared that a “Shareholder Revolution” was coming! Shareholders were taking it to the streets. Now is the time for shareholders to educate themselves. Wall Street is listening to Main Street; the doors are opening. Let’s do something immediately while we have a good chance of success:…
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    Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit

  • The Avon Lady Comes to Mozambique, Hawking Cookstoves

    Jen Boynton
    16 May 2012 | 4:22 am
    CleanStar invests in, builds, and scales triple-bottom-line business models in emerging markets around the world. CleanStar Mozambique, their latest and fastest growing project, was founded to tackle the cook stove problem with a bilateral solution: new clean-burning stoves and an ethanol processing facility to fuel them. But how do they gain traction in a saturated market?

  • Interview: Matt Bannick, Managing Partner, Omidyar Network

    Nick Aster
    16 May 2012 | 4:15 am
    TriplePundit's Nick Aster sits down with with Matt Bannick, Managing Partner for Omidyar Network to look for some perspective.

  • Chevron’s 2011 CSR Report Provides a (Too) Rosy Picture of the Company

    Raz Godelnik
    16 May 2012 | 4:14 am
    Few years ago a CSR report released by an oil company sounded like an oxymoron. Even later on when these reports have become more common, it still looked to many people as a greenwashing attempt. After all, can a company really show it cares about the environment and stakeholders when its core business is oil production? I was hoping Chevron’s 2011 CSR report would prove this assumption to be wrong and that the “bad guys try to be better.” Is it too much to ask in 2012? Apparently yes, although to be honest, there is no simple answer of Yes or No to this question. While it does look…

  • Patagonia Maps Out Its Supply Chain For Even More Transparency

    Leon Kaye
    16 May 2012 | 4:13 am
    Patagonia has released its Footprint Chronicles, one tool to help customers and stakeholders learn more about the the company’s global operations and suppliers.

  • Largest U.S. Mutual Funds Not Passing Climate Change Resolutions

    Gina-Marie Cheeseman
    16 May 2012 | 4:12 am
    Although the three largest mutual fund companies in the U.S. (American Funds, Fidelity and Vanguard) voted on a number of shareholder resolutions related to climate change, none of the resolutions passed.
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    CSRWire Blog

  • Paradigm Shifts & Entrepreneurship: Investing in Social Solutions vs. Symptoms

    Per Grankvist
    15 May 2012 | 8:19 am
    When historian Thomas Kuhn published his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1962, not only did he introduce the term ‘paradigm shift’ to the world, but the theories he presented also caused a sort of paradigm shift in themselves as to how we understand the evolution of science. Rather than progressing in a linear and continuous way, science sometimes finds unexpected new answers that turn old assumptions on their head. At a point in history when old assumptions on how to manage our resources are no longer valid, many of us put our hope to a new breed of entrepreneurs…

  • Nourishing our Consumers: Measuring Success Against a Constantly Moving Target

    Guest Contributors
    14 May 2012 | 9:19 am
    By Trish Zecca, Program Manager, Global Nutrition & Health, Campbell Soup Company For me and many others, the words “Campbell’s Soup” have always meant cold winter evenings…a warm bowl of soup and feelings of home, comfort, and contentment…as well as the catchy "Mmm Mmm Good" jingle. Today, after having worked for Campbell Soup for the last three years I still feel all that and more. For more than 100 years Campbell’s has strived to Nourish People’s Lives Everywhere, Everyday. This is not just a sentiment but a way of doing business that is…

  • Consumer Activism & Corporate Responsibility: The Power of One

    John Izzo
    14 May 2012 | 8:42 am
    By John Izzo Can one person really make a difference when it comes to influencing corporate social responsibility? Absolutely! Take the case of Beth Terry, an accountant in Northern California who challenged a major corporation to start a recycling program for one of their most popular products. Her story is an inspiring example of how one person with the right intentions can influence companies. Plastic waste and pollution is a massive problem. Americans alone use and throw away 2.5 million plastic water bottles every single hour or almost two billion per month! All that plastic (from…

  • Shifting To The Lovelock Paradigm: The Evolution of Capitalism

    John Elkington
    11 May 2012 | 8:58 am
    By John Elkington Nowadays, we use the word “paradigm” very loosely.  A reformulation of a toothpaste suddenly becomes a “paradigm shift” in dental hygiene and beauty. A slight redesign of a car gearbox becomes a “paradigm shift” in mobility. But that isn’t remotely what Thomas Kuhn meant when he spoke of paradigms in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, published 50 years ago in 1962. I read it as a teenager – and it irreversibly changed the way I view the world. What Kuhn meant by a paradigm shift can be illustrated by the…

  • 4 Environmental Issues That Matter to Employees – and Employers

    Guest Contributors
    10 May 2012 | 11:42 am
    By Kal Stein, President & CEO, EarthShare There are many issues affecting our planet and our daily lives, and many ways of dealing with them. Consider the issue of climate change, for example. Not only are there a number of suggestions and initiatives to mitigate its effects, there are also those who deny that it is even taking place, and yet others who would insist that it is not a man-made dilemma. As I made clear in a recent post, the need for reliable environmental information from viable sources is incredibly important -- a fact that places companies in a unique position as…
 
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    3BL Media blogs

  • Defining the Social Purpose of Business

    Paul Klein
    14 May 2012 | 4:09 pm
    It’s ten years into companies’ efforts to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the returns for business still aren’t good enough. On the one hand, CSR isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s an important business discipline that has become the equivalent of table stakes, especially for large public corporations. No matter what the industry, failing to be “responsible” is regarded as a business risk. On the other hand, although significant amounts of time and money are spent on an area that has the potential to increase competitive advantage, improve recruitment and…

  • Philanthropy Mindset Hampers Sustainability Efforts

    John Friedman
    10 May 2012 | 11:58 am
    Are we so busy helping others to build their sustainability (environmental, social and economic) pillars that we're neglecting our own personal ones? It is no secret -- in fact many take pride in knowing -- that altruistic endeavors traditionally pay less. Those working for not-for-profits accept that part of their income is psychological. However, the sustainability concept is not based on one of philanthropy. Sustainability is a business model that, to quote from the mission statement of the Sustainable Business Network of Washington recognizes and seeks to "transform the ways businesses…

  • Healthcare Makes Green Purchasing a Higher Priority

    Beth Bengtson
    10 May 2012 | 9:58 am
    The healthcare industry plays a vital role in both human health and the health of the planet. This message was the focus of this month’s CleanMed conference in Denver, Colorado presented by Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading membership organization dedicated to sustainable healthcare. At the conference, leaders in healthcare sustainability came together to discuss the future of green healthcare and look for ways to reduce waste and curb carbon emissions throughout the supply chain. To move toward a more sustainable supply chain, one session…

  • Fixing Your Nonprofit Board: When Incremental Steps Aren't Enough

    Alice Korngold
    4 May 2012 | 7:06 am
    If your board is absent a person with expertise in a certain area -- like finance or law, go find and recruit the right person. If your board needs a bit of training and inspiration, bring in a terrific expert for a lively, illuminating session. In some cases, however, the board can't be fixed by simply adding a board member or two, or featuring a governance seminar. Nonprofits face greater financial challenges than ever before; studies from the Nonprofit Finance Fund confirm our personal anecdotal experiences. This is also a time of extraordinary opportunity as new philanthropists come onto…

  • To Scare or To Inspire? Bringing Admission, Ambition & Pragmagic to CSR

    Wayne Visser
    1 May 2012 | 12:38 pm
    By Dr Wayne Visser  Part 13 of 13 in Wayne Visser's Age of Responsibility Blog Series for 3BL Media. What is the most effective CSR/sustainability strategy – to scare or to inspire? How do you get the balance between sharing the bad news (i.e. the state of the world) and the good news (i.e. the innovative solutions)? Betty Sue Flowers, co-author of Presence, told me that ‘if you attempt to scare people with the enormity of the problems, the tendency is simply to give up. And so when you dispirit people, when you remove the spirit, you also remove the capacity to change.’ This is a…
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    Rediscover Courtesy

  • Office Etiquette: Mind Your Manners

    Virginia
    2 May 2012 | 8:13 am
    As featured on CNBC.com: When I founded my creative communications agency in 2001, three of my five core values were as follows:   Regard clients, vendors, affiliates and business partners as deserving of an equal level of respect;   Value all people as individuals – with individual goals, desires and lives;   Inspire someone else every day. Am I naïve to believe these core values should remain intact and unchanged? Does my company, established on a foundation of creative thinking and professional courtesy, possess values that are still relevant in the today’s hyperactive electronic…

  • A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

    RKJ
    16 Apr 2012 | 11:04 pm
    I was born and raised in the Show-Me State of Missouri so no one understands better than me the public’s desire for visual stimulation. Even as a student in the 80s at the University of Missouri-Columbia, I recall the perplexed feeling of holding my newly-purchased textbooks in my hands when, as any Missouri native knows, a textbook with words really serves no purpose. After all, the professor has a blackboard; he/she should SHOW ME what they want me to learn. Right? Reading? Pfffft. Apparently, I am not alone in my desire to be “shown” information as YouTube apparently owns the…

  • What did Dick, Jane and Sally do wrong?

    RKJ
    9 Apr 2012 | 10:15 am
    Like many others of my generation, I learned to read with the affable assistance of Dick, Jane, Sally, and their forward-thinking pooch, Spot. Simple watercolor pictures mentally transformed themselves into written words every time I saw Spot run. I witnessed Sally’s excitement at how Dick’s toy airplane would “go up, up, up.” I applauded when Jane took charge and encouraged her brother to “Run, Dick, run. Run and See.” Of course, if I turned my back for one second, the incorrigible Spot would be scampering off somewhere else again. Spot did a lot of running as I recall—and when…

  • Professional Courtesy goes VIRAL!

    Virginia
    4 Apr 2012 | 2:32 pm
    As the creator of RediscoverCourtesy.org, not only am I proud to release our first viral videos, but I hasten to point out I have certainly not acted alone. Professional Courtesy is a topic that should be at the forefront of public consciousness in all businesses and organizations. I am both humbled and honored by the support I have received. Please allow me to thank Public Radio’s MARKETPLACE, CNBC.com, and HumanCapitalLeague.com for their ongoing commitment to showcasing our cause. Additional kudos go to Denise Wauters of Paradise Web and Gates Rodenfels of Flying Pig Productions for…

  • The Legend of Flea Girl

    RKJ
    2 Apr 2012 | 8:47 am
    Every manager eventually understands they will have to “manage” the activities of a wide variety of personalities in a diverse set of situations. Truth be told, many of these executives (myself included) secretly loathe this concept. After all, it’s much easier if our subordinates simply have the courtesy to think like we do, right? My cross to bear has been the management of various “creative” personalities. From artists to writers—from models to photographers—my career has found me continually encircled by a group of extraordinary talents who wear their emotionally-charged…
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    Good Business Sense

  • The Autism Threat and Where to Connect the Dots at Home- Book Review

    Bushra.Azhar
    9 May 2012 | 1:04 am
    Autism is one of those worries that all new parents have to deal with at some point in the early years. The rise in diagnosed cases of over the past few years has been alarming to say the least. The search for answers as to what could be the possible cause or trigger has been going on for years, with many controversies including the most notoriously common: vaccinations. Although the vaccine link has been conclusively debunked, doctors and parents haven’t gotten any closer to finding the right answers for what could be impacting the brain development of children. While the doctors all…

  • 5 Steps to Jumpstarting Your CSR Career

    Bushra.Azhar
    7 May 2012 | 10:37 am
    On the rare occasions that I have to tell people what I do (rare, because being an expat female in Saudi Arabia, people generally assume I don’t work), it is always tricky. I am still trying to figure out what’s worse; the confusion with “Customer Service Representative” or that barely concealed eye-roll. Despite the eye-rolls and the perplexed stares, I am very glad with my chosen vocation and firmly believe that anyone who has the passion or interest should consider the area. That said, starting a career in this area can be challenging given that most jobs are not advertised and…

  • 20 Second CSR Wisdom

    Bushra.Azhar
    2 May 2012 | 7:40 am
    We’re not citizens anymore; we’re consumers. The government views us as consumers, and our economy is based on us consuming and discarding. That behavior is destroying the planet. How can we use the power of consuming to do some good? I introduced the concept of the sustainability index, and Patagonia is working with 40 clothing companies, including Walmart, to implement it. In the future, customers will be able to zap their iPhone and find out just how a clothing article was made. The index will give a grade, and suddenly the consumer is armed with information. Some jeans, for…

  • Saudi Sustainability Stars: A Meeting with Dr. Fatih Mehmet Gul

    Bushra.Azhar
    28 Apr 2012 | 4:41 am
    Prominent among the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) community in the Middle East are the people who have been involved in various projects in the region over the last couple of years and most of these people, including myself were here to ride the wave when it rose.  Very rarely do we see someone who was spearheading the CSR message long before it became a part of the business lexicon. Dr. Fatih Mehmet GULof CSR Middle East is one of those people.  Dr. GUL is the Country Manager for Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives and Bab Rizq Jameel in Turkey and Founding Director…

  • GBS Good Reads: CSR, Sustainability, Literature and Life

    Bushra.Azhar
    23 Apr 2012 | 1:35 am
    This week has been busy and lazy (the two are not always mutually exclusive, trust me). I haven’t done much reading and Twitter has been kind of slow too. But like I said in my last GBS Good Reads Post, some reads just stick with me despite all the craziness going on around me. So without further ado, here is my second dose of Good Reads: The Good Read: 12 Ways to Spot A Liar At Work The Phrase that Stuck: In business dealings, the best way to understand someone’s baseline behaviour is to observe her over an extended period of time. Note her speech tone, gestures, blinking patterns, etc.
 
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