450 Posts Found

SustainableBusiness.com aims to accelerate the spread of sustainable business practices by increasing market penetration of sustainable products, services, and the companies that produce them. SB.com covers the field as a whole, bringing together businesses from such diverse industries as renewable energy, organic products, social investing, and green building and construction.

By providing businesspeople direct access to the information and tools they need, meaningful employment and resources … [ Read more ]

Content: Online Resource | Source: SustainableBusiness.com | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Building more efficient equipment is actually an important key to profitability says George David, chief executive of United Technologies.

Content: Article | Author: George David | Source: Chief Executive | Subjects: People, Social Responsibility (ESG)

This December 2005 study sums up the existing research and statistics on consumers’ attitudes and behaviors, and puts them into the context of the actual success of “green” products and sustainable lifestyles marketing strategies. Then, based on an in-depth analysis of various marketing strategies and campaigns from both small alternative companies and mainstream groups in industries such as clothing, cosmetics, detergents, food retail, automotive or … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Sources: United Nations Global Compact (UNEP), Utopies | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Subjective judgments do not become objective simply by translating them into numbers. More importantly, when some of the options under review require ethical considerations, we can cloud the difference between right and wrong when we translate all options into a quantitative order of dollar values. If you tell me that option A contains a moral impediment and option B is pristine, that is substantially different … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: The University of New Mexico | Subjects: Ethics, Social Responsibility (ESG)

A review of previous evidence suggested that a substantial proportion of managers may be expected to bring serious harm to others in situations where they feel it is proper behavior for their role. Further evidence was provided by the Panalba role-playing study, where 79% of the groups selected a highly irresponsible decision and none chose the decision that was free of irresponsibility. These results were … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: J. Scott Armstrong | Source: Wharton | Subjects: Ethics, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), the idea that companies have obligations not just to their investors but also to their stakeholders, society, and the environment, is hot. What does the sound and fury over CSR signify? Does it truly herald a sea-change in corporate priorities? Two experts, Steven D. Lydenberg and David Vogel, who published books on the subject in 2005 offer very different answers to … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Edward Teach | Source: CFO Publishing | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

While there’s a great deal of literature o­n the different constituent elements of good governance, little has been said about how these measures affect each other mutually. To fill this gap, the authors have carried out a study o­n how existing corporate governance systems are evolving in order to integrate sustainable development into them.

Content: Article | Authors: Joan Enric Ricart, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Pablo Sánchez | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Corporate social responsibility is not an invitation for companies to take over charitable functions better left to foundations and publicly elected bodies. In economic terms it is a constraint on business activity, which must be integrated into management decision making in order to maximize long-term profits.

Content: Quotation | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Decades after Milton Friedman framed the debate over the social responsibility of business with an article in the New York Times Magazine, the discussion continues. Should businesses concentrate on achieving socially desirable outcomes? Can business be guided by the rule of law when governments are sometimes corrupt? How does operating globally affect a company’s behavior? These and other issues were the focus of one … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Ethics, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Leading companies now recognize that commitment to the environment can help them not only avoid costly problems or liabilities, but also identify environmentally based opportunities for competitive advantage. These opportunities take two forms: cost reduction and differentiation of products, processes, or services. For example, Du Pont reports saving $1 million a year in one plant by using less of one raw material, cutting the plant’s … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Jonathan B. Shopley, Karen Blumenfeld, Ralph Earle III | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Activists often find it easier and faster to influence corporate behavior than craft legislation. But such company-focused efforts may be shortsighted and unlikely to stick, argues David Vogel. As he explains in his book, The Market for Virtue, lasting social change needs a combination of solid governmental support and committed corporate action.

Vogel, a professor of business ethics at the Haas School of Business and a … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: David Vogel | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Managers could once decide if they should make profits and principles compatible. But today, there is no choice. It is imperative that managers develop strategies that deliver a return for investors and society at large. This article distills the authors’ research into seven strategies that business leaders can use to build profits with principles.

Editor’s Note: I am a strong supporter of CSR but this … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Ira A. Jackson, Jane Nelson | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

CSR reporting has grown over the past few years, but the information provided by those reports isn’t always used for strategic advantage. Tying values and measures to a Balanced Scorecard could be the way to make good intentions more profitable.

Content: Article | Authors: David Crawford, Todd Scaletta | Source: GreenBiz.com | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

The suddenly hot topic of corporate governance is further deepened in this title, a collection of columns on business ethics first published in The New York Times. The broad categories tackled here include corporate ethics, policies, hiring, bosses, privacy, “lying, cheating, and stealing,” and leading by example. The strength in this collection is the real-word examples, bolstered by interviews with people involved in an issue … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Jeffrey Seglin | Subjects: Ethics, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Can business become a positive force for global transformation? That is the issue addressed in this special feature of the What Is Enlightenment? (WIE) magazine. Find audio/video interviews, articles and downloadable white papers. Authors/participants include: Richard Barrett, Don Beck, Peter Senge, Dee Hock, Brian Swimme, Otto Sharmer, Jeremy Rifkin, Jessica Roemischer, Steve Trevino, Elisabet Sahtouris, and Frank Dixon.

Editor’s Note: WIE claims it is “not … [ Read more ]

Content: Online Resource | Source: What Is Enlightenment? (WIE) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Running an organization does not license a manager to violate the norms and standards of society, but instead introduces a brand-new set of moral considerations based on stakeholder obligations. In respect of normatively legitimate stakeholders (e.g. financiers, employees, customers), the ethics of business implies more obligations rather than less.

Content: Quotation | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Ethics, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Industries are shaped, Michael Porter argued, by five forces of competition: industry rivals, potential new rivals, substitute products, suppliers, and buyers. The time has come to add a sixth force to the famous strategy-making framework: the public interest.

…As Porter showed, companies compete for profits with their customers and their suppliers, but that doesn’t mean that they view those groups as adversaries. Rather, it means … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Forrester Research | Subjects: Social Responsibility (ESG), Strategy

Once, companies thought it would be hard to build partnerships with environmental groups. In fact, that proved to be easy: DuPont and McDonald’s have maintained close working relationships with the Environmental Defense Fund (now called Environmental Defense) for almost 20 years. The truly hard part turns out to be forging and maintaining relationships with other companies, especially competitors. In fact, there is a direct clash … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Art Kleiner | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Most major businesses spend more than two percent of sales on environmental, health, and safety (EHS) performance. Yet, remarkably, most of them measure that performance only to the extent required by regulation. Worse, at a time when increasing accountability means rising risk, the measures they do take don’t give their line managers the information they need to do their jobs. To carry out their responsibility … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Stephen Poltorzycki | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Social Responsibility (ESG)

This paper presents the methodology of the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC). The SBSC-concept is based on the “traditional” Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a management tool and methodology developed by Kaplan and Norton in 1997. The idea to use the tool also for the purpose of environmental management is not completely new and has already been suggested by Kaplan & Norton.

Content: Article | Author: Thomas Bieker | Source: University of St. Gallen | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)