450 Posts Found

This is a big problem with how the CSR conversation has evolved—we’ve sort of given up on governments. If you look at places like where I was in Indonesia for BP, companies are expected to assume the responsibilities of the state. That is neither appropriate nor sustainable. So that’s a big part of an idealist’s job: helping determine the boundaries of responsibility of your company. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Instead of focusing only on commercial advantage, leading companies are balancing that with environmental impact and local economic development. It’s what we call, “the triple advantage,” where value chains support business goals and contribute positively to the socio-economy. Accenture and the World Economic Forum joined to identify 31 supply chain practices that lead to a triple advantage.

Content: Article | Sources: Accenture, World Economic Forum | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

The reality is that capitalism has to be seen in the broader social context and not defined just by economic capital but also by human and social capital.

Content: Quotation | Author: Marc Benioff | Source: Business Finance Magazine | Subjects: Capitalism, Social Responsibility (ESG)

What we have done for ourselves dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.

Content: Quotation | Subjects: Leadership, Personal Development, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Companies are increasingly expected to join with other organizations—both public and private—to address social and environmental problems. Here are seven ways to make such alliances successful.

Content: Article | Authors: Kimberly Henderson, Marco Albani | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Executives at all levels see an important business role for sustainability. But when it comes to mastering the reputation, execution, and accountability of their sustainability programs, many companies have far to go.

Content: Article | Authors: Anne-Titia Bové, Sheila Bonini | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

The one-for-one business model has catapulted to prominence since Toms adopted it. Scores of similar businesses, selling a wide range of products, have followed suit. Many say that from a marketing standpoint, the model is a winner. Still, questions have been raised about whether the social impact aspect works quite as well.

Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

strategy+business presents their 14th annual best business books special section with picks from seven eminent reviewers.

Editor’s Note: As usual, these pieces offer more than just listings of recommended books. In particular, I recommend you read the entries on strategy and economics.

Content: Article | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Economics, Management, Organizational Behavior, Social Responsibility (ESG), Strategy

Paul Leinwand, coauthor, with Cesare Mainardi, of The Essential Advantage: How to Win with a Capabilities-Driven Strategy, introduces a guiding maxim for CSR success from Winning Investors Over: Surprising Truths about Honesty, Earnings Guidance, and Other Ways to Boost Your Stock Price, by Baruch Lev.

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

Read how businesses are organizing for sustainability success by ensuring it is an intrinsic part of the operating culture.

Content: Article | Authors: Melissa Barrett, Peter Lacy, Quentin Drewell, Robert McNamara | Source: Accenture | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Often perceived as acting in ways that harm the economy, society and the environment due to a short-term focus on profits, big business is now starting to use its power for long-term good, according to Lucy Parker and Jon Miller, authors of Everybody’s Business: The Unlikely Story of How Big Business Can Fix the World. In an interview with Wharton management professor Witold Henisz, Parker … [ Read more ]

Content: Multimedia Content | Authors: Jon Miller, Lucy Parker | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

In 1970, in his famous essay, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits, Milton Friedman railed against any corporate attempt to promote “desirable social ends” which he argued were “highly subversive to the capitalist system.”

Ever since, folks have argued that Friedman is wrong to make the trade-off between shareholders and the rest of society so wholly in favor of shareholders and that … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Roger L. Martin | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

According to Carroll (1979), CSR has an economic, a legal, an ethical and a philanthropic face. Socially responsible companies are expected: (1) to be profitable while providing desired goods and services (fulfill their economic responsibilities), (2) to obey the law (fulfill their legal responsibilities), (3) to follow codes of conduct considered as morally right (meet their ethical responsibilities), and (4) to contribute actively to the … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

How AkzoNobel NV, a leading manufacturer, is making its health, safety, and environment procedures stronger by making them more consistent.

Content: Case Study | Author: Richard Westlake | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Operations, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Financial decision theory has attempted to put finance forward, with some success, as a meta-decision framework for organizations, encompassing alternative financing and debt/equity trade-offs (Capital Asset Pricing Model), shareholder value added (hurdle rates, risk-adjusted return on capital), time cost of money (Net Present Value) and volatility (risk/reward options). Finance provides a single ‘currency’ for corporate decisions. Can this financial model be reconciled with social responsibility … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael Mainelli | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Finance, Social Responsibility (ESG)

The post-modern risk societal problem is how to hold postmodern organizations to social goals while still permitting them to add value.

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael Mainelli | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Research by Christopher Marquis shows that a company’s degree of social responsibility is affected by a surprising factor—the language it uses to communicate.

Content: Article | Author: Michael Blanding | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: International, Organizational Behavior, Social Responsibility (ESG)

The social responsibility of business (aside from making money and paying the bills) is to create wealth for the future or, as Keynes put it, the material basis necessary to sustain a civilized society. The conflict with society arises over how we define “wealth”—valued narrowly in dollar returns as business and finance do or in the broader human terms that society applies. The great collision … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: William Greider | Source: Across the Board (ATB) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Companies must incorporate interaction with stakeholders into decision making at every level of the organization.

Content: Article | Authors: John Browne, Robin Nuttall | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

Many companies want to engage in philanthropic efforts because it will improve their reputation. It is easy to agree that we ought to be doing something good, and that we should contribute to doing ‘the right thing’ for society. No one will disagree with this noble ambition. For me, however, that is not the interesting question. Although there is a lot of feeling that ‘we … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Porter | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)