The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Archive for May, 2010

Conscious Capitalism: New Models for 21st Century Business

Columnist Gael O’Brien takes a look at a new organization and a group of business leaders who believe that a company can be profitable while also safeguarding trust, reputation, and credibility with stakeholders. One CEO poses the question: “Is it possible to create an enterprise where everybody wins?”

Commitment to Gulf Cleanup Will Be True Measure of BP

Environmental activist Mark Tulay thinks there are lessons to be learned from comparing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – now the largest in American history – to the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. Instead of hedging and dodging, he says, BP would be well served to take the high road on settlement issues.

New Efforts to Save Forests by Curbing Trade in Illegal Wood

Illegal logging and tropical deforestation are the focus of two newly-announced initiatives – one focusing on the legal risk to companies that buy illegally harvested wood, the other highlighting potential rewards to American business of U.S. legislation that would help end illegal logging and tropical deforestation. “Saving rainforests isn’t just for treehuggers anymore,” said a representative of the Ohio Corn Growers Association,

Taking Care of Bottom-Rung Employees is Good Business

The results of the six-year study surprised even its authors. They expected to find that, yes, you could provide bottom-rung employees with benefits and still be profitable. Instead they found that you should provide such benefits because doing so increases profits.

U.S. Supreme Court Nears Ruling on Honest Services Law

The statute is an issue in three cases before the Supreme Court this term – involving former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, Hollinger International chairman Conrad Black and former Alaska lawmaker Bruce Weyhrauch – and it could have implications for hundreds of criminal cases involving public officials and business executives convicted or charged with fraud.

The Outlook for Cleaner Airplane Fuels

The friendly skies aren’t much greener than they were a few decades ago. And most national governments have been reluctant to impose new environmental restrictions on the already ailing airline industry. Nonetheless, some airlines and airplane manufacturers are taking steps to improve their eco-footprints

Study: Financial Fraud Often Results in Bankruptcy

The study found that news of an alleged fraud resulted in an average 16.7 percent abnormal stock price decline in the two days surrounding the announcement. Companies engaged in fraud also often experienced bankruptcy, delisting from a stock exchange, or asset sale, and in nine out of ten cases the SEC named the CEO and/or CFO for alleged involvement, the study found.

Senate Bill Changes Rules for Boards, Executive Pay

The bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 59-39, requires directors to win by majority vote in uncontested elections, gives the SEC authority to grant shareholders proxy access to nominate directors and gives shareholders the right to a nonbinding vote on executive pay. The measure must be reconciled with a House bill.

Opinion: The Corporate Responsibility Commitment

The rhetoric surrounding corporate responsibility can be off-putting to companies with many firms assuming they can never live up to such grand claims. But taken in achievable steps, every company can embark upon the corporate responsibility journey. Patrick Jelly, managing director of Pitney Bowes UK, assesses the reality of corporate responsibility adoption and outlines some of the do’s and don’ts of such a strategy.

Proxy Advisors Find Themselves in the Spotlight

Proxy advisory services play a key role because institutional holders turn to them for advice when voting billions of shares at annual meetings. Questions are now being raised about the influence of the services and whether more formal oversight is needed. As a result, proxy advisory services may be about to start receiving their own report cards for a change.