The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Archive for December, 2010

The Year in Wall Street Investigations

It’s been over three years since credit markets started shaking with the early tremors of the subprime crisis, and two years since that spread into a marketwide collapse. Prosecutors, regulators, Congress and journalists have spent the year uncovering the financial shenanigans that brought the market to its knees. It’s been marked by a few blockbuster settlements and more revealing investigations — as well as by some noticeable inaction in the reckoning.

Understanding the Controversy Over “Fracking”

Fracking is shorthand within the oil and gas industry for “hydraulic fracturing,” a process in which drillers blast millions of gallons of water, sand and hazardous chemicals at high-pressure into sub-surface rock formations to create fractures that facilitate the flow of recoverable oil or gas.

Controversial Chemical Poses Challenge for Colgate-Palmolive

A feisty debate over the safety of the widely used chemical triclosan has put Colgate-Palmolive at the center of a case study in product disclosure and corporate responsibility – one that may ultimately help outline how companies wading through a murky regulatory review and unsettled science should attend to their stakeholders and customers.

Cocoa Sustainability Initiative Garners State Dept. Award

Mars Inc., the confectionary manufacturer, was selected “for improving farming methods, sensitizing communities against child labor, and promoting the overall well-being and sustainability of cocoa growing communities.” Other corporate winners were Denimatrix, an apparel company, and Cisco, the computer networking company.

Budget Cuts, Lobbying Challenge SEC’s Oversight

When President Obama came into power on the heels of the financial crisis, he pledged to beef up the Securities and Exchange Commission, a chief watchdog of Wall Street. But with a strapped budget and the changing political winds in Congress, that plan may come up short.

The Ethics of Social Media – Part I: Adjusting to a 24/7 World

You say your company hasn’t had an OMG moment over Facebook ethics? Well, it could be just a matter of time. In the first part of a two-part series, James Hyatt examines how the social media explosion – from email and Facebook to blogs and Twitter – is making a hash of once-resolved issues and creating all kinds of new dilemmas.

Global Warming: Is China doing enough?

China passed the U.S. as the world’s leading greenhouse gas emitter back in 2006 and today produces some 17 percent of the world’s total carbon dioxide output. Although the Chinese insist environmental trouble is part of the cost of developing a world superpower, China has started to take action.

Is There a Culture of Secrecy Behind Corporate Responsibility?

Does a commitment to corporate responsibility provide cover for bad corporate behavior? Stories about companies behaving badly make commitments to CR look hollow at best. Neil Smith argues it is not just commitments that matter, but the corporate culture set by the person at the top of the organization and internal subcultures determined by the employees and managers which are important.

Environment: Assessing the Real Costs of “Externalities”

For decades environmentalists have argued that economics should take into account the costs borne by such externalities in order to discern the true overall value to society of any given action or activity. The company or utility that operates the polluting factory, for instance, should be required to compensate the larger society by paying for the pollution it produces so as to offset the harm it does.

Crisis Management and Your Board – Five Lessons from BP

No board of directors should feel smug about how well their company has prepared for a crisis, writes Betsy Atkins, an independent director of several publicly-held companies. Instead, she says, a board needs to insure there’s an effective crisis management plan in place – one that can protect shareholder value and the value of the corporate brand.