The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Archive for April, 2011

Ethics of Being Wrong: Ghosn, Greenspan, and Dodger Owners

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn recently accused three of the company’s senior executives of selling corporate secrets to the Chinese. But he was wrong – they hadn’t done it. Columnist Gael O’Brien says being wrong is part of being human, and leaders should be especially mindful of that . “The more we stay open to the possibility we could be wrong,” she says, “the more likely we are to get beyond our own ‘rightness’ and experience a larger reality.”

Is Air Quality in the U.S. Improving or Getting Worse?

Air quality across the United States has improved dramatically since 1970 when Congress passed the Clean Air Act in response to growing pollution problems and fouled air from coast to coast. According to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), levels of all major air pollution contaminants (ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and lead) are down significantly since 1970; carbon monoxide levels alone dropped by more than 70 percent.

‘Spillionaires’: Profiteering in the Wake of the BP Oil Spill

The oil spill that was once expected to bring economic ruin to the Gulf Coast appears to have delivered something entirely different: a gusher of money. So many people cashed in that they earned nicknames – “spillionaires” or “BP rich.” Meanwhile, others hurt by the spill ended up getting comparatively little.

Opinion: Globalizing Your Moral Compass

Keld Jensen argues that yesterday’s moral compass no longer points in the direction of today’s business ethics solutions – and that relativity may apply as much to business ethics as to physics. “Times have changed,” he writes. “As businesses operate in an increasingly globalized world, ethical conduct is no longer an absolute standard.”

Why Don’t Makers of Cleaning Products Disclose Ingredients?

Since cleaning products aren’t food, beverages or drugs meant to be ingested, they aren’t regulated, per se, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, makers are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to list ingredients that are active disinfectants or potentially harmful. Otherwise, they usually keep their other ingredients secret, presumably so competitors can’t copy their formulas.

To Create a CSR Culture, You Have to Start with Wall Street

Columnist Ann Charles says that in order to successfully integrate Corporate Social Responsibility into business, there’s a need to start changing the culture of Wall Street, and that change has to come from within. She shines a spotlight on some individual leaders who are working to change the rules of the game in the financial sector.

Safe and Clean Water as a “Human Right”

In July 2010 the United Nations agreed to a new resolution declaring the human right to “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation.” While the resolution itself carries no regulatory weight, backers view it as important to raising awareness of the problem and engendering support for solutions.