The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Archive for September, 2011

A Growing Consensus on What to Do About Citizens United

While the Supreme Court in Citizens United envisioned a world where shareholders could hold managers accountable for political spending, corporations have clever legal ways to hide their role in politics from the public. Over the past few weeks, a growing consensus among shareholders, corporate leaders and corporate law experts has emerged. All are urging increased transparency for corporate money in politics.

The Climate Impact of Frieght Transport

Freight shipments are responsible for about a quarter of all transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. Heavy duty trucks are the biggest villains, accounting for 77.8 percent of freight transportation’s total. Running mostly on diesel fuel, they are also major emitters of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, which are linked to a wide range of human health problems.

Improve Public Trust: Transform the Nominating Committee

Corporate governance expert Paul Strebel says there’s need for a “fundamental change” in the way board directors are nominated, with members of the nominating committee drawn from a more diverse group of stakeholders than has been the case. “To improve public trust in business, the search for board directors has to extend beyond the world of top executives,” he says.

Is Bottled Water a Waste?

Global bottled water consumption has more than quadrupled since 1990, with some 2.7 million tons of petroleum-derived plastic used to bottle water around the world every year. Bottled water also costs up to 1,900 times more than tap water; 90 percent or more of the money consumers shell out for it pays for everything but the water itself.

Do Regulations Really Kill Jobs Overall? Not So Much

Is the claim that regulation kills jobs true? ProPublica asked experts, and most said that while there is relatively little scholarship on the issue, the evidence so far is that the overall effect on jobs is minimal. Regulations do destroy some jobs, but they also create others. Mostly, they just shift jobs within the economy.

Making the Case for “Shared Value” for Business and Society

Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter and his colleague Mark Kramer argue that the time has come for global businesses to adopt the principle of “shared value.” Shared value, they write, “is not social responsibility, philanthropy, or even sustainability, but a new way to achieve economic success.”

Study: Mandatory Sustainability Reporting Improves Behavior

A new working paper by researchers at the London Business School and Harvard Business School finds that requiring companies to report on their environmental, social and governance initiatives leads to broad improvement in socially responsible management practices.

“Plan B” to Rescue The Planet and Civilization

What started as a book has grown into a movement known as “Plan B” which presents a roadmap for achieving worldwide goals of stabilizing both population and climate.

Doctors Avoid Penalties in Suits Against Medical Firms

At least 15 drug and medical-device companies have paid $6.5 billion since 2008 to settle accusations of marketing fraud or kickbacks. However, none of the more than 75 doctors named as participants were sanctioned, despite allegations of fraud or of conduct that put patients at risk, a review by ProPublica found.

Making Money and Making a Difference

Blake Mycoskie founded Toms Shoes in 2006 and pioneered a novel marketing concept called “One for One,” which means that for every pair of Toms shoes that someone buys, a pair is given away to someone who needs it in the developing world. Toms has since given away more than 600,000 pairs of shoes, in the process becoming something of a media sensation. Mycoskie has now written a book with the aim of “inspiring, entertaining and challenging” readers to take action.