The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Archive for October, 2011

The Rise in Unemployment and the Loss of Civility

An executive recruiter in the compliance field says he’s recently noticed a disturbing trend: as the global economy stagnates and seemingly worsens, and job cuts are announced daily, tensions rise. “Frustration, irritation and the loss of common decency pervades,” he says. “It has truly become a dog-eat-dog environment.”

Business and Human Rights: Interview with John Ruggie

In July 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed a set of principles designed to address human rights abuses by business. In an interview, the man who led development of those principles – Harvard professor John Ruggie – discusses their implications and explains why he thinks the newly-coined term “human rights due diligence” has already become a permanent entry in the lexicon of international business.

What’s Happened to the Big Players in the Financial Crisis?

Widespread demonstrations in support of Occupy Wall Street have put the financial crisis back into the national spotlight lately. So here’s a quick refresher on what’s happened to some of the main players, whose behavior, whether merely reckless or downright deliberate, helped cause or worsen the meltdown.

Raising the Credibility Quotient of Responsible Leadership

A corporate strategist says that in the new environment of hyper scrutiny, increasing regulation, vigilante-styled consumer retribution, “occupy” public protests, and overnight reversals in public trust and confidence, it’s essential for leaders and their organizations to close the gap between the “talk” they offer publicly and the “walk” they employ in day-to-day business.

Economists Lack Ethics Code, Posing Challenges for Journalists

Unlike doctors, architects, dentists, building contractors, journalists and a wide range of other professions and trades, economists do not have a code of professional ethics. That would seem more of an internal matter for the profession if it weren’t for the fact that journalists rely on academic and applied economists as sources.

Proxy Voting for Sustainability

A sustainability advocate argues that it is illogical – and quite myopic – that many large institutional investors refer to shareholder resolutions on climate change and other material issues as “special interest,” “non-routine” or involving “special circumstances.” The opposite is true, she says: if companies aren’t addressing sustainability they won’t be producing long-term value for their shareholders.

Is There Any Hope U.S. Will Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

The best hope to date was 2009’s American Clean Energy and Security Act, a bill that called for the implementation of a “cap-and-trade” system to limit carbon dioxide emissions. That bill failed to pass, and most experts say it’s inconceivable to think the next Congress – or President Obama – would even contemplate strong climate or clean energy legislation.

The Basics on the Latest Murdoch Scandal

Yet another scandal is bubbling up at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The Murdoch-owned Dow Jones announced that the publisher of The Wall Street Journal’s European edition was resigning, without mentioning why. The next day, The Wall Street Journal reported that the top European exec stepped down after an internal ethics investigation found he had pressured reporters to write two positive stories about a Dutch firm with which the paper had an agreement that helped boost circulation figures.

MBA Programs Increase Focus on Environmental and Social Impact

Social and environmental impact is increasingly being integrated into the curricula of leading international MBA programs, according to the latest survey by Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program. “The core curriculum is changing,” reports the survey. “There is a striking increase in content on social, ethical and environmental issues in required courses across departments.”

Institutional Investors: The Next Frontier in Corporate Governance

Many corporate responsibility advocates think large institutional investors should serve as “stewards” of the companies in which they invest, helping them achieve long-term sustainable value. But do those investors have the capacity to perform the role now expected of them? Two prominent governance experts are not so sure – and think much more research and analysis is needed before the question can be answered.