The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Tag Archive for ‘Goldman Sachs’

Goldman’s Self-Help: Eat, Pay, Trade

Reporter Jesse Eisinger suggests that Goldman Sachs’ announcement last week of a plan to increase transparency and disclosure does not resolve some big questions about the investment banks’ role in financial markets. “Could there be an argument that Goldman should break up into three smaller, more focused companies?” he asks. “It would be better for the financial system, and just might lead to the self-improvement that Goldman is searching for.”

Goldman Sachs Unveils Plan to Increase Disclosure

The investment banking giant, seeking to repair damage to its reputation suffered in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, said its management and board had adopted and begun implementing 39 new policies and practices that represent a “fundamental re-commitment” by the firm to “reputational excellence” and increased transparency and disclosure.

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.

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.

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.

Opinion: Inglorious CEOs

As each headline about corporate malfeasance is juxtaposed against record profits and bonuses, Americans become more jaded about the ethics of today’s business leadership. Many CEOs seem to lack the emotional awareness to deal with their own image problem.

BOOKS: Speaking Up for Values in Business

When companies cross ethical lines, a common assumption is that employees don’t speak up because their moral compass has gone haywire. But it may be more complicated than that. A new book by business professor and consultant Mary C. Gentile argues that most people want to do the right thing. They just don’t know how.

Adding Value and Values to the MBA

When students return to campus in coming weeks, so will debate about the purpose of management education and the role of ethics. Columnist Gael O’Brien wonders whether current business leaders will support training new leaders in skills and competencies that support new models of business – or will it be simply business as usual?

Jeffrey Hollender Discusses Sustainability with Big Think

Jeffrey Hollender, Co-founder & CEO of Seventh Generation, discusses corporate responsibility and sustainability issues in an interview with Big Think.

Goldman Sachs to Pay $550 Million Penalty to Settle Charges

Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs will pay a record $550 million penalty and reform a number of its business practices to settle SEC charges that it misled investors in a subprime mortgage product just as the U.S. housing market was starting to collapse. The settlement came on the same day that the U.S. Senate approved a sweeping financial reform bill that promises profound changes in the way Goldman and other investment banks do business.