The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Tag Archive for ‘Google’

The Environmental Impact of Online Time

Individual responsibility aside, the creation and management of more efficient data centers by the major online hubs is what can have the biggest impact. Google, Facebook, and Amazon.com are already deeply committed to the cloud computing model, with Microsoft, Yahoo and others following suit accordingly.

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.”

Leadership, Common Purpose and Shared Values

Columnist Gael O’Brien speaks with Joel Kurtzman about corporate culture, CEO leadership and the concept of a common-purpose organization. “It is difficult for a company to keep a sense of common purpose for longer than a decade,” he says. “It has to be nurtured or it goes away.” One company that has succeeded: American Express.

The Role of Multinationals in Egypt’s Communication Shutdown

When the Egyptian government created a partial communications blackout on Thursday, shutting Internet and cell-phone service, it asked for the cooperation of foreign mobile phone companies. UK-based Vodafone complied, saying it had no choice but to cut service.

BOOKS: In Search of Sustainable Excellence

“Sustainable excellence” is a term used by Aron Cramer and Zachary Karabell to describe companies that operate profitably, are committed to superior business practices, and “integrate consideration of society and the environment into their DNA.” Gael O’Brien reviews their new book.

The Ethics of Social Media – Part II: Playing by New Rules

You say your company hasn’t had an OMG moment over Facebook ethics? Well, it could be just a matter of time. In the second 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.

Leadership: Vigilantism 2.0

The worldwide Web is a great repository for track records, and has a long memory. That’s why social activists are increasingly using it to punish companies that have attracted their wrath. In this brave new world, Ann Charles writes, CEOs need to prepare for the era of total transparency.

Johnson & Johnson, Under Investigation, Tops CSR Index

Johnson & Johnson topped a list of companies perceived by American consumers as having the best reputations for corporate social responsibility practices. Months after research for the Index was conducted, the company admitted that it misled regulators and consumers by using contractors to buy defective Motrin painkiller products from store shelves rather than announce a recall.

Debate on Cell Phone Radiation Continues

Some recent studies have found higher risks for brain and salivary gland tumors among people using cell phones for 10 years or longer, while other research has found little if any risk. Other research has looked at the reproductive, cognitive and sleep effects of RF energy at levels similar to what cell/smart phones emit. Results have been mixed.

Google Halts Censorship on Chinese Search

Google announces a “new approach to China,” indicating that China’s behavior toward human rights activists and other efforts “to further limit free speech on the web in China” had led Google to stop censoring its search services on the Google.cn site and instead redirect traffic to its Hong Kong-based servers.