The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Tag Archive for ‘Microsoft’

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.

VIDEO: Bill Gates on Philanthropy During a Recession

In an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates discusses the challenges of philanthropy in an economic recession and how his tenure at Microsoft prepared him for his new job running the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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.

The Ethics of Social Media – Part I: Adjusting to a 24/7 World

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

How to Find Information on Green Electronics

Now that many consumers are beginning to care about their own environmental footprints, manufacturers of electronic equipment are responding with loads of greener offerings.

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.

Influential Voices in U.S. Board Rooms

Regulators and rulemakers led the list of 100 most influential people affecting corporate governance in America’s board rooms in 2010, according to the National Association of Corporate Directors. Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, authors of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Law, were re-elected to the list as was Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary L. Schapiro.

Shareholder Advocates Urge Disclosure of Political Spending

The Center for Political Accountability, the Council of Institutional Investors and a number of shareholder advocate groups have launched a letter-writing campaign urging companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to disclose all political contributions they make with corporate funds.

Clinton Urges “Principled Stand” on Internet Censorship

An open Internet is good for society and good for business. And American technology companies need to make a “principled stand” against attempts at censorship. That’s one of the messages delivered by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton in a major speech that focused on attempts by some national governments to stifle the “free exchange of ideas” among their citizens.

Opinion:Chamber of Commerce Is Wrong on Climate Change

The CEO of a leading socially responsible investment firm thinks it’s curious that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which ostensibly represents the business community, “has not only chosen to oppose climate change solutions but continues to advance the specious argument that we face a stark choice between the environment and the economy – that addressing climate change will somehow be bad for business and cost us jobs. The opposite is the case.”