Social Responsibility

Molson Coors Brewing Company earlier this year entered into a strategic collaboration with Circle of Blue in support of their mutual and long-term commitment to protecting global fresh water supplies. The collaboration's first initiative was to launch an independent survey of public awareness and concern for fresh water issues in 25 countries around the world, with a deeper evaluation of attitudes about fresh water conservation in a smaller subset of seven countries.

Since President Obama’s November 2008 election victory, CRO Magazine publisher Jay Whitehead and Amit Chatterjee, CEO of environmental and energy management software company Hara, have agreed that the U.S. is moving quickly toward pricing a ton of CO2 emissions, creating an urgent need for a how-to-compete guide for corporate leaders.  So the pair collaborated on the first CO2-centric corporate competitive roadmap, The Post-Carbon Economy, the First Edition of which appears in August (SOFICO Books, www.postcarboneconomybook.com). 

This second-annual CRO’s Responsible CEO of the Year Award is different than any other business honor. First, it recognizes individual CEO expertise in articulating the common good and then convincing thousands of others to make a good business out of it. Second, it’s a trophy for leadership in progress, because perfection in Corporate Responsibility is a goal that’s always moving just beyond our grasp. And third, it reflects the professional chauvinism of the corporate responsibility-obsessed editorial team at CRO Magazine, the only publication solely focused on the four professional domains in Corporate Responsibility—GRC, sustainability, CSR and philanthropy.

   Meet the 16 industry leaders who <!--break-->make up the Corporate Responsibility Officer<!--break--> Association Board of Governors in an <!--break--> up-close-and-personal roundtable. <!--break-->They represent practitioners, providers and influencers.  <!--break--> Organizations represented include IBM, BT, Eaton,<!--break--> FedEx, Phillips Van Heusen, KPMG, SAP, <!--break--> Crowe Horwath, Harvard University, Miami University of Ohio,<!--break--> George Washington University, the Business Civic Leadership Council of <!--break--> the US Chamber of Commerce, Domtar Paper and Hara. 
 

Business schools’ reliance on theory-driven research ignores the pressing needs of real-world managers

There is a problem brewing within the nation’s business schools that has important implications for business practices and corporate responsibility. How often do you read cutting-edge research related to corporate responsibility coming from business school professors? When is the last time you read research from Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Management Science or Strategic Management Journal spotlighted in The Wall Street Journal or Business Week in the same way you might see research from the New England Journal of Medicine spotlighted in the New York Times or on NBC News?  

With new skills, corporations can be catalyst for change

Why is it that the growing literature on CSR seldom deals with the salient issue of developing the leaders who must ensure their organization’s sustainability process? This large and useful literature on CSR focuses on technology, compliance, risk management, ethics, third-party verification and the marketing tools needed to bring about desired culture change. But, few articles address the daunting task of identifying, then developing, the competencies, mindsets and behaviors essential to those entrusted with blazing the organization’s new path to sustainability.

Disaster network streamlines contributions in disastrous times

September was National Preparedness Month—to a serious degree, at many corporations. Two hurricanes—Gustav and Ike—brought injury and destruction to the southern United States, and provided new tests of business disaster relief planning.

Disaster planning has undergone considerable change in recent years, particularly following the Asian tsunami in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina the next year, as companies have faced demands for assistance around the world.

Marc Benioff’s technology company volunteers to reshape philanthropy model

When Salesforce.com emerged on the technology scene in 1999 with the novel concept of offering software as an online service, the accompanying PR catchphrase was “the end of software.” Perhaps less known was the parallel mantra, coined for the newly formed Salesforce.com Foundation: “the end of philanthropy.”

Today's CR as a business strategy includes integrated development, philanthropy abroad

While globalization often has been a very powerful force for poverty reduction, too many countries and their people have been left out. This has generated significant international opposition over concerns that globalization has increased inequality and environmental degradation, with international business—notably American multinational corporations—being blamed, and sometimes targeted by activist organizations and movements.

Funding focuses on math and science, leadership for '21st century economy'

General Electric (GE) Chairman and CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that the GE Foundation has awarded the New York City Department of Education (DOE) a five-year grant of $17.9 million in the largest single contribution to the New York City public school system.