Health and Safety - reframed as a term of abuse
(17 Jan 2012) UK Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to "kill off Britain's health and safety culture for good." Anyone looking from the outside might think this a remarkable statement - akin to promising to clamp down on nice things in order to spread nasty ones. But of course it is a statement that acknowledges how much the term 'health and safety' has come in the popular consciousness to represent something completely different..
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Making the sustainable supply chain puzzle simpler - five ways to start
(14 Nov 2011) Companies like what they can control, for obvious reasons. It's why so many will be attracted to the corporate responsibility issues they can most easily affect, so that they can report on year on year improvements in a straightforward way..
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What can we learn from the dying throes of the Kimberley Process?
(25 Oct 2011) In recent years there have been a number of multi-party agreements, designed to tackle a tricky issue that individual companies or countries could not resolve acting alone. One of these was the Kimberley Process..
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The truth and illusion of integrated reporting
(3 Oct 2011) "The world has changed, reporting must as well!" So declares the International Integrated Reporting Committee in its press release launching its latest report into the future for corporate reporting. .
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Can companies like Starbucks heal America's broken leadership?
(12 Sep 2011) Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, is making a stand against bitter partisan divisions in Congress. He published a full page ad listing a hundred business leaders that had agreed - like him - to withhold campaign contributions until legislators sorted out a fair, bipartisan deal in the face of the economic crisis..
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What should companies do when the riots break out?
(10 Aug 2011) In the UK, the 1980s saw a wave of inner-city riots as the growth of long-term unemployment and urban deprivation meant that frustrations boiled over into an orgy of violent protest. There was nothing much noble or well articulated about the riots - but people in government and business recognised that they were a response to a situation that had to be addressed and remedied..
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The limits of sustainability reporting
(8 Jun 2011) Last year, the oil and gas industry's associations IPIECA and OGP launched the revision of their sustainability reporting guidance for companies in their sector. For me, it highlighted how the most important and interesting stories are hard to capture in any kind of reporting framework..
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Is sustainable growth a contradiction in terms for the ethical company?
(17 Feb 2011) Every ambitious small company wants the same thing - to grow. And small companies that produce a more sustainable product, or a healthier product, and does it with style can often find that the marketplace rewards them by giving the chance to grow quickly..
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The ever-changing currency of trust
(25 Jan 2011) The language of trust is, as far as I can see, the common language between marketers and corporate social responsibility teams. By and large, they have very different perspectives on the dynamics of business but the one thing they will agree on - if you lose trust, your job just got a lot harder..
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2011 - This is the scale of the challenge
(12 Jan 2011) The World Economic Forum has just published its Global Risks 2011 report, which suggests that global governance cannot cope with more shocks to the system, but that we should expect that such shocks will nevertheless be delivered..
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Five ways for a head of CSR to break in a new CEO
(9 Nov 2010) Marc Bolland, the new chief executive of leading UK sustainability champion Marks & Spencer, launched his new strategy today. In so doing, he reversed certain things that had been started by his predecessor, Stuart Rose. Certain sub-brands. Positioning in regard to foreign expansion. One thing he didn't change, he mentioned pretty much in passing, was the company's commitment to Plan A - its sustainability programme..
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Integrated Reporting - The gulf between theory and practice
(21 Oct 2010) The growing profile around integrated reporting is a good thing. It will take us into places on sustainability reporting we probably wouldn't have gotten to otherwise. But there's some wishful thinking going on that probably won't be part of the reality..
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Reply to the Case Against CSR - The Latest Version
(26 Aug 2010) The Wall Street Journal recently carried a piece by Aneel Karnani, associate professor of strategy at the University of Michigan's Stephen M Ross School of Business. Karnani was the author some years ago of a thoughtful and trenchant critique of the 'Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid' work of CK Prahalad, which I wrote about at the time. Now he has turned his attention to an attack against corporate social responsibility generally..
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How good companies create bad outcomes in the supply chain
(2 Aug 2010) It used to be all about blame. Company X uses suppliers that have abusive working conditions, or child labour. They are cynically turning a blind eye to evil practices to benefit their bottom line..
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In defence of Tony Hayward
(12 Jul 2010) BP's oil spill has been a catastrophe with a number of important lessons for other businesses. However, many of these lessons are being lost because of the tendency to simply personalise the problem as being the fault of one man - Tony Hayward. CSR writers and US Presidents alike have cast Hayward into the role of the 'bumbler', the ineffective and irresponsible non-leader, the gaffe-prone idiot. He wasn't simply branded as the 'most-hated' man in America, but also the 'most clueless'..
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Spotting responsible companies - blink and you might miss it
(10 May 2010) We have a lot of sophisticated tools out there now for spotting socially responsible companies. We have indices, and awards, and quality standards - you name it. Between them, they look at every management process you can think of, and cover every issue that might affect a company. But what if all that information gets in the way, rather than helps?.
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Marks & Spencer - how do its new promises shape up?
(12 Mar 2010) British retailer Marks & Spencer used to be best known as a pillar of the establishment. No fiery wild-eyed radical, it would do a select number of good things for the community, and it would steadfastly refuse to beat its own drum about it. All that has changed, and the measure of just how much could be seen with the retailer's recent pronouncement that it is aiming to become the world's most sustainable retailer by 2015..
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Why even some of the best companies fail to keep cool in a crisis
(16 Feb 2010) Next month, Ethical Corporation will be holding its conference on managing social and environmental risk. It includes a session that focuses on keeping cool in a crisis - what to do when it all goes wrong. Although the event is primarily aimed at the heavy industries, you can't help but feel that Toyota could benefit from booking a couple of places..
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Four factors that create irresponsible businesses
(25 Jan 2010) It's possible that people become leaders of major businesses with the full intention of earning money in the most unethical, disreputable way possible. But more likely, they don't. Companies end up doing the wrong things for a variety of reasons - none of which necessarily begin with evil intent..
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Is it time to change the ownership of our best companies?
(12 Jan 2010) It is completely impossible to prove that a commitment to corporate social responsibility has any effect whatsoever to a company's share price. I wish we would agree that, and move on to more interesting territory..
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A case study of a different approach to reporting - 16 Nov 2009
Are global CSR leaders failing to use the web effectively? - 2 Nov 2009
How do we know whether our economy is healthy or sick? - 28 Sep 2009
Bhopal - 25 years later the echoes are still loud - 18 Aug 2009
What Wal-Mart's Sustainability Index is ... and isn't - 21 Jul 2009
Four common marketing mistakes that destroy trust - 30 Jun 2009
Can the green consumer single-handedly save the planet? - 15 Jun 2009
How the campaign groups now lag behind business and need to catch up - 2 Jun 2009
Toyota launches a faster horse - 18 May 2009
Three key trends for companies responding to climate change - 4 May 2009
What companies tell the Global Compact they are doing - 20 Apr 2009
Procter & Gamble - how far does the sustainable product revolution go? - 24 Mar 2009
The Top 100 Corporate Citizens List - or is it? - 16 Mar 2009
Leo Martin: The lessons from eight years of GoodCorporation - 2 Mar 2009
Every CEO should write letters like Buffet - 2 Mar 2009
Five features of great socially responsible leadership - 16 Feb 2009
What's the real value of a good business? - 2 Feb 2009
When is a monopolist not a monopolist? - 19 Jan 2009
So what did we learn in 2008 that we can use in 2009? - 5 Jan 2009
In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice - 22 Dec 2008
Looking for a book to read over the holidays? - 8 Dec 2008
A new resource on corporate social responsibility in Europe. - 8 Dec 2008
What point the story with no plot? - 24 Nov 2008
How do you sell respect to roadhogs? - 10 Nov 2008
Arguments against corporate social responsibility - redoubled - 26 Oct 2008
All senior bankers are stupid and greedy - discuss - 12 Oct 2008
Learning from chaos - 29 Sep 2008
The end of the Chad experiment - 14 Sep 2008
Can you conduct business with integrity in Zimbabwe? - 31 Aug 2008
How can companies resolve the dilemma of GM crops? - 17 Aug 2008
So what's the real impact of your business? - 3 Aug 2008
Can you have social responsibility without ethics? - 20 Jul 2008
Making employees into allies - 20 Jul 2008
What makes for leadership in CSR? - 5 Jul 2008
Storming the marketing bastille - 22 Jun 2008
How to make friends and influence customers - 10 Jun 2008
The marketing that dare not speak its name - 16 May 2008
Playing games with the Olympic sponsors - 11 May 2008
Getting to small companies through the supply chain - 27 Apr 2008
Cutting out the fat - 13 Apr 2008
Will banks ever treat customers fairly? - 31 Mar 2008
Getting the guilt out of sustainability - 16 Mar 2008
In search of tomorrow's citizen and consumer - 2 Mar 2008
When the competent become the enemy of the good - 17 Feb 2008
Reduced harm tobacco - is it just smoke and mirrors? - 3 Feb 2008
Innovation for sustainability - can we meet the challenge? - 20 Jan 2008
Predicting a Riot - Looking five years forward and back - 6 Jan 2008
2007: A review of the year - 23 Dec 2007
Crying over spilt milk - 9 Dec 2007
The unnecessary suicide of the organic food movement - 28 Oct 2007
Climate change: A frontier made of cement and steel - 14 Oct 2007
So what is the state of responsible business in the world today? - 30 Sep 2007
Child labour in India – A moral red line set in stone - 1 Sep 2007
The invisible problem - 8 Jul 2007
How to keep your honour if not your job - 1 Jun 2007
Private equity - Agents or destroyers of responsible business? - 13 May 2007
Buying into carbon reduction - 18 Mar 2007
Weighing the value of trust - 25 Feb 2007
Running out of road - 11 Feb 2007
The Marketplace Responsibility Principles - shifting the focus to how you make your money - 3 Dec 2006
Tackling corruption - an integral part of the responsible business agenda - 12 Nov 2006
Holding your company in trust - 8 Oct 2006
Creating the climate for change - 17 Sep 2006
Is there REALLY a fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid? - 3 Sep 2006
So what's the business case for corporate social responsibility? - 13 Aug 2006
A tool for the companies facing the worst dilemmas in the world - 30 Jul 2006
Corporate personality - does it help companies to play fair? - 16 Jul 2006
The crucial role of business in saving the planet - 2 Jul 2006
At last - an Accountabiity Charter for NGOs - 18 Jun 2006
Forest Stewardship Council - Facing a Crisis of Confidence? - 4 Jun 2006
The big supermarkets - now competing on price, quality ... and trust - 21 May 2006
Scratching a niche - 28 Apr 2006
In search of responsible market leadership - 23 Apr 2006
Measuring corporate social impact - art or science? - 7 Apr 2006
The first 100 days in the life of the responsible CEO - 1 Apr 2006
In search of the business case for responsible tax - 16 Mar 2006
Mapping out the way ahead for business and human rights - 12 Mar 2006
The Global Reporting Initiative - Leap forward or last gasp? - 9 Mar 2006
Exxon ponders the challenge of Chad - 8 Mar 2006
Google's growing pains - 11 Feb 2006
Don't buy this product! - 1 Feb 2006
If Roche sneezes, the Pharmaceutical Industry catches a cold - 30 Oct 2005
Can companies that make products that kill be socially responsible? - 18 Sep 2005
CSR Reporting faces its next challenge - 29 Jul 2005
Corporate lobbying - Rising up the CSR Agenda - 7 Jul 2005
Standards of Corporate Responsibiity - 15 Jun 2005
Corporate Social Responsibility in Kazakhstan - a reflection - 16 May 2005
Did business go too far in responding to tsunami? - 24 Jan 2005
Profitable poverty alleviation creates a ‘new frontier’ for corporate responsibility - 12 Dec 2004
Corporate Social Responsibility moves centre stage - 20 Oct 2004
Is CSR a movement for change that is underachieving? - 22 Aug 2004
What's in an award? - 19 Jul 2004
Getting fat on a diet of righteous indignation - 13 Jun 2004
Finding the formula for responsible small companies - 23 May 2004
Oil on troubled waters - 18 Apr 2004
The Corporate Responsibility Index - valuing the companies that count - 14 Mar 2004
Behind the Mask: How Christian Aid got it wrong on corporate responsibility - 23 Feb 2004
Responsibility without control - 22 Feb 2004
The Media and Social Responsibility - 1 Feb 2004
The next five years of CSR - some progress - 11 Jan 2004
Corporate Social Responsibility in 2003 - A review of the year - 21 Dec 2003
Korea explores the beauty of corporate community investment - 30 Nov 2003
The accountability of NGOs - 16 Nov 2003
Buying into social responsibility - 2 Nov 2003
The inherent value of jobs - 19 Oct 2003
Managing your indirect responsibility for free choice - 1 Oct 2003
Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia - a tale of two conferences - 23 Sep 2003
In the market for business responsibility - 7 Sep 2003
Raising the heat on business over human rights - 17 Aug 2003
Doing it small - 1 Aug 2003
Redefining CSR as a process that starts at the heart of the company - 27 Jul 2003
Looking for business solutions on CSR reporting - 13 Jul 2003
Are the drugs companies just addicted to pain? - 1 Jul 2003
Corporate Community Investment in Japan - 22 Jun 2003
Bringing corporate lobbying into the light - 1 Jun 2003
Corporate accountability or public vengeance? - 1 Jun 2003
Managing CSR in the workplace - 18 May 2003
Executive remuneration and Corporate Social Responsibility - 4 May 2003
GlaxoSmithKline - Seeking a cure for public mistrust - 20 Apr 2003
A standard to build trust in company social reporting - 6 Apr 2003
Wal-Mart - From folk hero to corporate monster - 23 Mar 2003
A brief history of social reporting - 9 Mar 2003
Companies struggle with the difficulties of human rights - 23 Feb 2003
Westpac - A Case Study in Socially Responsible Banking - 9 Feb 2003
Is this the First Ever Corporate Social/Environmental Report? - 9 Feb 2003
What do the CEOs know about CSR? - 26 Jan 2003
Addressing the crisis in CSR reporting - 12 Jan 2003
The next five years of CSR - some progress - 29 Dec 2002
2002 - A Year in Corporate Social Responsibility - 15 Dec 2002
A tale of two definitions - the European Campaign for CSR - 1 Dec 2002
But is there a social case for CSR? - 17 Nov 2002
A standard for goodness - 3 Nov 2002
Environmental and Social Accountability Report - Musgrave Group 2002 - 19 Oct 2002
Do we expect business to save the world? - 4 Oct 2002
The interesting demise of the legend of Jack Welch - 22 Sep 2002
The Global Reporting Initiative - Raising the Bar too high? - 8 Sep 2002
AngloGold - Towards Sustainability. A social investment report 2001 / 2002 - 25 Aug 2002
Looking for a more mature definition of post-Enron CSR - 25 Aug 2002
South African Breweries - Corporate Accountability Report 2002 - 11 Aug 2002
CSR – Does It End At Home? - 28 Jul 2002
Beyond Philanthropy - Pharmaceuticals challenged to go further - 28 Jul 2002