Mallen Baker's Blog

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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Senior executives focusing more on risk - apparently

11 Aug 2010

A recent survey of top bosses in the US by Korn/Ferry International found that well over half of them said that their companies were spending more time dealing with risk management. This seems natural enough, following a period when excessive risk-taking brought about the global financial crisis. So a good thing then.

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HP shows that ethics counts

10 Aug 2010

You can't help but feel a bit sorry for Mark Hurd. After all, he is widely seen as having been an effective CEO. The expenses that are at the heart of the ethics scandal that saw him ousted were minor - and such admin was carried out by assistants. Oversight not intention. It was a tough decision.

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The challenge for integrated reporting

3 Aug 2010

So we now have a new initiative aiming to transform corporate reporting to learn from the mistakes of the financial crisis. The International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) aims to produce a global model for integrated reporting that is better suited to lining companies up in the direction of sustainability. (2 comments)

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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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Don't use the frog

30 Jul 2010

I'm all for finding innovative and engaging ways to capture audiences on the message of CSR and sustainability. But sometimes the quest for a novel approach that eschews powerpoint tedium can go horribly wrong.

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Dilemmas in sustainability - should we eat squirrels?

29 Jul 2010

BBC

A Budgens store in North London has started selling squirrel meat. It has proved to be very popular - and just a touch controversial. Articles have appeared in newspapers with outraged responses from animal lovers.

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How to be responsible: Assume that you aren't

28 Jul 2010

There are a number of companies that do well in the indices for corporate social responsibility. They have done some things well, and they become seen as CSR leaders. There are others that have got a long way to go. They often have one thing in common - their CEOs, their heads of CSR, their managers, see themselves as being tremendously responsible companies. Better than the average

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Is skin-whitening an ethical issue?

23 Jul 2010

The Guardian carried an opinion piece recently castigating Unilever for, on the one hand, promoting self-esteem amongst women with its Dove brand, and on the other, selling skin lightening products in India.

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How not to tell your story

22 Jul 2010

GE have recently released their new citizenship report. I know this, because I received an email notification telling me so. Interested, I looked through the email to see what the headlines were for what the huge and interesting company had been up to over the last year.

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Why 'zero waste to landfill' should be your policy

15 Jul 2010

Over a decade ago, I first came across the medium sized baker in northern england, Fosters Bakery, which had adopted a 'zero waste to landfill' policy. At the time it seemed highly ambitious.

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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'. (9 comments)

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In praise of flying

8 Jul 2010

Solar Impulse

The Solar Impulse, a solar-powered prototype plane, has just undertaken its first 24 hour test flight. It is very interesting news and one that environmentalists everywhere should welcome. But I have a hunch that many won't.

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Brave or stupid - the UK government brings in Lord Browne of BP

2 Jul 2010

Most people that knew him held that it was a tragedy when John Browne resigned early as chief executive of BP as a result of his attempt to maintain his privacy by lying in court. He was, and amongst many remains, highly regarded for his business skills and all round decency.

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How much will a new CEO at Marks & Spencer affect 'Plan A'?

30 Jun 2010

Marks & Spencer held the latest of their report backs on their progress against the 100 point (now 180 point) plan that is Plan A - "because there is no Plan B". You will recall that Plan A focuses on a range of climate, other environmental and social issues. It has been widely admired, and has positioned M&S as a leader in this field.

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On-the-ball CSR rating agency downgrades BP

23 Jun 2010

No names - I manage to make enough enemies as it is - but I thought it rather unwise for a CSR rating agency to send me a press release announcing that they were downgrading BP due to serious questions over the monitoring by the board of key environmental and social risks.

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Marketing that's not all it's airbrushed to be

18 Jun 2010

UK retailer Debenhams has, according to reports, "broken ranks" with the retail and fashion industries by launching a new ad campaign that illustrates how models get digitally enhanced in advertising images.

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Why it doesn't matter if the UK doesn't have a CSR Minister

16 Jun 2010

When I speak at events in different parts of the world on corporate social responsibility, I have often been asked about the fact the UK has a governmental post with responsibility for CSR. The question usually starts from the premise that the existence of such a post is demonstration of the UK's leadership, but the question itself is usually "what do they do?" (3 comments)

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BP - What value an apology?

7 Jun 2010

BP

The video advert from BP where Tony Hayward apologises for the oil spill, and promises to put things right, has been widely derided, mocked and parodied. You might therefore think that it has been a failure. (2 comments)

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The case of BP raises questions for ethical indices

3 Jun 2010

BP has just been removed from the Dow Jones Group Sustainability Index. Anyone that uses DJSI as an investment vehicle would be forgiven for thinking this is a little in the nature of locking the stable door after the horse has well and truly bolted. (6 comments)

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