Mallen Baker's Blog

We want companies to be evil and then die

11 Mar 2010

I have been enjoying the entirely predictable outrage in some quarters about the recently announced tie-in between McDonald's and Weight-Watchers in New Zealand. (2 comments)

Go back to top | Read full post

Unilever shows that you can improve the health of your staff

9 Mar 2010

iStockPhoto.com

I have a healthy scepticism of the type of social advertising that tries to get you to eat the right thing, or to do more exercise.

Go back to top | Read full post

Live and don't learn - CSR blamed for business woes

2 Mar 2010

National Post

When the financial crash came, many of us thought it might lead to something of a re-evaluation of the social role of business. After all, the single-minded pursuit of maximised shareholder return had tempted the banks away from the straight and boring narrow into reckless risk-taking. (1 comment)

Go back to top | Read full post

Apple: How leaders get bashed and laggards escape

1 Mar 2010

Apple

So Apple is in the spotlight again, this time because the company has disclosed that it has found evidence that a number of its suppliers have used child labour, and other practices that fall short of the company's code of practice. (6 comments)

Go back to top | Read full post

How legislators can kill corporate social responsibility at a stroke

17 Feb 2010

iStockPhoto.com

Just yesterday, I did a column for Ethical Corporation talking about how meaningless measurement of certain aspects of CSR can be. I worried slightly I might have gone a touch over the top (unheard of!). But then the very next day, it actually gets worse. The Union Minister for Corporate Affairs in India has said that CSR should be made "quantifiable", and companies can deal in CSR credits, along the lines of carbon credits. I kid you not.

Go back to top | Read full post

CAFOD report on proposed mine one of the best of breed

15 Feb 2010

CAFOD

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may be more used to me criticising NGO reports (and the term 'report' is used here loosely). Regular complaints are poor research, huge gulf between facts and recommendations, unrealistic and frankly anti-corporate lines that are made for purely rhetorical purposes, and generally a lazy attitude to the truth in order to get headlines.

Go back to top | Read full post

Branson and other leaders raise the alarm on coming oil crunch

8 Feb 2010

iStockPhoto.com

Richard Branson, whose rail and air travel businesses rely heavily on energy, has warned UK ministers that the world is running out of oil and will face an oil crunch even worse than the credit crunch. Other business leaders have joined the high profile businessman, breaking ranks with the likes of BP, Exxon, and the Saudi government who claim that there is no problem.

Go back to top | Read full post

The anti-Fairtrade film - why it leaves a bitter taste

4 Feb 2010

flipthecoin.org

It's been around for a while, but has been getting more prominence in recent weeks - an anti-Fairtrade film called The Bitter Taste of Tea. It's won awards for its incisive journalism, and it graphically shows how little Fairtrade helps tea growers on the ground. There's just one small problem. The premise is a lie.

Go back to top | Read full post

GSK and malaria: Damned if you do, damned if you don't

21 Jan 2010

iStockPhoto.com

I am a great fan of the heart and soul that GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty has brought to the company. He has made waves again over the last day, by announcing that GSK would seek to make only a tiny profit on its malaria vaccine, currently on trial in Africa. Not everyone shares my enthusiasm, however. (2 comments)

Go back to top | Read full post

Why we need the CSR equivalent of the iPhone

18 Jan 2010

I think it's great news that Google have now launched their challenge to the iPhone. The end of the love affair between the two companies that has been brought about by the growing intensity of competition - it's very exciting. (2 comments)

Go back to top | Read full post

Assessing the costs of Google's grand Chinese gesture

13 Jan 2010

So Google has called time on its uneasy truce with the Chinese government whereby it agreed to censor the search results on its Chinese portal. The logic driving the initial decision in 2006 was that the company wanted to try to make as much information as possible accessible to Chinese citizens, and that would include letting them know when the law forced censorship. (1 comment)

Go back to top | Read full post

Will food companies open up over nanotechnology?

12 Jan 2010

The Innovation Society

Nanotechnology - the process of using extremely small particles which take on novel properties - is increasingly being used in food products. There's no proven harm in those uses - but it is nevertheless a new field. And a UK Parliamentary Committee has just criticised food companies for being too secretive about their use of it.

Go back to top | Read full post

Don't let your CSR commitment become a joyless code for jobsworths

11 Jan 2010

If you want a large organisation to get consistent results, you have to organise for it. Whether its making sure that your people never ever take bribes, or hitting a target for zero accidents. You have to make systems that will deliver. But where do you draw the line? (2 comments)

Go back to top | Read full post

KFC 'racist ad' meets a world where context doesn't matter

8 Jan 2010

It's a fairly routine story. KFC have run an advert in Australia that shows a white guy at a tennis match surrounded by West Indians singing and dancing. He is in a tricky spot, but he placates his neighbours by handing out KFC. Americans have denounced the ad as racist. (2 comments)

Go back to top | Read full post

Seeking the voice of credibility

5 Jan 2010

Here's an interesting idea from Centrica in response to one of the ongoing problems of corporate social responsibility reporting.

Go back to top | Read full post

Who's to blame for all the Copenhagen blaming?

22 Dec 2009

iStockPhoto.com

In a post just before the Copenhagen Conference I said that the battle over climate change could be lost. "A perfectly likely future is one where the climate deteriorates whilst the human race expends energy pointing the finger of blame, arguing and fighting over the diminishing spoils, and finally breathing its last utterly confused about what happened". (1 comment)

Go back to top | Read full post

Does a socially responsible company rewrite history on demand?

18 Dec 2009

I had a fascinating conversation last week with the CSR manager from a company that produces educational software. The company, I was told, had to leave any mention of Charles Darwin out of versions of the software that are sold in certain states in the US. (1 comment)

Go back to top | Read full post

Don't be a galloping midget

17 Dec 2009

iStockPhoto.com

Greenpeace crashed the Heads of State dinner at Copenhagen, apparently, in order to unfurl a banner because they said that 'the voice of civil society' has been marginalised. Friends of the Earth took part in protests earlier, and complained that they got banned from the summit as a result. These groups have had their highly effective moments in the past, but on this occasion, they are not helping. (6 comments)

Go back to top | Read full post

Carbon wars

8 Dec 2009

We wanted to avoid this, but it looks like the fight over climate change is going to get ugly. When that happens, you have to understand that the game has changed.

Go back to top | Read full post

Why the mobile companies ignored the dangers of car phones

7 Dec 2009

Bob Lucky, a former Bell Labs engineer is quoted in an excellent article in the New York Times. "If you're an engineer, you don't want to outlaw the great technology you've been working on. If you're a marketing person, you don't want to outlaw the thing you've been trying to sell. If you're a CEO you don't want to outlaw the thing that's making a lot of money". (1 comment)

Go back to top | Read full post