Three core items for responsible media engagement
March 22, 2012
Often the greatest advances can be made by a single individual or by micro organisations who, while not necessarily radical, grasp the essence of an issue where larger corporations faff with trying to meet the needs of their share- and stake- holders.
This is why I spend a lot of my time looking at minor players in the CSR world. Sometimes such SMEs provide radical thinking, but more often than not they provide clear thinking, unrestrained by the social, political or economic factors which so often constrain larger corporations.
One such organisation is the Ibero-American Forum on Social Responsibility, hosted and organised by Perla Puterman. A hint of what this collective is about can be seen straightaway in the group’s name. It doesn’t limit itself to just Latin America nor does it definitively align itself with North, Central or South American countries.
Instead it looks to build bridges between Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, whether they are in the Americas or the Iberian peninsula. When you add to the mix the rise of countries like Brazil and Venezuela in the global economy and the growing need for the improvement in responsible trading relations between European and South America, then you start to see the sense of an Ibero-American Forum. Read more
Eight Tips For Corporate Volunteering
March 20, 2012
It’s almost certain that you’ve never heard of the the Global Corporate Volunteer Council (GCVC). Created by the International Association for Volunteer Effort, its founding members include Citi Bank, Disney, Levi Strauss and Samsung.
Corporate volunteering is nothing new: a business releases its employees from their day job to allow them to engage with the civil society within which the company exists. How long the release is for varies between a day a month and a week a year. Sometimes the employee receives a stipend from their employer, sometimes they don’t.
International corporate volunteering (ICV) is much the same beast but on a bigger scale. Businesses place their employees on a volunteer basis in international projects where their skills can contribute to the achievement of a defined goal. Sometimes these can take months to achieve, sometimes shorter.
Back in June 2011 GCVC published a final report into the international state of ICV, and it makes interesting reading. Part of the report is “Seven Learnings” which, although aimed specifically at ICV, are almost equally applicable to any company of any size running a volunteer programme.
Read more
BOOK REVIEW: The Green Executive | Business leadership in a low carbon economy
March 12, 2012
Normally you would expect a book review to come at or around the time of a book’s publication. That was my most sincere intention when The Green Executive’s author, Gareth Kane of Terra Infirma, sent me a pre publication PDF back in May 2011.
Crumbs, was it really May? How time has marched on since then!
To try and make up for the terrible slip in the space-time continuum I will quite honestly put the one word out there which deserves to describe The Green Executive*: fantastic! Read more
Real CSR progress on Slavery & Human Rights
February 27, 2012
Most people know the London railway station Fenchurch Street because it was once important enough to be included on a Monopoly board. Today, and quite bizarrely, it’s the only railway terminus in Central London which isn’t directly connected to The Tube.
Fenchurch, for those who are not Douglas Adams fans, is also the name of the lady who “finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place” but was sadly blown up (along with the Earth) to make room for an interspace bypass before she could tell anyone.
I have a certain sympathy with Fenchurch the lady. I know how CSR can be used to make the world a better and happier place, but my solution has nothing to do with profits or the creation of wealth.
Thankfully I’ve not yet been blown up to make way for a bypass, but the way business continues to ignore human rights (as opposed to social engagement) is self defeating, This is why a new law in California, the eighth largest economy in the world, makes such a huge difference. Read more
The Great 2012 CSR Revolution
January 27, 2012
So let’s do another little survey here. Hands up anyone who’s crossed Gypsy Rose’s palm with silver in the hope of having their fortune told? No-one? Oh, maybe one person at the back. Well, it doesn’t surprise me, we’re not really into such superstitious claptrap these days.
Nevertheless, every year every CSR practitioner seems to feel they too can be Gypsy Rose. Crystal balls get polished and predictions made. If you’re lucky, there may even be a waft of incense in the air .. or is that just over-ripe pot-pourri?
Myself, I try desperately to eschew this tradition but every year someone says something in their own crystal ball gazing which needs a response. This year is no different.
But first….
Mandatory CSR reporting will happen
CSR will be regulated in 2012. Read more
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