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Η αμερικάνικη Lacta , (Modelez),θα πρέπει να επικεντρωθεί στη δουλειά της , δηλ να ανακατεύει γάλα και κακάο και να φτιάχνει σοκολάτα και ..κέρδη. ( ο Freedman / Σχολή Σικάγου ήταν απόλυτος σε αυτό). Όμως με τις αμετροεπείς διαφημίσεις της, νομίζει ότι έχει μετεξελιχθεί σε θεσμό (institution) του κράτους , κάτι σαν «υφυπουργείο έμφυλης ταυτότητας» για την επανεκπαιδευση της Ελληνικης κοινωνίας στην καταστροφική , αμερικανόφερτη, ακραία και φανατική πολιτική ορθότητα. Αν κοιτούσαν την κύρια δουλειά τους ίσως είχαν και καλύτερα οικονομικά αποτελέσματα και όχι να συμβάλουν με αστείους φόρους μόνο 0,007% του τζίρου για 2020(0,8 εκ φόρος σε 120 εκ τζίρο )! Την ίδια στιγμή ένας ιδιοκτήτης με έσοδο από ακίνητα πχ 15.000 ευρώ θα φθάσει σε φόρο ακόμη και 30% σε τμήμα του «τζίρου» + ΕΝΦΙΑ !!!  Επίσης, μεταξύ άλλων, αντιμετωπιζει έρευνα της ΕΕ για αθέμιτες πρακτικές antitrust, ενώ στις ΗΠΑ δικαστήρια για εκμεταλλευση παιδικής εγασίας, child slavery σε φυτείες κακάο στην Αφρική και αλλού.

There Is No Such Thing as a Green Product ?

Authors Trevor Zink and Roland Geyer  suggest that here is no such thing as a “green” product. The corporate sustainability gospel—that green companies sell green products, and green products have some absolute and well-defined environmental attributes—evaporates on closer inspection. According to the authors the environmental benefits of green products are not that they somehow fix the environment or have zero impact, but rather that their environmental impacts are less than those of similar products. Products can have an impact on the environment during one or more stages of their life cycles, which are production, use, and end of life. A natural step is therefore to tally up the environmental impacts of similar products throughout their life cycles and compare the results. Read more at SSIR here .

Nestle in Society: Creating Shared Value (CSV)

 The  2015 report  focuses on the 39 commitments that range across the Creating Shared Value (CSV) focus areas of nutrition, health and wellness; water and environmental sustainability; rural development, human rights, and  people, to provide the reader an overview of Nestlé’s material issues and activities in these areas.  Nestlé’s societal commitments, first published in 2012, were developed in consultation with external stakeholders and provide the reader with a clear sense of the strategic direction and standards of the company.  A more detailed version of the reportis also available on the company’s CSV page.

Why organizations must look beyond corporate-social-responsibility initiatives to truly engage

Antibusiness sentiment is nothing new. Yet mending the rift between big business and society isn’t merely a worthy goal—it may represent a new frontier of competitive advantage, profitability, and longevity for today’s organizations. In Connect: How companies succeed by engaging radically with society (PublicAffairs, March 2016), L1 Energy chairman and former BP chief executive officer John Browne, McKinsey’s Robin Nuttall, and entrepreneur Tommy Stadlen offer a practical blueprint for reconciling companies and communities. Read more about this topic from McKinsey here  .

A New Era of Leadership in the Best Global Brands 2013

Interbrand, the world’s leading brand consultancy, publishes Best Global Brands on an annual basis, identifying and examining the top 100 most valuable global brands. With Apple claiming the top position this year, Google jumps to #2 and Coca-Cola, the brand that held the #1 position for 13 consecutive years, moves to #3. This year, the total value of all 100 Best Global Brands is USD $1.5 trillion -- an 8.4 percent record increase over the total value of the 100 Best Global Brands in 2012.

In addition to identifying the top 100 most valuable global brands, this year’s Best Global Brands report also examines the evolving role of leadership as it relates to brands. Interbrand contends that leadership must now be shared. CEOs, CMOs and consumers all have the power to drive the value of the brands they manage or admire.

“In today's global and social media-obsessed marketplace, brand leaders recognize the need to be highly collaborative,” notes Frampton from Interbrand. “The top 100 most valuable global brands are unlocking their value by participating, listening, learning, and sharing – and not just with leaders from within their organization, but with consumers too. Brands that learn to think differently about the role they play in consumers’ lives – and how to fulfill that role – have an opportunity to change the world in ways they never imagined.”

Corporate sustainability lost some of its sexiness in 2012 ?

It was an odd year for green business, and it began with some mixed signals about how far companies were coming on sustainability. A GreenBiz report indicated that progress had slowed or even regressed, but MIT and BCG also declared that sustainability had reached a "tipping point" with more companies putting sustainability "on the management agenda." A very interesting article at HBR, here .

What corporations like Unilever could learn from Darwin ?

In 2011, the Unilever CEO Paul Polman   launched the “Sustainable Living Plan” integrating every aspect of Unilever’s business. The plan called for Unilever to double its sales and halve its environmental impact within a decade; “It’s a realistic and difficult business model… but in a world where increasingly people feel that the system is unfair to them or where they feel excluded, where there is an enormous resource stress, companies that don’t more actively become part of the solution will become obsolete.”,  he said recently in the INSEAD Knowledge.

“We are increasingly more successful in what I call a VUCA environment – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.” Polman  says. Perhaps that’s why he also understands that in today’s interconnected world, social media is a powerful tool in the hands of the people, and the consumer is not afraid to say what he wants. “In the digital age we’ve seen the power of the consumer coming up and I always tell our people here that if they can bring down a regime in Egypt in about 17 days they can bring down an irresponsible company in nanoseconds…The consumer is really the boss and there is no bigger power than the power of the wallet.” , he said.  A very pragmatic and Darwinian paradigm from a global firm and his forward looking CEO. You can see more  about  this new paradigm for sustainable growth here.

IKEA Foundation : “Soft Toys for Education “ campaign was able to donate 12,4 mil euro last year

Every year, the IKEA Foundation donates €1 for every soft toy sold in participating IKEA stores in November and December. The donation goes to Save the Children and UNICEF , and is spent on children’s educational projects.

The IKEA Foundation was able to donate  €12.4 million in 2011. 

Since 2003, the Soft Toys for Education campaign has:  raised €47.5 million, supported over 70 projects in nearly 40 countries, helped more than 8 million children receive a better education.

The projects improve education in Asia, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe. With the funding, program  partners help schools become more child-friendly with well-trained teachers for all children, girls and boys, including those from ethnic minorities and those with special needs.

Brands in the Edge of Ethos : You Want Success? Start a Mass Movement.

There’s a new talk in the marketing world now and it has to do with… movements. The goal is to use people as Media, exploit their causes  and , ultimately, find and  push their buy button in their brain . How? This is where  the book ‘Uprising: How to build a brand and change the world by sparking cultural movements’ explains how brands can become part of something that is changing the advertising industry. Author Scott Goodson is founder and chairman of the agency, StrawberryFrog. Perhaps a good read for selfish  brands with a vision to become tiny hidden persuaders  and manipulators, exploiting the so-called Social (?) Media.

Monsanto and other Global Brands Give Millions to Kill GMO Labeling

New campaign finance reports reveal that Monsanto Co. just contributed $4.2 million to defeat Proposition 37 in California / US, which would require labeling of genetically engineered food, according to consumer watch dog Right to Know .  That is the largest contribution in the race.  Total contributions from major global brands to defeat Proposition 37, amount to $25 million.

Thus far, the “Big 6” pesticide companies (Monsanto, Dow, BASF, Bayer, Syngenta and DuPont) have contributed $13.5 million to defeat Proposition 37. See details in the link. http://www.carighttoknow.org/monsanto_gives_4_2_million_to_kill_california_gmo_labeling_initiative

The stigma of CSR

Numerous studies in the last decade or so are supporting the view that brands and corporations involved in CSR are rewarded with a number of benefits: from increased brand preference and brand loyalty, to improved financial performance and stock prices. But from now, these CSR conscious brands and corporations will have also to carry a stigma: the stigma of being bad corporate citizens and.. irresponsible. According to a recent working paper by the National Bureau of Economics Research (USA)  " companies are engaged in CSR in order to offset Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI)". Authors Matthew Kotchen and Joe Moon suggest that their, more than 10 years, research shows that "harmful companies are those mostly involved in CSR. When companies do more harm (CSI) also do more CSR" , the authors suggest. Or to make it simple: companies do "good" in order to offset "bad". What a nice subject for a debate. Looking forward to hear your opinion. For the full text of the paper, click here . 

Focus on “Nice Brands”:Patagonia - Nice Lessons from a Reluctant Businessman

Before the recent global interest in  corporate social responsibility (CSR), there is already a  sustainable company called Patagonia. Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Patagonia, Inc is one of the few business leaders who understand that if your business is not part of the answer, then your business is part of the problem.

Patagonia grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. Alpinism remains at the heart of a worldwide business that still makes clothes for climbing – as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running. These are all silent sports. None requires a motor; none delivers the cheers of a crowd. In each sport, reward comes in the form of hard-won grace and moments of connection between us and nature.

The company’s values reflect those of a business started by a band of climbers and surfers, and the minimalist style they promoted. The approach it  takes towards product design demonstrates a bias for simplicity and utility. Patagonia, amongst others,  uses a portion of  its sales to support grassroots groups working to make a real difference .  To make it short , Patagonia is one of the most representative Nice Brands that are emerging in the new brand ecosystem.

Find out more about Patagonia’s environmental initiatives here. In 2001, Yvon also co-founded 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses that contribute at least 1% of their net annual sales to approved environmental organisations.

Who says beauty is not sustainable?

Why is an ageing society significant for L’Oréal and its consumers? How the cosmetics giant approach biodiversity challenges? What is its position on scientific breakthroughs such as adult stem cell research?
These and other key sustainability topics have been identified by L’Oreal through active engagement and consultation with stakeholders. Each topic has been analysed, both in terms of stakeholder concern and relevance to the company, and mapped on a grid . Click here to see the graph and to download a factsheet summarising L’Oréal’s approach to each of these challenges and topics. For the company’s latest sustainable report click here.
“L’Oréal’s engagement draws on a vision of corporate responsibility in which economic success, human progress and social development go hand in hand”, says Jean-Paul Agon, the company CEO. And he adds: “Providing access to products that add to quality of life, while safeguarding the planet’s natural capital and contributing to society, are the key ways in which L’Oréal can create value to benefit everyone. Contributing to a more beautiful life and a better world is L’Oréal’s constant ambition”. Who says beauty is not sustainable?

The two pillars of any successful Community investment

Financial commitment and active engagement are the two pillars of any successful community investment according to experts. . And Bell Canada seems to know well this rule.
The largest communications company in Canada, has just published its 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report online. The report meets the Global Reporting Initiatives GRI–G3 A+ reporting level.
Among other things, the report details Bell’s leadership in sustainability including the company’s recognition from the FTSE4Good Global Index, the Jantzi Social Index and Oekom Research.
The report features detailed performance data and qualitative descriptions of several key corporate responsibility initiatives. The five main sections of this electronic report address the issues that are most relevant to the company’s business and to its stakeholders.
However, of particular interest is the company’s Community program : a five-year, $50‑million Bell Mental Health Initiative and other community investments. Bell people are actively engaged in their communities. In addition to giving time and money to worthy causes, many employees are playing leadership roles, mobilizing themselves and others by getting involved. The company encourages community involvement through internal campaigns, volunteer grants, payroll and credit card deductions, and organizing volunteer teams. See more and download the report here.

CSR :Top five trends of Q2/2011

“ With the maturing of CSR (and some will say, the ‘commercialization” of CSR), the conversation is revolving more and more around the deeper integration of sustainability into business value, strategy, culture and the intersection of CSR with core business lines” says Adine Mees of CBSR. See the full story here.

"Cradle to Cradle" : A biomimetic approach to the design of products that calls for radical changes for corporations and brands

In Cradle to Cradle, authors McDonough and Braungart argue that the conflict between industry and the environment is not an indictment of commerce but an outgrowth of purely opportunistic design.C2C is a biomimetic approach to the design of systems. It models human industry on nature's processes in which materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms. It suggests that industry must protect and enrich ecosystems and nature's biological metabolism while also maintaining safe, productive technical metabolism for the high-quality use and circulation of organic and synthetic materials The design of products and manufacturing systems growing out of the Industrial Revolution reflected the spirit of the day-and yielded a host of unintended yet tragic consequences. It calls for a radical change in industry: a switch from a cradle-to-grave pattern to a cradle-to-cradle pattern. It suggests that the "reduce reuse recycle" methods perpetuate this cradle-to-grave strategy, and that more changes need to be made. The book discourages down-cycling, but rather encourages the manufacture of products with the goal of up-cycling in mind. This vision of up-cycling is based on a system of "lifecycle development" initiated by Braungart and colleagues at the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency in the 1990s: after products have reached the end of their useful life, they become either "biological nutrients" or "technical nutrients". Biological nutrients are materials that can re-enter the environment. Technical nutrients are materials that remain within closed-loop industrial cycles. The book itself is a physical symbol of the changes to come. It is printed on a synthetic 'paper,' made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers, designed to look and feel like top quality paper while also being waterproof and rugged. And the book can be easily recycled in localities with systems to collect polypropylene, like that in yogurt containers. This 'treeless' book points the way toward the day when synthetic books, like many other products, can be used, recycled, and used again without losing any material quality—in cradle to cradle cycles. See also a video with Williams McDonough at TED.

A list of the world’s most sustainable companies for 2010

Corporate Knights, a Toronto-based media company, released its seventh-annual list of the world’s most sustainable companies. Corporate Knights worked with a research firm to winnow down its list of publicly traded companies from 3,000 to 300, based on financial performance and other criteria. Then the Corporate Knights research group worked with two different asset management firms to evaluate those 300 companies based on 10 environmental, social and governance performance metrics, including energy productivity, waste productivity and CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio. An eleventh indicator was added for “transparency.” The Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Finland) placed especially well in the rankings having 7 out of the top 20 companies. The United Kingdom failed to place a company in the Top 20 of the list. A complete list at Forbes .The list's most sustainable company comes from the oil and gas industry--a counterintuitive pick. The Norwegian oil and gas producer Statoil leads the list, thanks in part to improvements in its water productivity. Rounding out the top 10 list are Johnson & Johnson, Danish biotech company Novozymes, Nokia , Belgian tech company Umicore, Intel , AstraZeneca , Credit Agricole, Norwegian financial services company Storebrand, and Danske Bank.

Great Sites For Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

‘Must Have’ sites on CSR, the best blogs , websites with excellent resources, links, media, tools, news, people to follow on twitter who will ensure you know everything there is to know about CSR and Sustainability, and much more in this interesting blog

Top Ten CSR Reports of 2010, according to Blogs

CSR Reports… almost impossible to compare or rank them, despite numerous CSR Report competitions each year. However, some reports did come out on top of the pack , according to expert sources . See here The Top Ten CSR Reports of 2010, according to the CSR Reporting blog.

Action Plan for Corporate Social Responsibility, by the Danish Government

The action plan aims at promoting CSR and helping Danish businesses reap more benefits from being at the global vanguard of CSR. At the same time, the plan aims at strengthening the efforts to ensure that Denmark and Danish businesses are generally associated with responsible growth. The Government has a focus on business-driven CSR and internationally recognized principles - the UN Global Compact and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
The action plan contains a total of 30 initiatives in four key areas. With such initiatives ( from 2008 but still so refreshing ), there is no wonder why the Danish corporations excelle in the world markets. You can find the Action Plan for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) here.