May 8
I have a new idea to finance sustainability: a futures market trading the value of the life of Bangladeshi textile workers.
”Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as
to conceive how others can be in want.”
Jonathan Swift
A Bangladeshi Low-Income Workers Exchange (BLIWEx) makes a whole lot of sense. The idea is to Read more
In this sequel to “To Measure or not to Measure: The Internal Dialogue of an Equivocating Manager “ you will find the deliberations of “Mario” and “Sofie”, two smart, hard-working managers who, like dozens of my clients are trying their best to do more and better sustainability at their large national developing country firm.
As in To Measure or Not, I don’t know what all the “Marios” and “Sofias” say after they leave their offices, but I imagine it goes something like this…..
Scene: Dev Corp, Monterrey Mexico (note: in my experience you can insert any developing country name here) makers of electrical gear for both retail and wholesale. Dev Corp is a supplier to several global companies and has four plants in Mexico and one in Colombia.
Mario: Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
Sofia: You not hot, you’re mad.
Mario: Yeah, you are right about that. This is the third time our community outreach program expansion proposal was shut down’. Read more
I love them and I hate them.
I love them for all the great good they have done and do pioneering and commercializing corporate sustainability.
I hate them, because too many companies use them as if a sustainability strategy they make.
Ok, maybe hate is too harsh a word. But if you look at them, in reality all they are is list of things to do and/or measure. Lists and measures are important, but without strategy they remain Read more
Brand is dead…. or so a marketing expert recently proclaimed http://bit.ly/Oneffb. Ok I paraphrase with liberty, but promoting/developing brand, he inferred, was redundant even unnecessary if a company consistently develops and delivers a quality product. While I agree this is true for cult brands like Doc Martens or Birkenstocks I certainly disagree in general. I disagree on at least three counts.
1. Acckkk V. Ohhhhh
This view would have us believe that only a price vs. need calculations counts (something behavioral economics has pretty much debunked). What nonsense! Every consumer purchase is inevitably, Read more
Intangible, immaterial, illusory, abstract, illusive, chimerical… words used to describe CSR’s contribution to corporate profitability and value (or at least the contribution of non- Big Four – water, carbon, material use, and energy – related contributions).
Cynics can use whatever term they want (and be wrong) and the proof is in the pudding which got demonstrably thicker this past week when the Walt Disney Company announced plans to license a Mickey Mouse logo for food products meeting nutritional criteria with healthy levels of calories, saturated fat, sodium and sugar.
Nothing against Bugs or Phineas, but who the heck Read more
Marc de Sousa Shields is Managing Partner of ES Global, a sustainable business consultancy with 14 years working in over 60 countries (www.esglobal.com). With over 25 years of CSR, social investment, and social impact work, Marc de Sousa-Shields brings to CSR Counts his experience working with over 100 clients, in more than 30 countries on five continents, assisting CSR work that has benefited over 2 million people.
Linen Theme by The Theme Foundry
Copyright © 2013 . All rights reserved.
