I have long argued that corporate social responsibility (CSR) needs to be a fully integrated strategy throughout a company in order to have a significant effect on how the company does business. I have also written often about social enterprise/entrepreneurship where one builds a for-profit company that focuses on solving social problems as well as …
It seemed easy and straightforward enough. Fighting in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between a variety of warring factions has resulted in the death, rape and displacement of many in the region. Based on most accounts upwards of 5.4 million people died during the official war period of 1998-2003 and some 2.7 …
Conflict Minerals: Where Dodd-Frank, The Enough Project and Global Witness Went Wrong Read More »
Since the movement began, people have discussed goals/themes/demands of Occupy Wall Street and have found little clarity. In some ways this is the essence of the movement, but in an effort to define everything, many people assume it’s the anger of the common person directed towards banks for manipulating their money and tanking the economy. …
Apparently I have a problem with terminology. I’m not sure when this started, but after writing a piece on the semantics of the term “CSR”, I have come across other situations in which terms that I thought were relatively clear, are in fact completely opaque. My new find? Social enterprise. I know what your thinking. …
To what extent do socially and environmentally positive initiatives in the private sector boost a [public] company’s value? And is the downside greater for those that that do not engage in CSR activities or worse flout environmental or social concerns? We know that significant events such as the BP oil spill will go a long …
The world of international development has so many buzzwords floating around, it’s hard to know what is legitimate and what isn’t. Over the past 10 years or so, the phrase “sustainable development” has entered the lexicon and appears here to stay. While there are a number of definitions for the term, ultimately it has to …
VisionSpring: A Model TOMS Shoes Would be Wise to Adopt Read More »
Following more than 50 years of oil extraction, corruption, human rights violations and environmental degradation, Shell has admitted responsibility for two large oil spills in 2008 and 2009 in the Niger Delta. This admission will allow those affected to seek damages through the British court system, which gives groups in the Delta, specifically Ogoniland, the …
Shell Finally Coming to Terms with Years of Nigerian Oil Spills Read More »
I’ve written a number of articles regarding the complexities of “conflict minerals” and the trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (you can find a few here and here). And campaigns undertaken by a number of advocacy groups have really put the issue on the map. So much so that a controversial rider was …
Motorola Getting Proactive in the Conflict Mineral Debate Read More »
In the early 1990’s Nike was unwittingly responsible for bringing factory worker treatment and supply chain issues to the forefront. This was of course many years before the “CSR movement” gained a foothold within corporate operations. And while I would not go as far as to say that it gave birth to the modern CSR …
According to the venerable source, Wikipedia (there’s actually a citation from the 2002 book The World of Social Entrepreneurship by J.L. Thompson), social entrepreneurship is defined as, “A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change (a social venture). While a business …
For many years now, developing countries bestowed great amounts of natural resources were thought to be on a path to development based on the wealth of these resources, which are prized throughout the West. Such resources have included oil, minerals, metals and of course diamonds. However, almost exclusively, this potentially game-changing situation has lead to …
Zimbabwe Diamonds and the Kimberley Process: Round Something Read More »
A wise man once said, “beer, the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems”. More recently, Center for Global Development (CGD) Senior Fellow, Charles Kenney published an article in Foreign Policy magazine called “Chug for Growth” discussing the role of beer and beer manufacturing in developing countries. Ever since the development profession (for …
Although Wal-Mart has had a checkered past when it comes to entering foreign markets, a deal was announced at the end of May that the company has purchased a majority stake in the South African company, Massmart. While the $2.4 billion investment doesn’t raise too many eyebrows considering the company has a market cap north …
There’s been some discussion about the campaign of EcoMedia, an environmentally focused advertising firm that was purchased by CBS last year. EcoMedia was the firm behind the little green leafs that you may have seen on select CBS advertising earlier in 2011 called EcoAd. The idea behind the EcoAds is that companies purchase the ad …