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In Conversation – Revisiting Corporate Citizenship

Why?  Isn’t corporate citizenship just another term for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and part and parcel of corporate green-washing?  Well, yes and no. Yes, in that many companies and commentators simply use it as an equivalent term for CSR, and often use it as fig-leaf rather than as a core value. No, if we take …

Business Schools and Responsible and Sustainable Business

It is a truth universally acknowledged that after some news of business irresponsibility, call it Enron or the 2007 financial crisis, the question is asked, ‘but what did they (the perpetrators) learn at business school?’. As our latest cohorts of students graduate, it remains a fair question.  If business schools claim that they prepare students …

Corruption and Bribery – is risk management the answer?

The enforcement of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act against Siemens and BAE shows that a failure to address bribery can exact a very high cost on companies ($800 million and $400 million respectively), leaving aside damaged reputations among investors, employees, customers and business partners. Due to the recession in Western markets companies have been …

Corporate Boycotts: no, I mean corporations doing the boycotting…

We are all too familiar with boycotts of corporations, principally by NGOs and trade unions.  But there has been a recent flush of boycotts of corporations by corporations.  Thus corporations appear to be behaving like NGOs by expressing their values – or the values which they think they should express – through the withdrawal of …

How do consumers negotiate citizenship in online dialogue?

Piercing the brand ‘veil’ in social media: How do consumers negotiate citizenship in online dialogue?    Douglas Holt asks the question: “Why do brands cause trouble?” pointing to the potential for brands to act as explicit signifiers of product attributes (e.g. quality / reliability) and as implicit markers of wider corporate responsibilities (e.g. social justice …

Corporations, Taxation and Citizenship

Revelations of corporate tax minimisation, even of companies thought to be among the most socially responsible, are little short of grotesque. This is especially so as these corporations benefit from the UK’s transport, energy, communications, health and educational infrastructure which still owes so much to public expenditure. The UK government has vowed to get tough …

The beauty of the sustainability sector is that it recognises gender issues aren’t confined to within office walls

The business case for gender equality has really taken off. With the help of reports from McKinsey, Forum for the Future and Oxfam, the message to boost opportunities for women in business is finally getting out. Getting women into leadership positions and particularly on the board, is an especially hot topic. As recruitment firm Korn/Ferry …

Twitter and Freedom from Fear

The use of Twitter to communicate bomb, death and rape threats, and engage in misogynistic speech, has been brought to the fore in recent weeks. This relates to a number of high profile cases in which prominent female figures – such as Labour MP Stella Creasy, the feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, and the Guardian journalist …

Corporate social responsibility in Asia: understanding business from beginning to end

In a recent interview with Sara Bice of the University of Melbourne, Professor Jeremy Moon discusses Corporate Responsibility in Asia*.  This interview was originally published in The Conversation ——————— As Asian economies grow and corporate ventures become increasingly multinational, big challenges are emerging for corporate social responsibility and business ethics. But how can Australian corporations advance socially …

Beer and Corporate Social Responsibility

The occasion of International Beer Day prompts me to think aloud on this one … and thinking aloud is one of the (usually positive) features of English pubs famous for their distinctive bitters, ales and stouts… which may or may not be associated with Pliny the Elder’s motto ‘in vino veritas’. By virtue of the …