Corporate Eye

...compare, compete, excel

Chris Milton

Chris Milton

The High Danish Bar | CSR Around The World

Fosbury

I’ve been working away in the background on a series of blogs focussed upon how CSR reporting is addressed across the world.  Unexpectedly, this is the first in that series.

Out of the blue a colleague emailed me a copy of an article written by Niels Jørgen Langkilde, Director of the Copenhagen Climate Network Secretariat and a former Danish MP.

The article highlights new advertising guidelines due to come into force in Denmark next year which are so stringent they make it all but impossible for a compay to claim it or its services or products are “sustainable”, “green” or “environment-friendly”. [Read more…] about The High Danish Bar | CSR Around The World

The Sharp End of CSR

mobile phone explosion

It’s not beyond the realms of imagination to say that on 10th March 1876, in a small electrics shop in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the bloodiest conflicts in African history received a significant boost.

On that day, Alexander Graham Bell said “Mr Watson, come here. I want to see you.”  In the next room Thomas Watson heard these words through the magic of the telephone.

Nearly 100 years later, on June 30th 1960, The Republic of Congo gained independence from Belgium and a long tussle over its mineral wealth began.  This has been especially intense in the past decade, with over 3 million people lost as a result. [Read more…] about The Sharp End of CSR

Is The World Bank Gaining An Ethical Tinge?

South Africa Government Mining FiguresAn interesting story from South Africa has caught my eye. It demonstrates how fraught the introduction of sustainability related legislation could be, and perhaps contains a signpost as to what the future may hold.

In an unprecedented move the International Centre for Investment Disputes (ICSID) at the World Bank has allowed non-disputing parties (NDPs) to give evidence at a tribunal and ordered the parties in dispute to reveal their evidence and conclusions to the NDPs.

This implies that while the ICSID may feel itself competent to rule on purely business grounds it needs additional input to ascertain the “softer” issues in the case: in this case, the human rights of South Africa’s long oppressed black majority.

[Read more…] about Is The World Bank Gaining An Ethical Tinge?

Lundquist’s Report on CSR Websites | Not Good News For Sustainable Business

Shock and aweSomeone, I forget who, asked me recently “Do you think that CSR in companies has now come so far that it can be absorbed into mainstream business reporting?”

I think I stared a little, slack-jawed at the idea companies had embraced CSR and sustainability en-masse.  It would be nice to have this cynicism proved wrong … unfortunately it has been proved right.

Lundquist, an Italian communications consultancy, has released its 2009 report on corporate website CSR content (specifically excluding CSR reports).  It’s not pretty reading; in fact The Guardian has called the report “damning”.

(You can read the report’s executive summary at the bottom of this post).

The websites surveyed are all members of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, supposedly world leaders in CSR.  Here are three titbits from the report:

  • over a third either have no CSR contact details, no refreshable content on CSR (such as news stories) or no value-added content (such as an FAQ or glossary)
  • over half publish no CSR targets whatsoever
  • less than half describe an environmental management system

The staggering conclusion has to be that the world’s leading companies are being horrendously slack about CSR.  But is this fair? [Read more…] about Lundquist’s Report on CSR Websites | Not Good News For Sustainable Business

CSR Website Benchmarking Results Announced

There’s one thing, and one thing only, which many business leaders may wish they had in these troubled times.  No not bottomless pockets, or even a customer-hypnotising website.

It’s the portable memory eraser from the Men In Black films.

Think about having the ability to instantly erase the memories of both creditors and consumers … huge savings could be made across all corporate finance and marketing activities!

What’s more you get to wear shades every time you use it … brilliant!

However this flight of fantasy is unlikely to become reality anytime soon, so what else can companies do to communicate their sustainability to a wider audience?

One answer is to be part of a CSR website benchmarking scheme, which is exactly happened to the companies in the Standard & Poor’s / Milano Italia Borsa index. [Read more…] about CSR Website Benchmarking Results Announced

Kellogg’s Sustainability Might Produce Results

Everyone, but everyone, remembers Victor Kiam.  “I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company”.  You don’t get that kind of personal endorsement from many CEOs.

Another business owner who literally branded his product himself was WK Kellogg.  As early as 1903, he personally signed every box of Corn Flakes produced as a guarantee of quality.

He also pioneered a number of areas to promote healthy lifestyles, including endorsing minimal sugar and meat consumption and plenty of exercise.

From such an auspicious start it was disappointing to read that Ethical Corporation has criticised the company’s first, Corporate Responsibility report as “missing snap crackle and pop”.

So I thought I’d take a look at the company’s website offering to see if this mirrored the criticisms of the sustainability report. [Read more…] about Kellogg’s Sustainability Might Produce Results