CSR and corporate sustainability are like any other important management initiatives and require proactive leadership from the top of the organization. In fact, it is clear that the “tone at the top” is an important factor in the success or failure of any CSR or...
Jill Conway joined Nike’s board of directors in 1987 and exercised significant influence over the development of the company’s social responsibility commitments and programs through her leadership of the board’s corporate responsibility and sustainability (“CR&S”) committee, which was formed in 2001 with Conway serving as...
When deciding on which governance instruments should be created and implemented a point of reference is helpful. For companies with securities listed on public securities exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq the obvious point of reference are the listing requirements of...
Many sustainable entrepreneurs talk about working to improve the "common good". Well, perhaps that mindset is the best way to approach developing and implementing stakeholder-focused standards for their businesses. In a previous post, we discussed the argument of Garriga and Mele´ that it was possible and...
In order for directors to understand the scope of their responsibilities with respect to overseeing sustainability and determine how to best focus their energies, an assessment must be conducted of the issues, risks and opportunities that are material to the company’s operations, environment and communities. ...
Garriga and Mele´ suggested that it was possible and useful to create a classification of corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) theories based on the perspective of how the interaction phenomena between business and society are focused. They argued that CSR theories could be classified into the...
An important development driving companies to consider and embrace corporate social responsibility ("CSR") initiatives is the potential for stronger engagement with customers, an increasing number of which are seeking out products and services that address stakeholder needs, such as health focus or environmental responsibility or...
Organizations must have a method for measuring the sustainability of its business practices. Companies are used to measuring financial results; however, it is only recently that focus has turned toward the development of tools for non-financial measurement of sustainability. Larger organizations with sufficient resources are...