In last week’s Inaugural Address, President Obama left no doubt that citizenship was going to form the bedrock of his philosophy on rebuilding America. “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – recognition on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world. Duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining to our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. This is the price and promise of citizenship.” Read the rest of this entry »

Consumers say they like the idea of purchasing ethically produced goods. But will they pay more for them? And if so, how much more? Read the rest of this entry »

For many companies the major challenge of corporate citizenship is how to integrate its themes into operations. Rather than a sidelined activity, corporate citizenship should be an integral part of everyone’s job in the company. This is easy to say, but often difficult to achieve. Read the rest of this entry »

Barack Obama pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015 during his presidential campaign. He also called for a national day of service on January 19, Martin Luther King Day. In response, AT&T has introduced Operation No Kid Hungry, a campaign to raise funds to help end childhood hunger and encourage Americans to hold food drives. Read the rest of this entry »

A new report released by the Boston College Center confirms that managing a company’s role in society is becoming a formal part of corporate structure and management practice, with many companies internalizing the function into corporate departments and cross functional teams. Read the rest of this entry »

As the old saying goes: necessity is the mother of invention. In these difficult economic times many conventional corporate citizenship strategies and programs have quickly became obsolete. And so, strong and competitive companies are now motivated to find new opportunities in adversity. To address this reality, the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship is designing its annual conference around the theme of finding opportunity in difficult economic conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

As I’ve been watching the brinksmanship going on between Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom and the European Union, I am reminded of a seminar I participated in a few months ago with 20 Russian oil executives representing privately-owned enterprises.

As I reflect I think of how corporate citizenship is playing out. Frankly, with Gazprom, it seems they are being driven by self-interest and political clout. That is very different than what is motivating the Russian oil executives I met at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development training center. Read the rest of this entry »

Ask a corporate citizenship person if their company really understands what they’re doing, and the answer may be no. They’ll tell you that their CEO doesn’t get it, and the business doesn’t appreciate the value of what they contribute. Some will even tell you it makes them worry about the future of their function.

They think the problem is that the business doesn’t understand the value of social responsibility and social impact, but they’re wrong, says Jason Saul, President of Mission Measurement and a member of the Boston College Center’s faculty.

“The business doesn’t need to understand social impact; social impact needs to understand the business,” said Saul. “In other words, social impact needs to prove its value to the business.” Read the rest of this entry »