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Many companies striving to be good corporate citizens today face an internal tug of war between giving attention to community initiatives that address social problems and the growing demand to make environmental issues paramount.
New Corporate Citizen magazine now available
By Tim Wilson, Editor & Writer, Boston College Center
Just in time for inclusion on your summer reading list, the latest issue of the Boston College Center’s annual magazine, The Corporate Citizen, is now available on our web site.
As in previous issues, the third issue of The Corporate Citizen looks at a wide range of issues in the field of corporate citizenship and the changing place of business in society. The magazine combines researchers’ findings, academics’ observations and practitioners’ experiences in informative and interesting articles.
Some of the features this year include:
- “Getting down to business in America’s classrooms” looks at the frustrating experience of businesses engaging in education partnerships and the Boston College Center’s new initiative to take an innovative and collaborative approach to business leadership on education. In the accompanying stories in our education special section, you can read about what experts say needs to change in schools to prepare students for the demands of the 21st century, what is at stake for business, and what business can do to help.
- “From back room to boardroom” tells of a Center study that took a close look at how corporate citizenship is managed and organized within companies, and found that it is no longer a “nice-to-have” add-on but a part of business strategy.
- “Capitalizing on the greater good” examines how companies are finding business value in addressing social problems through corporate citizenship activities. And in “Everything it is cracked up to be” you can read how studies have found that part of that business value comes when the reputational pay off of corporate citizenship connects to improved performance.
- While today’s economic turmoil may be shifting attention away from recruitment, companies are keeping their eye on the ball knowing competition for talent won’t go away. “Time to enlist citizen soldiers” examines how and why companies are trying to do a better job of engaging employees in corporate citizenship as a key way to recruit and retain the best and the brightest.
- In another article you can read about how a different kind of business is finding value while providing economic opportunity for people in the developing world. “Dial M for moola” tells about Iqbal Qadir’s innovative idea that helps women in Bangladesh use cell phones to generate income and provide communication for small villages.
- “The Toyota Way to sustainability” explains how Center member Toyota applies its unique management philosophy to its concept of sustainability and corporate citizenship practices.
- Experts from outside corporate citizenship also offer their observations and advice in The Corporate Citizen. “Stuck on you” provides organizational behavior professor Chip Heath’s take on why some ideas survive and other’s fade, while “Finding solutions beyond the norm” looks at a very outside-the-box approach to problem solving called “positive deviance.”
The magazine containing these and other stories is available from our web site. You can download the full magazine here. PDFs of individual magazine articles are also available, as well as good old-fashioned printed copies. If you need a PDF or print copy, contact me at timothy.wilson.2@bc.edu.
