Environmental-friendly products and services have become increasingly popular with mainstream consumers, attracting many new companies to the green marketplace.  If done well, they can generate serious profits and boost a company’s reputation.  If done poorly, companies risk backlash from consumers and accusations of “greenwashing.” Read the rest of this entry »

James Nevels, chairman of the Board of Directors of The Hershey Company, addressed a general session of the 2012 International Corporate Citizenship Conference and shared a story of Hershey’s corporate citizenship and his personal journey. Read the rest of this entry »

Brad Smith, Microsoft General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs, told the attendees at the 2012 International Corporate Citizenship Conference that their job is to ensure their companies’ efforts are real; a part of the fabric of what and who they are as companies. Read the rest of this entry »

In the opening session of the largest-ever International Corporate Citizenship Conference,  Arizona Public Service Chairman and CEO Donald Brandt, and Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Edward Fox, spoke of the company’s commitment to creating long-term value for APS and its communities. Read the rest of this entry »

The final day of the 2012 International Corporate Citizenship Conference provided perspectives on how companies and their employees can create positive change that was unimagined previously. And attendees learned about the importance of an ability to innovate and change in a world where the rules of communication and image are being rewritten at light speed daily. Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft’s Executive Vice President Brad Smith made enough important corporate social responsibility points for a dozen keynotes. But one theme persisted in his Monday morning speech: Learn from the past and use knowledge gained to define your future.

Important in that process is making sure that employees feel safe to examine mistakes. It’s not the same as tolerating mediocrity or sloppiness. But mistakes happen and problems develop in every company. Smith said squaring up to those issues and uncovering the larger lessons they contain is important – not to point fingers or rehash the past, but to define the company’s future.

Smith’s most compelling recent example of this Microsoft approach was a page-one article in a Sunday edition of the New York Times in 2010. It asserted that the company’s Russia office was complicit in a government legal assault on newspapers and non-profits accused of engaging in software piracy. Though Microsoft had not been involved in the enforcement action and did not support the closure of the nonprofits, they still suffered a negative perception. Within 24 hours  they were able to extend a free blanket license to all nonprofits in order to remove any suggestion that they were using software illegally or that Microsoft was not supporting free speech and NGO activities. Smith also said the company now is looking closely at its supply chain to make sure it doesn’t have to grapple with unfair labor practice allegations, especially in distant third-party Asian factories.

Essential to the process is an honest internal corporate dialogue, he said. Leaders need to ask the right questions and make sure that employees feel safe in responding. Smith even assigns some team members the task of anticipating and articulating the (harsh) opinions of outside stakeholders.

Corporate social responsibility officers need to be “the conscience of the company,” he said. “Don’t debate the past; seize and define the future.”

While the global reach of business is nothing new, companies now know they must invest more in strategies that not only allocate resources and distribute authority in a manner that reflects global sourcing, production and sales but also advances a commitment to work in partnership with communities around the world. This session addressed how companies have decided to structure these programs, distribute oversight and authority, and determine their social, environmental and economic impact.

Community engagement and involvement emerged during this session as a major theme in how companies can begin to start their “journey of going global.” As organizations expand internationally, early community engagement and vigilant corporate citizenship is necessary for successful business initiatives. Global corporations depend upon a mutually beneficial relationship with the communities in which they operate and conduct business. Earning community trust to allow for corporations to operate and expand is imperative, along with achieving buy-in from influential community members and organizations.

Daniel Bross, senior director, corporate citizenship, Microsoft, moderated the panel’s discussion. He spoke about Microsoft’s expansion of its community engagement program from the U.S. to its overseas operations, citing the importance of global programs designed with local references and local applicability. While guiding the organization’s citizenship efforts from the corporate level, Microsoft empowers local division leaders to shape and improve its initiatives. Read the rest of this entry »

In this session, members of the Center for Corporate Citizenship’s Executive Forum shared their experience aligning corporate citizenship efforts inside their firms. Panelists included Mary Capozzi, senior director, corporate responsibility, Best Buy; Susan Arnot Heaney, executive director, corporate responsibility, Avon Products; Rick Martella, vice president, corporate affairs, ARAMARK; Lynnette McIntire, director of corporate reputation management, UPS; Shannon Schuyler, senior managing director, PwC; and Dave Stangis, vice president, corporate social responsibility and sustainability, Campbell Soup Company.

There are several challenges according to panelists including:

• Presenting and communicating a plan that both integrates and relates to what the company does;
• Taking the next step after tackling all the easy “low hanging fruit” with regards to corporate social responsibility;
• Executing and managing a global sustainability plan when dealing with different regions, governments, and cultures;
• Ensuring that the company-wide corporate social responsibility goals and policies add value to individual brands in a multi-brand company and business divisions operating in a silo. Read the rest of this entry »