CSR

by: Jennifer Rice

Whether you sit in marketing, CSR, supply chain, HR or the executive suite, you’re likely doing your part in ensuring your brand “does no evil” and perhaps even is doing some good. You can probably point to a laundry list of company initiatives from employee volunteer programs, fair labor practices, cause marketing, cradle to cradle manufacturing, and so on.

by: Jennifer Rice

As I've been talking with people about Fruitful's mission to advance "conscious capitalism," it's become clear that social impact is often perceived as a nice-to-have rather than a critical component to business strategy. Here are 10 reasons why you may want to help your company rethink that notion.

by: Jennifer Rice

In reading PWC's 12th Annual Global CEO Study, I found the chart on "drivers of long-term success" during the downturn to be insightful on how CEOs view corporate social responsibility.

Specifically, while 63% rate brand strength and reputation as critical to success, CSR falls to the bottom of the pack with only 20% perceiving it as critical.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

Did you know that a lot of oil tankers are floating just offshore from various refineries, filled to the brim with cheap oil, just waiting for prices to rise so they can get sold at a bigger profit?

by: Michael Hoexter

by: Michael Hoexter

One of the limitations of carbon pricing is that, as a support for renewable energy or other clean generation technologies, it is a roundabout and scattered means of “leveling the playing field”. Energy markets that still enjoy the climate-altering bonanza of fossil fuels are generally less excited from a narrow utilitarian perspective about renewable energy without heavy policy support, excepting in some areas large onshore wind projects.

by: Joel Makower

by: Jennifer Rice

Virgin offers a great case study of a company that's seeking ways to align inputs and outputs with social good to create both competitive and societal advantage. They're making an active effort to not only run more sustainable businesses, but also to integrate social good into the customer experience and raise awareness and social engagement among their customers.

Inputs (behind-the-scenes business operations)

by: John Winsor

The consumer gods have chosen to smile upon a select few in San Francisco. That, or Carrotmob has infiltrated another company.

by: Jennifer Rice

I just ran across an article in WSJ that answered the question,"How much are consumers willing to pay for ethically produced goods?" These statistics are only among coffee drinkers (cotton t-shirt buyers had a much narrower range of price elasticity) but it's a good data point that the "conscious consumer" is no longer a niche market segment.