What does Wall Street make of the trends in cleantech, corporate environmental strategy, corporate social responsibility, and emerging carbon markets? In this audio lecture, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, two Goldman Sachs managers discuss how their investment firm is making the financing of corporate deals contingent upon the incorporation of increasingly stringent environmental criteria.
Nike has traveled the full range of the corporate social responsibility movement, from the campaigning days when it was a poster child for all things to do with poor working conditions through the era of multistakeholder partnerships. It has now moved into the next phase where corporate responsibility becomes part of the business model. Speaking at the Stanford 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference, Nike's VP for corporate responsibility, Hannah Jones, looks at the future of corporate responsibility as the focus shifts upstream.
For Wal-Mart, social responsibility includes keeping products affordable to the millions of low- and middle-income consumers who form the bulk of its customer base. In this University podcast, Lawrence Jackson, former Wal-Mart president, brings the perspectives of someone who grew up in inner city Washington, D.C., to ask a Stanford audience at the 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference whether pushing for social and environmental responsibility in business is a racially and economically segregated movement.
As a leading thinker on corporate social responsibility, Oded Grajew is challenging businesses, consumers, and governments to join in acting ethically towards a sustainable social good. With early roots in the Brazilian toy business, Grajew now heads the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility. In this audio lecture, he shows that business can be a powerful force for positive change and shares methods of enlisting everyone's help to build a sustainable society.
Social Accountability International President Alice Tepper Marlin has been leading the push to create a credible, comprehensive, and efficient verification system for assuring humane workplaces around the world. In this audio lecture, she describes the strategies the Social Accountability International's SA-8000 standard has used to get global supply chain stakeholders operating on the same page when it comes to providing employees with safe, equitable, and financially beneficial working conditions.
Starbucks has taken environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility seriously in its work with coffee farmers. In this audio lecture, Dennis Macray discusses how the United States' leading coffee retailer is reshaping its business practices and reinventing the international coffee trade.
Patagonia has found corporate social responsibility to be a profitable strategy. In this audio lecture, Yvon Chouinard, founder, offers a slew of counterintuitive business tips on how to save the environment while making money. This self-proclaimed "reluctant business man" reveals himself to be a business visionary.
In 2005, Wal-Mart's CEO announced a corporation-wide environmental sustainability initiative to go green. The company would take drastic measures to cut down on waste, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, thus generating savings that would be passed on to the customer. Andrew Ruben, who spearheads the effort supported by consultant Jib Ellison, explains to a Stanford MBA audience in this University podcast why Wal-Mart is engaging in sustainability.
Many companies now acknowledge the financial benefits of socially responsible behavior over the long term. Such commitments, however, are managed with levels of involvement spanning from a centralized CSR office to a fully integrated approach calling on all mainstream operating departments in the organization. This panel discussion explores strategies to advance corporate social responsibility in large companies.
Alice Tepper Marlin created some of the most innovative models for corporate social responsibility. Her energetic work over decades has helped provide concrete research and practical methods for bringing companies, investors, consumers, and workers together to address issues of environmental and economic justice worldwide. In this audio lecture, Tepper Marlin traces her own history from her early days on Wall Street to her ongoing work in the not-for-profit sector, providing blueprints for social entrepreneurs.
