Corporate Citizenship

But what do they want to know?
Tobacco giant Philip Morris yesterday demanded scientists cough up more details on research on kids’ attitudes to smoking. Today it wants minutes from confidential government meetings with health and cancer experts. And why shouldn’t they? Surely that’s what the UK law on Freedom of Information is all about!
But there’s [...]

Ever been miss-sold a product? Or been unfairly treated by your bank? In most developed countries you can take your complaint to independent regulators, such as an ombudsman.
But what happens when these types of services aren’t set-up, and the government shows no signs of helping?
Usually it means customers and consumers get a bad deal. Nigeria [...]

Our days are spent telling others how best to tackle environmental issues. But it’s important we can also walk our talk.
It’s our annual Green Day. A chance for us and our buddies at Chime to do our bit. Green fingered colleagues volunteered at a local community gardening project. Whilst our arty contingent made a tree [...]

Badly performing Italian firm sacks half its staff – but not the men!
Why?
Women are better off at home than work. Or so says the company in question. How good you are at your job isn’t important. Unless of course you happen to be male.
21st century? More like the dark ages!
Italy isn’t the best place for [...]

Yes, Carrefour is flogging its bargain basement business.
Why?
Carrefour’s Chairman says it’s for strategic reasons. Nothing to do with raising money. Codswallop say employees and unions. Jobs are on the line and the protesters were out in force to vent their anger.
Protests seem as common as rainy British summers!
Women’s rights activists wearing fake beards stormed the [...]

Exciting things are happening in the world of community investment. Although corporate responsibility has its roots in philanthropy, community investment began to take more of a back seat in the second half of the last decade. The onset of climate change meant the focus shifted very much to managing environmental issues, whilst social programmes were [...]

Strong and visionary organisational leadership is going to be a vital commodity over the coming decade, with society facing huge challenges such as the onset of climate change and the economic downturn. NCVO’s Leadership 20:20 programme, which launches through a series of ‘curry clubs’ over the coming months, is an important initiative for strengthening leadership [...]

We all know climate change has been a headline issue for a number of years. Despite this, it is fair to say that a climate change strategy – no doubt to the exasperation of many a sustainability manager – has been viewed by and large as a ‘nice to have’ by senior executives, rather than [...]

In theory, employee volunteering is a win-win activity. Charities have access to free, and often highly skilled, human resource. Employees get to take part in a fun and rewarding experience quite different from the day job. Businesses benefit from improved staff morale and better reputation in the local community. In practice, all of these benefits [...]

Having been in Lagos this week, it is clear that many business people are acutely aware of outside perception that Nigeria is synonymous with less than reputable business practices. Whereas until recently it has only really been multi-national companies, such as Cadbury and Diageo, that have invested considerable resources in addressing their social and environment [...]