The two most important factors in business, social and organizational success are:
(1) The exercise of leadership. (2) The willingness to learn.
If those, and especially those who lead the enterprise, exercise leadership in their dealings with people within the enterprise – that is, investing time in people, making deliberate efforts to improve things – while at [...]
Archive for May, 2009
The Secret of Business Success
Posted in Business, Leadership, Shared Learning, Sustainability, learning, management on May 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Sir Fred and Corporate Responsibility.
Posted in Business, management on May 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) Corporate Responsibility Report (2007) you can read the following: “…our goal as a group (RBS) is to run our business in a responsible manner.” Who wrote these words? No other than the infamous Sir Fred Goodwin who scampered away with a pocket full of £1,000,000 notes as a reward [...]
The Cost of a Lack of Corporate Social Responsibility
Posted in Business, Leadership, environment, management on May 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In 2006 Trafigura were responsible for the dumping of 400 tonnes of toxic waste from the cargo vessel Probo Koala in the port of Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast. The waste was loaded on to trucks and dumped near the city. Over the following weeks thousands of local people found themselves choking and [...]
Big Business and Lack of Corporate Social Responsibility
Posted in Business, environment, philosophy on May 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In 1964 Chevron (then Texaco) began drilling for oil in the remote northern region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Prior to that this pristine rain-forest provided both the physical, spiritual and cultural requirements of the many indigenous inhabitants of the area.
Over the following 25 years or so Texaco made deliberate, cost-cutting operational decisions that resulted in [...]
Corporate Social Responsibility (2 of 2)
Posted in Business, Leadership, Shared Learning, Sustainability, management, philosophy on May 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) incorporates three key ideas:
The idea of ethical responsibility.
The idea that business and organizations, just as with individuals, can be held responsible for their actions.
The idea of obligations towards society at large.
However, certainly in business and corporate world, CSR is generally treated with cynicism. This is unfortunate and in [...]
Corporate Social Responsibility (1 of 2)
Posted in Business, management, philosophy on May 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The question is: As a SME business owner, or organizational leader, why should I have anything to do with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?
Well as Geoffrey Klempner (see: http://www.businessphilosophy.co.uk) points out: “Apart from a few academic philosophers who have taken an interest in business ethics, or in the philosophy of business, all you will get when [...]
