The following is a list of the year’s 10 best research findings related to CSR, compiled by the Network for Business Sustainability. They focus on the impact of sustainable innovation on profit, the affect volunteering has on performance, employee engagement, product quality, stakeholder buy-in, reputation, carbon metrics and honoring stakeholders.
Lean manufacturing practices and sustainability are conceptually similar in that both seek to maximize organizational efficiency. Where they differ is in where the boundaries are drawn, and in how waste is defined. Sustainability expands the definition of waste to include the wider range of consequences of business actions including environmental and social consequences. Lean processes are inherently less wasteful and in this sense promoting lean processes can help organizations become more sustainable.
This post examines how to communicate the business value of CSR to the stakeholders those important external groups that are linked with and can have large impacts on a company. The post goes on to point out various ways effective CSR initiatives can have a positive effect on the business and how it is becoming […]
Beyond the obvious move of going paperless, there are a number ways that finance departments can make sustainability part of its strategy. They include: allocating a pool of capital project money to the sustainability department, calculating risk-adjusted returns realistically, and having 401K plans that offer socially or environmentally responsible investment options.
Richard Crespin is the President of SharedXpertise and the Executive Director of the Corporate Responsibility Officers Association (CROA). The CROA is the membership society for corporate responsibility professionals, service providers, policy makers, and influencers in the areas of corporate governance, sustainability, and citizenship. The Association works to advance the profession of corporate responsibility by fostering […]
As part of our Green MBA Success Series, I am interviewing Green MBA graduates to uncover what steps they took to transition to green careers using their degrees. Meet Robin Connell, Manager of Sustainability Programs at Del Monte Foods. Prior to transitioning to a career in sustainability, Robin worked seven years in media publishing in a consumer marketing role, after having spent having spent three years in that industry in a human resources capacity. Read our interview with Robin, in which she shares her story of how she transitioned from a career in media marketing to one in sustainability.
Summary of a talk given by Frances Edmonds, Director of Environmental Programs, HP Canada in which she outlined how HP’s environmental commitment has led to greater profitability. In this talk she uses various examples of how successful sustainability efforts can be win win propositions that are good for the environment and also good for the company’s bottom line.
Twitter has done a great deal for CSR communications. The social network brings CSR leaders closer,facilitates networking, as well as partnership creation, and dealmaking. Twitter gets the news and information out about CSR conferences out to a larger audience, as well as being the absolute best source of CSR news. CSR reports are always announced on Twitter and it is used as a CSR jobs recruitment platform too. It is also used to promote brands, customer service, or to announce new products and services, which all these link to CSR as well. This is all helping to create greater interest in the CSR body of knowledge. Ultimately, Twitter makes CSR info accessible to more people and it is changing the way people view it.
It can be said that lean is green. The obvious benefits of green and lean are energy savings, productivity savings, and savings from improved utilization of materials. They can also lead to innovations that involve creation of new products out of waste materials.
