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.
The EFQM Excellence Model help us to: Ensure we have a clear and constant purpose, it helps us to focus on the delivery of results; focus on customers and how we can create value by better meeting their needs; focus by systematically applying processes and fact-based assessments to manage our business and to make us strategic decisions; identify what we need to do to develop our people and maximize their potential; derive value from meeting our responsibilities to the communities we serve; and archive sustainable excellence.
We should engage employees because they are a key stakeholder group. They have the primary impact on the performance of the company in any particular corporate responsibility pillar and they have an impact through their actions outside of the workplace. We will look at engaging at the leadership level and integrating sustainability with the business.
Energy solutions that are described as “smart”, from smart buildings to smart appliances to the Smart Grid and semiconductors are projected to make a huge impact on the United States’ ability to significantly reduce our spending and use of energy. Between now and 2030, electricity bills could be reduced by $1.3 trillion assuming that the right investments and policies are in place, eliminating the need by the end of the period for 296 power plants with the use of the semiconductors used to improve the software capabilities of the technologies we use on a daily basis, says a report released recently by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
In these challenging economic times, with seemingly thousands of unemployed or underemployed professionals available as candidates, you might think that renewable energy and clean tech leaders would be having a field day attracting and choosing leadership and professional candidates at will. But while many talented professionals from all walks of life are interested in landing a role in the clean tech industry, firms need to be sure that they select the right people for the job. Attracting the right talent to an organization is considered half art, half science and it is accomplished with a lot of hard work and occasionally a bit of luck and good fortune. And one way to help firms get out there is through positive press announcements and employment branding activities.
The corporate social responsibility studies and reports we spotlight cover the following topics: attaining sustainable growth through corporate social responsibility; CRS’ emergence as a crucial instrument for minimizing conflicts with stakeholder; the impact on proactive policies on employees, consumers and diversity and their relationship to the firm’s financial performance; the notion of a socially responsible corporation is potentially an oxymoron because of the naturally conflicted nature of the corporation, using corporate Social Responsibility to Understand the Credit Crisis; a look at whether the modern corporate governance model is sustainable; and the impact of political views on corporate decision-making and corporate social responsibility.
Scientists are examining biomass – plant matter that’s grown and used to generate energy – as a potential power source. Two biomass technologies involve ethanol and electricity. Biomass converted into ethanol, a corn-based fuel, can power internal combustion vehicles. Biomass converted into electricity can fuel a vehicle powered by an electric battery. A study by University of California, Merced, Assistant Professor Elliott Campbell and two other researchers in the online edition of this week’s Science journal suggests that biomass used to generate electricity could be the more efficient solution.
