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Archive for the ‘Perspectives’ category
Perspectives: Measuring Sustainability by Scott James, Fair Trade Sports
Posted by: B Lab August 25th, 2010Like many of you, my August 9 newsstand edition of Forbes appeared in my mailbox the other week. Did you notice the full-spread advertisement just three pages in, with the title “A watt saved is a watt shared” and a compelling set of juxtaposed photos from Schneider Electric? This $16 billion company is bringing energy management [...]
It’s About Trust Stupid!: An Easy Win-Win for Honest Tea and Coke
Posted by: Andrew Kassoy August 4th, 2010Brand loyalty is built on trust. Trust is built on transparency. That’s why Harvard Business Review devoted its April issue to the topic. The trust issue is at the core of last week’s New York Times article about Honest Tea’s ongoing sale to Coca-Cola. The article shined a light on Honest consumers’ worst fears–that “big bad corporate Coke” [...]
Perspectives: Thoughts on the Financial Reform Bill by Gregory Aloia, JD, CFP / Abacus Wealth Partners, LLC
Posted by: B Lab July 22nd, 2010President Obama signed into law yesterday the Dodd-Frank Bill, financial reform legislation that is both a response to the recent near economic meltdown and an attempt to prevent similar disasters in the future. Before listing highlights of the bill, here are a few broad-based thoughts. First, there is an old saw to the effect that generals are [...]
Perspectives: Two Cheers For Nike by Scott James, Fair Trade Sports
Posted by: B Lab July 21st, 2010The New York Times this past weekend included an article describing the World Cup soccer jerseys as an example of a green product that is not from a green company (Nike). My fellow Forbes blogger Gregory Unruh recently delved deeper into this topic, asking if green and brown (e.g. not sustainable) products can exist within [...]
Perspectives: A Tale of Two Types of Corporations By Jeremy Litchfield, Founder of Atayne
Posted by: B Lab July 14th, 2010This afternoon, I listened in on the B Corp quarterly update call. Almost two years ago, Atayne became a certified B Corporation. Unlike traditional corporations, Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on the long-term interests of their employees, suppliers, community, consumers, and the environment. The ultimate goal of [...]
No Sustainability Without Transparency
Posted by: Andrew Kassoy July 7th, 2010The June 12 NY Times contains an article entitled “Those Earth-Friendly Products? Turns Out They’re Profit-Friendly as Well” in which the writer points out the economic benefits for companies of selling consumer products that are green – both higher revenues from marketing green consumer products, and expense reductions from green efficiencies. While we should all [...]
Perspectives: Law for Change, For Good! by R. Todd Johnson, Jones Day
Posted by: B Lab July 2nd, 2010C. K. Prahalad’s death a few weeks ago caused some reflection on my “for-benefit” business education. Some may not have known the author of “The Fortune At The Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits,” and the man that Business Week called “a brilliant teacher at the University of Michigan, [someone who] may well [...]
Perspectives: Building, the New American Addiction by Brendan Isaac Jones, Owner of Greensaw Design & Build
Posted by: B Lab June 18th, 2010In his New York Times Op-ed piece, “Don’t LEED Us Astray” (10 May 2010), Alec Appelbaum addresses an essential problem of the LEED rating system: it measures the possibility of a building performing in a sustainable manner, instead of the building’s actual performance. This is a valid and understandable complaint. However, there exists an additional [...]
Changing the Rules of the Game: A Solution to the BP Problem
Posted by: Jay Coen Gilbert B Lab June 14th, 2010Wall Street caused the BP disaster. Short-termism is the problem. The Benefit Corporation is a solution. The Old Rules For public companies, decisions are driven by the quarterly earnings call. Meet the numbers, keep your job. Beat the numbers, collect your bonus. The rules of this game are stunningly simple. And they are backed by [...]
Perspectives: The Global Implications of our Ethical Decisions by Jeffrey Hollender, Co-founder and Executive Chairperson of Seventh Generation
Posted by: B Lab June 8th, 2010Thomas Friedman wrote several weeks ago about our interconnected yet uncertain future. “In a world where our demand for Chinese-made sneakers produces pollution that melts South America’s glaciers, in a world where Greek tax-evasion can weaken the euro, threaten the stability of Spanish banks, and tank the Dow, our values and ethical systems eventually have to [...]
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