Category: Sustainability
-
Sustainable Corporate Responsibility
Caroline Ditlev-Simonsen has a guide to Sustainable Corporate Responsibility. This covers much of what anyone could hope to read as a summary/introduction to the topic. The author covers the ethics of sustainability, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, stakeholder management, and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) reporting amongst other things. There is a lot of interesting…
-
The Impact Of Sustainable Business
One of the big problems in life is understanding achievements. We often find it fairly simple to look at the resources devoted to some activity. This isn’t always a terrible thing to look at because a pretty good correlation can exist between resource input and good things happening. Yet, this connection is far from perfect.…
-
Time To Get Past Malthus
When reading pieces on sustainability you often see references to Thomas Malthus. He was an 18/19th century English economist and clergyman. Weirdly, it is often people who would class themselves as progressive who seem to cite him most. Why? It seems like a bad habit that people can’t quit despite the fact that it really…
-
The Responsible Company
Patagonia are well-known as a company with a mission. You have to admire that even if you don’t subscribe to the mission. Being known for something is vital to effective marketing. The founder, and his nephew, give their thoughts on what the responsible company means. What does it look like? How does it act? Responsible…
-
Regulation And Business Responsibility
What can business history tell us about regulation and business responsibility? The Purpose Of Business Looking at business history gives an interesting perspective. The idea that businesses are only there for the benefit of shareholders (see here) is not the only view that exists by a long way. One set of people who had a…
-
Using A Pie-Growing Mindset
Alex Edmans’ Grow The Piece is a useful book trying to refocus business on being beneficial for society. I have noted the key points on this before, see here. Here I’ll tackle a grab bag of points related to Edmans’ book and using a pie-growing mindset. Maximizing Shareholder Value Is Nebulous Often people like the…
-
Three Principles To Guide Decision-Making
Alex Edmans, a finance professor, is having a bit of a moment at the moment. His book Grow The Pie that I’m discussing in two posts is a very useful addition to the field. This post will outline the core points of Edmans’ work. The other post will get into a few more finicky points…
-
The Three Purposes Of A Purpose
One of the big excitements of business at the moment involves discussions of a company’s purpose. Lots of firms think they should have one but where do you find a purpose? How do you know if you have a good one? What if no one believes you when you say you have a purpose? Jonathan…
-
Certification And Better Business
One challenge with stakeholder/better business ideas is that there are so many things to be good (and bad) at. Is it enough to be good for the environment if you are awful to your employees? If you give money to your local community does that absolve other sins? Opinions might reasonably differ. As such we…
-
The Marketing Of Better Business
How is the marketing of better business going? The Marketing Of Better Business In his book, Better Business, Christopher Marquis makes a fascinating claim. The B Corp movement is the most important social movement you’ve never hear of. Marquis, 2020, preface Assuming this is true it is both exciting and a bit of a concern.…
