Category Archives: Ethics

Thatcher’s inadvertent corporate responsibility legacy

[Originally published on Ethical Corporation.] The explosion in the private sector’s importance since the 1980s is why companies now need to take the lead on sustainability.

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Why sector-based initiatives will take sustainability into the future

[Originally published in The Guardian Sustainable Business Blog.] CSR and sustainability departments of emerging market and mature market multinational companies face very similar and familiar challenges. Internally, these include difficulties convincing CEOs and CFOs of the business relevance of CSR. Externally, … Continue reading

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Can super investors really bank on ethical investment?

[Article originally published on The Conversation.] One quarter of Australians would be willing to switch superannuation funds to avoid investing in coal or coal seam gas, according to a recent survey. Not only does this research raise important questions about the … Continue reading

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Time for a social media policy? One billion users can’t be wrong

The day my mom sent me a Facebook friend request was the day I knew social media had gone mainstream. Besides the scary realisation that my mother was using the interwebs, this moment confirmed for me that social media was no longer the … Continue reading

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Sustainability Guilt

Last year I moved from the health field to the CSR/sustainability industry. Working in the health area, I was used to feeling some level of ‘health and lifestyle related’ guilt. It’s the ‘I probably shouldn’t have had that chocolate bar’ … Continue reading

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Facilitation payments: Just say no (or, how to bribe someone without even trying)

How many of you represent your firms while overseas? Picture this: You arrive excited and rested from your smooth flight to a country new to you, samples in hand, ready to meet prospective clients, open a new market for your … Continue reading

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Understanding your firm’s human rights obligations just got easier

Understanding your firm’s human rights obligations just got easier Clients often come to us in a state of frustration and confusion at the seemingly endless proliferation of CSR initiatives, frameworks and guidelines. Perhaps nowhere has this confusion been more keenly … Continue reading

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Why we need holistic approaches to sustainable innovation

In proposing the concept of sustainable development, the Brundtland Commission  argued that improvement of ecosystem health, without the alleviation of poverty, the redistribution of economic opportunity, community self-sufficiency, and human freedom, could only lead to incremental results. In the approximately … Continue reading

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Corporate Cultural Responsibility

As suggested in my previous blog From Social to Cultural Responsibility, I advocate increased cultural sensitivity and protection by organisations operating in close proximity to indigenous or culturally non-westernised populations. Therefore, I decided to look at how the world’s most … Continue reading

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From Social to Cultural Responsibility

As an expatriate Englishman with an anthropological penchant, it is perhaps unsurprising that my interest is in the socio-cultural aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Recently, when researching mining companies working in Papua New Guinea (PNG), my attention was drawn … Continue reading

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