I tend to shudder at catchy phrases such as “internet bubble,” “web 2.0,” or “Ajaxified,” but I was unable to come up with a better term for how I have begun to visualize the next level of corporate structure than “Corporation 2.0.” This may not be a new concept, just perhaps a bit more concise and repackaged. After chewing on the moniker for a few days, and cycling through dozens of mental and sketched-out diagrams, I’ve simplified the concept down to the rather elementary doughnut diagram that follows:

Out With the Old…

The old corporate model, more or less, revolved around profit maximization. Profits at any cost, it often seemed. More mature corporations would tend to have a fairly solid corporate governance system in place, but typically lacked any kind of corporate social responsibility initiative or a formalized Code of Ethics.

In With the New…

Times are changing and there is a building consensus that corporations and their profits should be held to a higher standard. Corporation 2.0 is at the intersection of business and social responsibility. In short, as I see things, instead of simply pushing to achieve profit maximization, Corporation 2.0 combines a strong showing from each of the following disciplines to instead generate “ethical profits”:

• Business Ethics;
• Corporate Governance; and,
• Corporate Social Responsibility.

This is most likely not a startling concept to anyone that follows the noted issues, but perhaps the visual links between the three and ethical profits is helpful to view in such a manner. What the diagram strongly conveys to me is that without one of the three key pieces, the corporation will not be able to generate ethical profits–it is only through a strong showing from each of the three that ethical profits can be realized.

For instance, imagine a company with strong and consistent corporate governance, but that lacks a formal Code of Ethics. Without the code, how do employees and stakeholders evaluate ethical dilemmas? For that matter, do they have any idea what the company believes is ethical or not? Without such formal ethical guidelines, can the company truly generate ethical profits?

On the other hand, a strong showing from all three guarantees that the company is generating ethical profits. With strong corporate governance, stakeholders and employees are ensured that the proper checks and balances are in place and functioning correctly. A solid foundation of business ethics described by a formal Code of Ethics makes clear what is acceptable or not, and provides a guide for dealing with any ethical breaches. Strong corporate social responsibility initiatives ensure that the company is taking into consideration such issues as the environment, human rights, and community involvement.

I am hopeful that we will see more and more corporations moving toward the pursuit of ethical profits and I look forward to the day that I start pondering what Corporation 3.0 will look like.

TAGS: Corporation 2.0 | Business Ethics | Corporate Social Responsibility | CSR | Corporate Governance | Ethical Profits | Triple Bottom Line

A few days ago I spotted a very interesting website and corresponding blog that I wanted to pass along. The site’s concept is unique (at least to me) and makes quite a good read. I encourage everyone to take a moment to visit. Following is more detailed information about the site and blog.

Dropping Knowledge

Admittedly, the first thing I noticed about the site was its slick design. I’m a sucker for attractive design and sites that stray from the norm, and I personally feel that Dropping Knowledge fits that description. After getting over my initial infatuation with the site’s aesthetics, I became intrigued by its underlying concept:

“On September 9, 2006, 112 of the world’s great minds will come together around the world’s largest table in Berlin’s historic Bebelplatz square. Recorded by 112 digital cameras, they will simultaneously answer 100 questions chosen out of thousands donated by the global public. The resulting 600+ hours of audiovisual content will launch an unprecedented online resource: a knowledge portal and dialog forum created to host a global conversation covering the most pressing questions of our time.”

My only regret is that I did not hear about this sooner–I would have loved to have been there in person. I am quite curious to hear the questions and resulting answers and wonder how they will mesh with issues I am passionate about.

The Drop

I have spent more time returning to the blog than digging into the depths of the main site, and have really enjoyed the range and quality of the content that is presented.Topics range from Animal Rights, to Politics, to Economic Development & Globalization, the Environment, and Philosophy, with a whole slew of other meaty topics in-between.

TAGS: Dropping Knowledge | The Drop | 112 | Berlin

…And another interesting press release from CSRwire catches my eye…

The release, TerraCycle Plant Food™ Becomes First Consumer Product to Earn Zerofootprint™ Seal, introduces TerraCycle Plant Food and is my first exposure to the Zero Footprint organization. The product and the organization sound compelling, though I wonder if the word choice will help or hinder the company’s efforts.

TAGS: TerraCycle | ZeroFootprint | Social Enterprise | CSR

SiliconBeat brought to my attention some very welcome news this afternoon: Solar Revolution Continues in California, China.

The China article linked in the body of SiliconBeat’s post shows the power of the Chinese government to throw a massive amount of capital to fulfill a specific agenda. It also presents a nice overview of China’s energy market, and the potential ups and downs for companies in that sector.

TAGS: Renewable Energy | Solar Power | Environment | PG&E | China | California

A bit of a brief post for the afternoon–here are a few articles/posts that I thought I should pass along:

• CSRwire.com has a press release about socially responsible investing (SRI) analysts’ opinions about the state of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting.
• Jack Yan discusses why “New Zealand Made” should be afforded to companies that are located and manufacture in New Zealand.
• Michael Standaert covers the issue of increasing scrutiny of the power industry.
• Stanford economist Ward Hanson discusses Google’s China dilemma (audio file — thanks to Dr. Chris Carr for the link), a topic mentioned on this blog a number of times in the past (here, here, here, here, and here).
• Shel Horowitz contemplates his patronage and praise of BP.

TAGS: CSR | Ethics | Google | China | SRI

Another plug for CSRwire.com — check out a recent press release for Care2’s launch of the “world’s largest listing of jobs at socially responsible companies.” The release, Socially Responsible Companies Rank High With Job Seekers, covers the topic of potential employees’ willingness to take pay cuts to work for non-profits or socially responsible companies but also mentions the launch of the job search site.

Curious about what Care2’s screening criteria are and what definition of socially responsible they use, I took a gander at the site’s “Learn More” page (actually a F.A.Q. page). The information was interesting and left quite a bit of room for huge variations in social responsibility.

From the answer to “What’s ‘Socially Responsible’?”:

“Perhaps one of the most important attributes of a Socially Responsible Business (SRB) is that they demonstrate a commitment toward continuous improvement. Social values change, new challenges emerge, and companies face challenges balancing their values and the bottom line.”

Interesting. There is more text there (I encourage you to read the whole page) but I thought that sentence was particularly interesting.

…And about their screening methodology:

“We worked with social responsibility screening experts, KLD Analytics, to help us identify the best public companies in the U.S. KLD reviews numerous sources to analyze positive and negative attributes including community impact, corporate governance, diversity, employee relations, environment, human rights, and the product itself.

“We started with this list, then kicked out a number of companies we felt just weren’t making the grade, then added a number of private companies we respect most. We also got lots of feedback from our members to further refine our list.”

Again, curiously vague. How many companies were kicked out? For what reasons? What were the private companies that were added? How many of those are there? Do they fit the grade, or are they simply companies worthy of the site creators’ “respect”?

…And, of course, the disclaimer (the response to the question, “How can you say Company X is ‘Responsible’ when they….”):

“The challenge with ever publishing a list of socially responsible companies is that almost every company (particularly the big ones) has some (non-organic) dirt in its closet. See our definition for “what’s responsible” above.

“And for some folks, ‘business’ almost by definition is evil. On this point we strongly disagree. Businesses have to part of the solution, and have the potential for enormous good. It’s important to support the companies making great progress.”

The response continues by noting that the site is in “beta,” further deflecting accountability, but the point they make is still valid. Creating a list of socially responsible companies that we can all be proud of (and find no fault in) is nearly impossible. I don’t like half-baked solutions, but in lieu of fully-baked ones, I’ll take a job site that at least attempts to differentiate the socially responsible from the what-the-heck-is-CSR ones.

That said, I did a quick search for jobs in the Boston area and didn’t really see a difference between listings on the site and what I would expect to find elsewhere. The companies that had job listings didn’t scream “socially responsible” to me, nor did the positions that were listed. Without further research, it will be difficult to determine if this service is merely trying to ride a wave or truly doing the due diligence to filter out all but the most socially responsible companies.

As a matter of comparison, here are a few sites to check out that I have visited before:

1. Idealist.org: Primarily non-profit jobs, but definitely a large selection depending on the search area. Searching in the Boston or Washington D.C. area provides a nice contrast.
2. Green Dream Jobs: A bit more focused on the environment, but a broader selection of for-profit company listings than on idealist.org.

TAGS: Care2 | Socially Responsible | Job Search | Employment | CSR | Social Enterprise

Here’s another interesting press release from CSRwire.com: Highlights of Toyota’s Environmental Progress. I found the information regarding the Brazilian market to be the most interesting piece of data.

TAGS: Totota | Environment | Hybrid | Ethanol | Brazil | CSR

Cereplast recently issued a press release via CSRwire.com that is worth checking out. Its product is a bio-based plastic (from such sources as corn or potato starch) that is competitive with petroleum-based plastics.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I attended a presentation, while in China, of a representative of NatureWorks and found the technology and the company to be fascinating. Cereplast appears to offer a viable alternative and should give NatureWorks and other entrants to this less-of-a-niche market a run for their money.

TAGS: Cereplast | Bio-plastics | NatureWorks | Petroleum | Plastic | Social Enterprise

My trip to China with my MBA classmates is just around the corner (I suppose they should be called “alumni” now…) and I have another book review to offer. If you are interested in my recommendation regarding Harvard Business Review On Doing Business in China, please feel free to download a PDF of the review.

TAGS: HBR | China | Harvard Business Review | Guo Qing | Book Review

My posting will probably be a bit light for the next few days but I wanted to put up a few CSR-related links that I found interesting:

• Corporate Social Responsibility: An Implementation Guide for Canadian Businesses: I plan on reading this later today, but from my initial skimming of the introduction, it looks to be a very helpful resource. The link provides an html or PDF option for viewing the guide.
• Social Responsibility Is Not A Warm, Fuzzy Fad: This is a great article about CSR and Canadian corporations, however, the content is applicable to corporations from all countries. The article references the guide I linked to above.
• ISO 26000 Press Release: A press release on CSRwire about progress in establishing ISO 26000 guidelines. ISO 26000 is a set of management guidelines for companies implementing social responsibility initiatives.

TAGS: CSR | ISO 26000 | Corporate Social Responsibility