Friday, June 07, 2019
NOT QUITE SOCIALISM BUT ON THE ROAD
AMELIORATING CAPITALISM CSR CPR
AMELIORATING CAPITALISM CSR CPR
- A team of researchers is calling for companies to be as transparent about what it's dubbed "corporate political responsibility" as they are about corporate social responsibility.
- Covert lobbying for policies that contradict the ones espoused in "green" advertising and branding is getting harder to pull off, and companies can gain a competitive advantage through transparency that customers and shareholders are increasingly demanding.
- This article is part of our ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
That's why Thomas P. Lyon of the University of Michigan and a research team that comprised the Bretesche Workshop on Systemic Change have called on companies to start being transparent about what they dubbed corporate political responsibility (CPR). If a company spends millions on green ad campaigns but tens of millions more lobbying politicians to pass laws that would protect business as usual, then the whole idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is undermined.
In an article that those researchers published in the California Management Review last year — cheekily titled "CSR needs CPR" — the authors wrote, "as demands for political transparency grow, it will become increasingly difficult for companies to execute a strategy that involves contradictions between virtuous public statements and self-serving lobbying and other political activities."
They reached three conclusions that they believe will not only benefit consumers, society, and the environment, but also the companies' long-term profits:
Barnes & Noble is getting a new owner after years of declines: Elliott Management, the giant Paul Singer-run hedge fund
- Elliott Management is acquiring Barnes & Noble for about $683 million including debt, the companies said Friday.
- While the bookseller has lost half its market value in the last five years, its shares soared Thursday after The Wall Street Journal reported the deal was in the works.
- Barnes & Noble would not mark Elliott's first bookstore deal. Elliott acquired Waterstones, the largest retail bookseller in the United Kingdom, one year ago. That chain's chief executive, James Daunt, will also assume the role of Barnes & Noble CEO once the deal is complete.
- Once a $2.4 billion company by market capitalization around its peak in 2006, Barnes & Noble's market value has shrunk to just over $436 million. Its shares traded just under $6 apiece as of Thursday's close.
Airlines' polluting planes spark international backlash, spawning a growing movement of 'flight shaming' that could ultimately threaten their bottom lines
- There's a growing number of people who avoid flying because of the massive pollution from airplanes.
- Commercial flying accounts for about 2.5% of global carbon emissions today but without concrete steps, that number will rise as global air travel increases.
- The airline industry has set out on a plan to cut emissions and achieve carbon neutral growth as the movement threatens its bottom line.
BRING BACK THE AIRSHIPS
Trump is reportedly giving Saudi Arabia access to secretive US technology that the Kingdom could use to build smart bombs
Trump’s decision to sell bombs and technology to Saudi Arabia has sparked fears of a nuclear arms race. Now even Republicans are pushing back.
One of the main organizers of the Google Walkout has left the company over fears of 'public flogging, shunning, and stress' if she stayed
One of the main leaders of last year's Google Walkout, Claire Stapleton, has decided to leave the company, citing fears of retaliation if she stayed.
The announcement of her departure was made public in a Medium post on Friday, which was a copy of the note Stapleton sent internally this week to employees.
"If I stayed, I didn't just worry that there'd be more public flogging, shunning, and stress, I expected it," Stapleton said in the letter.
Read Stapleton's full letter here.
One of the main leaders of last year's Google Walkout, Claire Stapleton, has decided to leave the company after saying she faced retaliation for her organizing efforts.
"I made the choice after the heads of my department branded me with a kind of scarlet letter that makes it difficult to do my job or find another one," Stapleton said. "If I stayed, I didn't just worry that there'd be more public flogging, shunning, and stress, I expected it."
The announcement of her departure was made public in a Medium post on Friday, which republished a copy of the note Stapleton says she sent internally this week to employees.
In the note, Stapleton said she had "simple, pure nostalgia" for her early days at Google, circa 2007.
"Google's lore, its leadership, its promise — the whole thing lit me up, filled me with a sense of purpose, of inspiration, of privilege to be here," Stapleton said.
But over time, the former YouTube marketing manager said, things changed. She especially noticed around 2017, leadership's response over the "hard things" had taken on a different tone.
"Google's always had controversies and internal debates, but the 'hard things' had intensified," Stapleton said. "And the way leadership was addressing them suddenly felt different, cagier, less satisfying."
Read more: Google could be banned from San Francisco Pride after its response to a YouTuber who used homophobic slurs
Stapleton said in the note that she was inspired to call for the walkout by Google leadership's "lack of accountability" — specifically, in regards to its response to reports that the company had paid out a $90 million exit package to Android creator Andy Rubin while he was under investigation for sexual misconduct.
In the wake of the Google Walkout, Stapleton alleged that Google had retaliated against her, and that she had been demoted and lost half of her reports. After hiring a lawyer and an internal investigation was conducted, her role was restored, but "the environment remains hostile," she reportedly wrote in an internal email in April. Google denied any retaliation was taken against Stapleton or other organizers.
Fellow Google organizer Meredith Whittaker spoke out regarding Stapleton's departure on Friday, saying that her departure wouldn't "stop a movement."
—Meredith Whittaker (@mer__edith) June 7, 2019
Read Stapleton's full letter here.
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