Good for businesss: Corporate Social Responsibility report 2010
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 14, 2010 - 3 Comments
Our second annual survey of companies in Canada that prove it pays to have a conscience
For many successful companies, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is no longer just a boardroom buzzword, but a key to business. So, for the second year in a row, Maclean’s has partnered with Jantzi-Sustainalytics, a global leader in sustainability analysis, to present the country’s Top 50 Socially Responsible Corporations.
While the reasons each company was selected vary—from Gildan Activewear donating more than half a million dollars to Haitian relief efforts, to Loblaw’s commitment to acquiring all of its seafood from sustainable sources by 2013, to Nike making World Cup jerseys for nine national teams out of bottles found in landfills—the underlying goal is the same: make the world a better place. As well as the Top 50 list, which begins on page 42, we look into how CSR might help with major PR problems, like BP’s oil spill, and whether the recession made the business world any less socially responsible.
-
Top 50 Socially Responsible Corporations
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 14, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 28 Comments
These companies have made doing good a big part of their business
Click on a company name for more details:
Adidas Group
Ballard Power Systems Inc.
BCE Inc.
BMO Bank of Montreal
BMW
Brookfield Properties Corp.
Cascades Inc.
Catalyst Paper
CIBC
Dell Inc.
Direct Energy
Enbridge Inc.
Gap Inc.
General Mills Inc.
Gildan Activewear Inc.
H.J. Heinz Company
Honda
Hewlett-Packard Company
HSBC
IBM Corp.
ING Group
Intel Corp.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kinross Gold Corp.
Loblaw Companies Ltd.
L’Oreal
Manulife Financial.
McDonald’s Corp.
Nexen Inc. .
Nike Inc.
Nokia
Oracle Corp.
Puma
RBC
Rio Tinto-Alcan
Scotiabank
Sony Corp.
Stantec Inc.
Starbucks Corp.
State Street Corp.
Sun Life Financial
Suncor Energy Inc.
Talisman Energy Inc.
TELUS Corp,
TD Bank Financial Group
TransAlta Corp.
Transcontinental Inc.
Volkswagen
Westport Innovations Inc.
Xerox Corp.For the related article and methodology, The Jantzi-Maclean’s Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2010 click here.
-
Corporate Social Responsibility: recession proof
By Philippe Gohier - Monday, June 14, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 5 Comments
Why companies didn’t scale back on social responsibility efforts during the downturn. PLUS: the 50 most responsible corporations
With the recession battering the pocketbooks of Canadians across the country, charitable donations took a nosedive. In fact, many charities are running out of cash just when they need it most. According to a survey by Imagine Canada, an umbrella organization representing charities and non-profit groups, 45 per cent of the 1,500 charity leaders polled between November 2009 and January 2010 said the economic downturn had led to an increase in demand for their services, but 48 per cent say they’re having difficulty fulfilling their mission and 22 per cent claim they could have to shut down operations altogether if their financial situation doesn’t improve. And the future doesn’t look any brighter: 51 per cent expect to have a hard time covering their expenses between now and next year.When the going got tough, Canadians looked out for No. 1. But what of their employers—many of which spent the better part of the past decade touting their new economy bona fides and aligning themselves with causes like climate change and AIDS awareness? While some suspected corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives would be the first items to disappear from corporate budgets amid all the slashing, for the most part, companies stuck to their principles. “We didn’t see any let-up in sustainability programs at companies that already had them,” says Heather Lang, director of research products for Jantzi-Sustainalytics, which compiles the list of Canada’s Top 50 Socially Responsible Corporations. “If anything, there was likely an increase in programs.”
-
When things get messy
By Jason Kirby - Monday, June 14, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments
Can corporate social responsibility help clean up a PR disaster like the one caused by BP’s oil spill?
Judging from events of the past year or so, it may seem like the best response to a corporate crisis these days is to retreat to the boardroom and pray like hell that someone else gets walloped worse.Back in the spring, the story of Toyota’s runaway cars looked like it would drag on for months. Then Goldman Sachs conveniently landed in the crosshairs of legislators and securities regulators, taking the heat off the automaker. In turn, the bankers on Wall Street got a reprieve at the expense of the pelicans, fish and residents of the Gulf of Mexico, courtesy of BP.
-
Jantzi-Macleans 50 Most Socially Responsible Corporations 2009
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 8:00 AM - 25 Comments
Exclusive report: These top companies are making Canada a better place
Click on a company name for more details:
5N Plus Inc.
ARISE Technologies Corp.
Ballard Power
Bank of Montreal
Bank of Nova Scotia
BCE Inc.
BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc.
BMW
Brookfield Properties Corporation
Canadian Hydro Developers
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.
Cascades Inc.
Catalyst Paper
Dell Inc.
Gap Inc.
General Mills Inc.
Gildan Activewear
Great-West Lifeco Inc.
H.J. Heinz Company
Hennes & Mauritz (H&M)
Hewlett-Packard Company
Honda
HSBC Holdings
IBM Corp.
ING Group
Innergex Renewable Energy Inc.
Johnson Controls Inc.
Kinross Gold Corp.
Loblaw Companies Ltd.
Manulife Financial
Nexen Inc.
Nike Inc.
Novelis Inc.
Petro-Canada
Plutonic Power Corp.
Rio Tinto Alcan
Royal Bank of Canada
Stantec Inc.
Starbucks Corporation
Sun Life Financial
Sun Microsystems Inc.
Suncor Energy Inc.
Talisman Energy Inc.
Telus Corporation
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Transalta Corp.
Transcontinental Inc.
Westport Innovations Inc.
Xerox Corporation
Zenn Motor Co.For the related article and methodology, click here.
-
Talisman? A responsible corporation?
By Nicholas Köhler - Monday, June 15, 2009 at 3:05 PM - 3 Comments
How Talisman, Nike and Gildan went from corporate demons to ethical leaders
Not much was going right for Calgary oil and gas powerhouse Talisman Energy back in 2001, but an indisputable low point was when it was accused of complicity in genocide.The charge, contained in a class action suit filed by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, stemmed from Talisman’s decision three years earlier to acquire a stake in an oil project controlled in part by Sudan’s Khartoum-based Islamic government. The Church and others claimed that Talisman aided Khartoum in committing genocide by, among other things, allowing helicopter gunships to mount bombing raids on villages from airstrips controlled by the oil consortium.
