The CSR Newsletters are a freely-available resource generated as a dynamic complement to the textbook, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation.

To sign-up to receive the CSR Newsletters regularly during the fall and spring academic semesters, e-mail author David Chandler at david.chandler@ucdenver.edu.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Strategic CSR - Realism


This is the last CSR Newsletter of the Spring semester.
Have a great summer and I will see you in the Fall!

The interview in the url below might provide some light reading relief over the summer months. The interviewee is definitely a realist and not an idealist, and he is trying to shock the world into understanding the scale of the problem we face in climate change. I found the tone of the discussion refreshing – definitely more eye-opening than most of the fluff I see in the media around the various topics that fall under the broad, CSR umbrella (and sustainability, more specifically). Here is a taste for your enjoyment:

"The key to understanding risk — forget about climate change — is very simple. It's discounting the future. … Suppose we start investing like crazy and start bringing down the carbon as rapidly as possible. The first beneficiaries will be people living in the 2070s because of what's already in the system. The temperature will keep rising even as we are reducing these emissions. So you are asking people now to make quote-unquote sacrifices while the first benefits will accrue to their children and the real benefits will accrue to their grandchildren. You have to redo the basic human wiring in the brain to change this risk analysis and say, I value 2055 or 2060 as much as I value tomorrow. None of us is wired to think that way."

I hope you all have a good summer. See you in the autumn.

Take care
David

David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e 
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/


This Eminent Scientist Says Climate Activists Need to Get Real
By David Marchese
April 22, 2022
The New York Times Magazine
Late Edition – Final
13-15
 
Posted by David Chandler at 11:30 AM

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Strategic CSR - Exxon

To me, the article in the url below falls under the category of 'trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist':

"Exxon Mobil will no longer allow banners of outside organizations on its flagpoles, angering some employees who in the past had flown a rainbow pride flag."

I can see how this might be an issue if employees were constantly lobbying the firm to fly the flags of all kinds of groups and causes that were offensive or attracting negative attention to the company – where would it stop? But, the article instead suggests that it is just a couple of flags (LGBTQ+ and BLM) from organizations that its employees broadly support:

"The new policy allows only government flags and those representing Exxon Mobil and its employee resource groups, which are employee-led affinity organizations that are generally blessed by employers. Workers can display the pride flag and representations of other groups like Black Lives Matter on other areas of the company's properties, including on lawns or in digital spaces."

It seems that the decision was made quite abruptly, and imposed from above:

"Current Exxon employees declined to comment. J. Chris Martin, a former employee who used to head the [L.G.B.T.] group, said that a different flag featuring the Exxon logo on a rainbow background 'was flown at many company locations last year without question' but that he had been told that approval to display that flag had been revoked 'without explanation.'"

Why risk alienating your most important stakeholder group, the firm's employees, for no discernable benefit or to avoid no noticeable harm? It beats me. But, then again, I have never understood why Exxon (one of the most innovative companies on the planet) continues to make dumb decisions that only serve to ensure it is an organization that continues to underperform. It seems that the company has a well-established track-record in this area:

"Exxon was long considered a foe of gay rights, particularly after it merged with Mobil and eliminated that company's policies that barred discrimination based on sexual orientation and provided benefits to same-sex couples. Exxon has since reinstituted those policies, and its rating in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index has risen to 85 out of 100 in 2022, from negative 25."

Perhaps it is aspiring to a negative score once again.

Take care
David

David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e 
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/


Exxon Bans Outside Flags From Its Flagpoles
By Ivan Penn
April 25, 2022
The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
B4
 
Posted by David Chandler at 4:50 PM

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Strategic CSR - Lightbulbs

The article in the url below tells you all you need to know, I fear, about the challenge of reforming our economy into something more sustainable. The story announces, finally (I can't believe it has taken this long and thought it had happened years ago), the end of the incandescent bulb:

"After lighting the nation's homes and businesses for more than a century, transforming the design of buildings and even lengthening the average workday, incandescent light bulbs are finally on their way out. The Biden administration on Tuesday adopted two new rules that set stricter energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. Those standards would effectively phase out the sale of most new incandescent bulbs — the pear-shaped orbs with glowing wire centers — in 2023."

Of course, by "the end," I really mean they are working towards ending it, next year. Why this took so long is fascinating (and frustrating):

"Much of the country is already lit by LED lights, which the Department of Energy estimates last as much as 50 times as long as incandescent bulbs and use a fraction of the electricity. That revolutionary shift has already driven down electricity demand in American homes, saving consumers money and cutting greenhouse gas emissions."

What I find fascinating about this is that the LED bulb is superior in every way to an incandescent bulb – more efficient, longer lasting, cheaper, better light, aesthetically equivalent (at least, no loss in design quality), and yet it has taken decades to wean people off the old design/product. If a product that is so convincingly inferior is so challenging to shift, what are we going to do about moving on from products that retain value (fossil fuels come to mind)? If we can't do it when the argument is so obvious, how are we going to do it when there is more nuance involved?

"Once the new rules are in place, Americans will collectively save $3 billion a year on their utility bills, the department said, at a time when higher energy costs have been squeezing household finances. The stricter standards will also cut emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide by an estimated 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years, an amount equivalent to the emissions generated by 28 million homes in one year, the department added."

Of course, it wouldn't be change unless someone was unhappy:

"For manufacturers, profit margins for incandescent lighting are significantly higher than for LEDs, partly because investment in manufacturing equipment for incandescents has long been paid off and there is relatively little competition among manufacturers of the old style bulbs. The LED market, on the other hand, has attracted new manufacturers and has become far more competitive."

Take care
David

David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e 
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/


Lights Out on Old Type of Bulbs
By Hiroko Tabuchi
April 27, 2022
The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
A18
 
Posted by David Chandler at 2:48 PM
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