Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Best Buy

Showing posts with label Best Buy. Show all posts

Friday, October 8, 2021

Strategic CSR - Best Buy

The interview in the article in the url below with Hubert Joly (now a lecturer at Harvard Business School; until 2019, he was the CEO of Best Buy) is largely mundane. It is not that I question Joly's sincerity; it is just that he is not saying anything particularly interesting. But, there is a moment of eloquence that I found inspiring. It is in response to a question about re-shaping the culture of an organization – aligning interests across all stakeholders to produce meaningful action. When asked if there are any "specific actions you think companies should take" to produce this result, Joly replies:

"I would start with providing an attractive environment and set of opportunities for their employees. Raising the minimum wage is a very important trend, but it goes beyond pay. It is about benefits, taking care of your employees, including their mental health or their ability to vote. It is about a path to advancement, skills acquisition. It is about offering a growth environment, one where you feel you belong, one where you feel your manager is investing in you, one where you can connect what drives you with your work."

Essentially, he is prioritizing the firm's employees above all other stakeholders, which is consistent with the framework presented in Strategic CSR. I often tell my students – any organization that does not treat its employees as its most important stakeholder is dysfunctional to some degree. All stakeholders are important, and the goal of the firm should be to create value broadly, but it starts with employees. That has to be the path of least resistance toward a successful model of stakeholder capitalism.

The other notable element of the interview is reporting that there are "2 billion pounds of electronics recycled annually by Best Buy."

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (5e)

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/

On His To-Do List: Fixing Capitalism

By David Gelles

July 18, 2021

The New York Times

Late Edition – Final

BU5

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/15/business/hubert-joly-corner-office-best-buy.html

Monday, September 26, 2016

Strategic CSR - Best Buy

At present, there is a cost to recycling e-waste (Chapter 13, p297). Given the drop in global commodity prices in materials such as copper and plastics, it remains significantly cheaper to buy these components on the open market than it is to strip down used consumer electronics goods and recycle the components that can be salvaged. In spite of this, Best Buy, the consumer electronics retailer, sees value in establishing a reputation for itself as the most progressive recycler of e-waste among retailers:

"To date, the retailer has accepted junky gadgets and appliances from anyone – not just customers – for free."

As discussed in the article in the url below, for Best Buy the commitment is far from symbolic. In particular:

"In its annual report last year, the retailer said it had collected more than 126m pounds of consumer electronics and 110m pounds of appliances during that fiscal year, helping it meet its goal of collecting 1bn pounds of electronic waste. The company has since vowed to double that number by 2020."

As a result of current market conditions, however, the firm is beginning to reconsider its recycling model:

"Earlier this month, the retailer announced it would start charging customers $25 for every television and computer monitor dropped off at a retail outlet as part of its in-store recycling program. Because of this, Best Buy will no longer accept television and computer monitors from customers in Pennsylvania and Illinois, as both states prohibit companies from collecting fees to help defray recycling costs. It will still recycle hundreds of other items for free."

Laura Bishop, vice president of public affairs and sustainability at Best Buy, sees this area as becoming increasingly challenging for Best Buy and, at some point, will cross over from being a competitive advantage to a distinct disadvantage relative to its competitors:

"'E-waste volume is rising, commodity prices are falling and global outlets for recycled glass, a key component of TVs televisions and monitors, have dramatically declined,' she wrote. 'More and more cities and counties have cut their recycling programs for budget reasons, limiting consumer options even further. While providing recycling solutions for our customers is a priority, Best Buy should not be the sole e-cycling provider in any given area, nor should we assume the entire cost.' … Many of Best Buy's biggest competitors, such as Amazon and Walmart, don't offer recycling, or their programs don't cover nearly as many personal gadgets and household items. Staples runs a similar recycling program to Best Buy, but it has a more modest goal of recycling 40m pounds of e-waste by 2020."

It is only reasonable to expect firms to promote recycling if that is behavior that is rewarded by stakeholders. Whether government or customers or employees (or some other stakeholder), it is up to us to make it in Best Buy's interests to become a leader in this field. In other words, it is stakeholder response that determines whether this (or any) action can form the basis for a competitive advantage. If stakeholders provide that incentive, Best Buy will lead and its competitors will soon follow.

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (4e)

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler4e

Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/

The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

Best Buy's e-cycle program is ambitious, successful and financially unsustainable

By Alison Moodie

February 23, 2016

The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/23/best-buy-walmart-staples-ewaste-recycling-environment-landfill-electronics

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Strategic CSR - Amazon II

In contrast to Monday’s positive Newsletter about Jeff Bezos, I have also seen Amazon lambasted for essentially being absent in the CSR/sustainability debate (e.g., http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/amazon):

“When Greenpeace examined data centres run by big technology companies in a report called How Clean Is Your Cloud?, Amazon was given an F in three of four categories, ranking behind Yahoo!, Dell, Google and Facebook. On electronics recycling, Amazon is also a laggard. Best Buy takes back electronic waste, at no charge; Amazon does not take-back of its own.”

Another example:

“Amazon’s shipping operation consumes large amounts of energy and the company has been criticized in the past for a lack of transparency on environmental issues. The Carbon Disclosure Project released a report [in September 2011] naming Amazon as the largest company in the Global 500, by market capitalization, not to disclose its carbon performance.”

With this in mind, I am unsure how to process the article in the url below:

“Amazon launched Vine.com, a shopping site that sells only green products, including organic food, apparel, accessories and cleaning supplies made by companies such as Seventh Generation, Method, Brita and Burt’s Bees.”

Is it greenwashing, merely an attempt to capture a growing market segment, or a genuine commitment to further the sustainability debate? There is some indication that the move is serious:

“Vine reviews claims of vendors to verify products are either organic, natural, energy- or water-efficient, run on their own renewable energy, made from sustainable materials or contribute to a healthier home, according to the company. Vine also reviews ingredient lists to make sure they don’t contain banned substances.”

As with most massive organizations, of course, the reality is no doubt a mix of good and bad. Another indication the launch might be serious, however, is that Vine.com (http://www.vine.com/) was acquired by Amazon in 2010. Although another example of a CSR-oriented, small independent firm being bought by a large multi-national, the acquisition suggests that the people running Vine.com are likely to be sincere. As such, in contrast to an organic Amazon initiative, there is the potential for Vine.com to extend its founding values across Amazon’s broad range of operations:

“Amazon plans to triple the number of items shipped under its ‘Frustration-Free Packaging’ initiative this year, a program which pushes suppliers to cut out excessive and hard-to-open packaging. Amazon has said it hopes the program, which grew to 80,000 products last year, will not only alleviate ‘wrap rage,’ but reduce waste and lower shipping costs.”

Take care

David

Bill Werther & David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment (2e)

http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr2e/

Instructor Teaching Site: http://www.sagepub.com/strategiccsr/

The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: http://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/

Amazon Launches Shopping Site for Green Products

September 27, 2012

Environmental Leader

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/09/27/amazon-launches-shopping-site-for-green-products/

Monday, January 21, 2013

Strategic CSR - Welcome back!

Welcome back to the Strategic CSR Newsletter!

The first Newsletter of the Spring semester is below.

As always, your comments and ideas are welcome.

The article in the url below contains an entertaining look at the “10 worst business moves of 2012,” as determined by MSN Money:

“Chalk up some of these dumb moves to an election year, when emotions get riled up and people do things they probably shouldn't. But some of these mistakes go right into the obvious pile: Don't have an affair with a subordinate. Don't lie on your résumé.”

While not all related to CSR, what they contain in common is a consistent insensitivity to the needs and concerns of stakeholders, broadly defined. This is the core of the framework that we used to build Strategic CSR and should be the driving concern of all strategy and operations-related decisions taken by firms.

For your amusement and to begin the 2013 CSR Newsletters, therefore, the list features the following firms and their fateful “business decisions”: