Strategic CSR - Ads

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

The article in the url below allows me to finish the year's newsletters on a reasonably optimistic note:

 

“Amsterdam is famously a place where anything goes. Prostitution is legal. Coffee shops sell marijuana and hashish. Truffles laced with the psychoactive compounds found in hallucinogenic mushrooms are available at ‘smart shops.’ But what is no longer allowed in the freewheeling city’s public spaces are advertisements for products that some city councilors consider to be true vices: Big Macs. Exotic vacations. Gas-powered cars.”

 

And, rather than some distant commitment to vague action (like most sustainability-related 'solutions'), this ban is substantive and relevant today:

 

“On May 1, Amsterdam became the world’s first capital city to ban ads for fossil fuel products and meat. It’s part of the city’s efforts to discourage consumption of goods linked with high carbon emissions. Ads for airlines, cruises, and faraway destinations are no longer allowed because they implicitly promote the burning of fossil fuels. Ads for beef, chicken, pork and fish are also banned because of the environmental harms caused by animal agriculture.”

The article includes photos of the kind of billboard ads that, starting this past weekend, will no longer be allowed in Amsterdam:

 

     

Have a great summer. 

David

 

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

 

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e  

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In Permissive Amsterdam, Ads for Fossil Fuels or Meat Are Now Verboden

By Cara Buckley

May 1, 2026

The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/climate/in-permissive-amsterdam-ads-for-fossil-fuels-or-meat-are-now-verboden.html

Strategic CSR - Diapers

This is the last CSR Newsletter of the Fall semester. Happy Holidays and I will see you in the new year!

The article in the url below argues that consumerism (in particular, our "addiction to disposability"), enabled by the development of single-use plastics, has affected our society in many ways — some of which less obviously come to mind:

"In 1957, 92 percent of American children were potty-trained by 18 months of age. Four decades later, that number had dropped to just 4 percent. Why are we potty-training our children so much later than our grandparents did?"

It turns out that we have corporations to thank for that — specifically, companies that developed, and then improved, disposable diapers:

"Made from plastic and cellulose, these products have been refined over several decades to be more absorbent, slimmer and less leaky."

And of course, our preference for convenience (in this case, the understandable desire to avoid washing re-uesable diapers) has inflicted a heavy price:

"Such convenience comes at a heavy environmental price. Between 2011 and 2018, disposable diapers were among the 25 most littered items on the seafloor and among the 40 most littered items on land, one study found. In the United States alone, more than 18 billion diapers are discarded every year, creating an enormous drain on natural resources."

The longer it takes for children to be potty trained, the more disposable diapers they will wear (and will be sold by companies like P&G). There are lots of revealing examples in the article of how our shift to a disposable society was engineered by companies that had every incentive to sell us as many plastics as possible. The result?

"Globally, the equivalent of more than one garbage truck of plastic waste ends up in the ocean every minute."

As well as environmental, the article argues that the social impact (cost?) is as great:

"Over the past century, disposable plastics undeniably have made our lives easier in many ways. They have also quietly and profoundly reshaped the ways we eat, shop, raise children and understand hygiene and progress. … Cooking skills have declined. Sit-down family meals are less common. Fast fashion, enabled by synthetic plastic fibers, is encouraging compulsive consumption and waste."

A possible antidote?

"Large French retailers have eliminated plastic for a wide range of fruit and vegetables without causing a discernible spike in food waste, and the country has forced chains like McDonald's to switch to washable dishes and cups for people dining in. Aarhus, Denmark, has signed dozens of cafes and other venues up for a reusable cup system that has prevented over a million cups from being thrown away since its inception early last year. Europe is embedding reuse and reduction into law and infrastructure."

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e  

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Throwaway Plastic Has Corrupted Us

By Saabira Chaudhuri

September 7, 2025

The New York Times

Late Edition – Final

SR 8-9

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/06/opinion/plastic-trash-disposable.html

Strategic CSR - McDonald's

The fast-food business model is based on cheap food served efficiently. An essential part of that efficiency is single-use packaging that is discarded by the customer in a way that keeps costs low and also helps maintain hygiene. The associated waste is part of the model, but is also a problem if we care about resource utilization, from the point of view of sustainability. French politicians agree, and have decided to try and do something about it, as reported in the article in the url below, and experienced in a Paris branch of McDonald's:

"For those dining in, french fries are served in durable red containers, soda is dispensed into clear washable glasses and chicken nuggets come in hard plastic white bowls. When customers are finished eating, they are asked to drop the containers into a bin to be washed, dried and reused. The assortment of 21 variously sized reusable cups, bowls and fry sleeves are a world-first for McDonald's, which since its inception has used disposable packaging to keep food moving quickly and utility and labor costs low. The new containers have been introduced to comply with a French law aimed at reducing waste that has compelled the burger giant and other fast-food restaurants to serve dine-in orders in reusable containers."

Perhaps not surprisingly, McDonald's is unimpressed:

"'We don't want France to be the template because we strongly believe that this doesn't work,' said Serge Thines, the company's head of international government relations, who argues that reusable packaging is inconvenient for consumers and worse for the environment than disposables. 'It's very problematic,' he added."

I think what Serge means is that the law is imposing an additional cost that the company would rather not have to deal with. If it was just France, it is perhaps manageable. The trouble is that the French law is part of a wider awakening on sustainability issues, and is influential throughout the EU:

"McDonald's is up against proposed laws mandating reusables or banning single-use plastic packaging in a string of other countries including Portugal, Sweden and Poland. It already has had to comply with laws in Germany and the Netherlands by offering reusable cups to consumers who request them and pay a deposit."

And, even in the U.S.:

"… a shareholder advocacy group has seized on McDonald's experience in France to press the company to consider the merits of rolling out reusables stateside."

The key, of course, is how other stakeholders feel about the change. For something like this to stick, it needs to have broad stakeholder support. This is particularly the case as it involves the participation of both employees and customers:

"Seven staff members at the McDonald's restaurant have done three days of training on how to use the new equipment and handle the crockery. Takeaways include the importance of washing hands more frequently and not cutting through the kitchen holding dirty dishes. … Rather than sweeping leftovers and packaging into the same trash can, customers dining in are asked to empty liquids into one hole and scrape food into another. There is a third hole for the exempt disposable packaging and a fourth for the new reusable containers."

At least there seems to be some buy-in, although this suggests this might not be the easy win that legislators perhaps expect:

"McDonald's says its return rate for reusable containers in France is over 92% and the containers are used on average 29 times before being damaged, thrown away or taken by customers."

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e 

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French Packaging Law Vexes McDonald's

By Saabira Chaudhuri

December 11, 2023

The Wall Street Journal

Late Edition – Final

B3

https://www.wsj.com/business/hospitality/chicken-nuggets-in-reusable-bowls-mcdonalds-isnt-lovin-it-96d157a3

 

Strategic CSR - McDonald’s

This photo, which features in the article in the url below, is ironic for a couple of reasons:

 

First, McDonald's has installed stationary bikes instead of seats for some of its customers. So, they are 'exercising' while also eating food items from the calorie-laden McDonald's menu. Second, the bikes use the power generated by the pedaling to charge the customers' cellphones, which enables additional screen time and further encourages a more sedentary lifestyle:

"The company has created quirky promotions appealing to younger customers that have gone viral on social media. One is a combo meal that comes in a 'cat box' made for felines to play in. In some stores the chain also unveiled exercise bikes equipped with trays, allowing riders to munch their meals while pedaling to wirelessly charge their mobile phones."

The main point in the article accompanying the photo is the push by McDonald's to more than double the number of their stores in China, to over 10,000 by the end of 2028. While, for all customers, the effect of a store visit is likely to be a net gain in calories, for some customers at least, the deficit might not be as large as it would have been if these bikes were not in place.

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e 

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McDonald's Is Supersizing Its Presence in China

By Newley Purnell

April 30, 2024

The Wall Street Journal

Late Edition – Final

B1, B2

https://www.wsj.com/business/hospitality/mddonalds-china-expansion-240c14b0

 

Strategic CSR - Child labor (II)

The article in the url below provides an update on my recent newsletter about child labor in the U.S. (see Strategic CSR – Child labor (in the U.S.)). I think the report reveals a remarkably quick reaction from the companies that were named in The NYT's initial article:

"Now, McDonald's says it is requiring private inspectors to review overnight shifts at slaughterhouses that provide some of its meat, where children as young as 13 were cleaning heavy machinery. Suppliers for Ford Motor Company must now scrutinize the faces of employees when they arrive for work. Costco is commissioning more audits with Spanish-speaking inspectors."

The response illustrates the central concept within Strategic CSR of stakeholders holding firms to account for their actions. In this case, the key stakeholders (the media) exposed the offensive behavior, which generated additional backlash from other stakeholders, and a subsequent adjustment by the firms. In this sense, firms are merely the reflection of the aggregated interests of their collective set of stakeholders – they will do what their stakeholders (truly) want, which firms can identify when those stakeholders reward the behavior they support and punish the behavior they do not support:

"Along with McDonald's and Costco, Starbucks, Whole Foods and PepsiCo are revising the kinds of audits they require at their suppliers. The changes include enhancing reviews of night shifts and shifts run by outside contractors, such as cleaning companies, and moving away from announcing audits in advance."

Now, it is up to stakeholders to follow-up and ensure the announced response becomes actual behavior.

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e 

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Confronted With Child Labor in the U.S., Companies Move to Crack Down

By Hannah Dreier

February 8, 2024

The New York Times

Late Edition – Final

A22

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/us/child-labor-us-companies.html

 

Strategic CSR - Accountability

A lot of companies have made a lot of promises, in recent years, regarding their environmental performance. Most of them revolve around a net-zero target, usually by 2050. I have generally been skeptical about these promises – they are often made without any specifics (suggesting these companies do not really know what attaining "net-zero" would actually require). And, of course, the easiest promise from a CEO concerning a high-stakes bet is one where the delivery deadline is well beyond their tenure (or even lifespan). Most CEOs have no qualms about committing some distant successor to a target, especially since they will not be around to be held accountable.

So, where are we with all of these promises? The article in the url below contains some updates and, perhaps unsurprisingly, we are not where we need to be. For example, McDonald's:

"Five years ago McDonald's said it planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than a third in parts of its operations by 2030. A few years later, it pledged to be 'net zero' … by 2050. But in its most recent report, McDonald's disclosed that things were moving in the wrong direction: The company's emissions in 2021 were 12 percent higher than its 2015 baseline."

Companies in the restaurant/food industries appear particularly challenged by the promises they themselves made:

"McDonald's is hardly alone. An examination of various climate-related reports and filings for 20 of the world's largest food and restaurant companies reveals that more than half have not made any progress on their emissions reduction goals or have reported rising emissions levels. The bulk of emissions — in many cases more than 90 percent — come from the companies' supply chains. In other words, the cows and wheat used to make burgers and cereal."

There is PepsiCo:

"At PepsiCo, which began setting targets to reduce emissions in 2015, emissions in its supply chain are up 7 percent from its baseline, according to its 2022 climate report."

And Chipotle:

"Chipotle, which set a goal of halving its emissions by 2030, reported a 26 percent surge in supply chain and other emissions in its 2022 report."

How about Starbucks?

"For 2022, for example, Starbucks reported a 12 percent increase in its total emissions from 2019 levels."

Mars appears to be a more positive story, however:

"Mars said it had reduced its total emissions, including its supply chain, by 8 percent from 2015 levels while increasing its revenue 60 percent. The company's goal is to cut its total 2015 emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and to be net zero by 2050."

As Mars' Chief Sustainability Officer puts it, commenting on the performance of its many competitors:

"'We've had five years of companies making promises and being celebrated for the quality of their promises and not their performance.'"

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e 

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Emissions are Taking Wrong Turn for Some

By Julie Creswell

September 25, 2023

The New York Times

Late Edition – Final

B1, B3

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/22/business/food-companies-emissions-climate-pledges.html

 

Strategic CSR - McDonald's

The headline of the article in the url below is a bit misleading, since there is a crew working behind the scenes, but the implication is clear:

"The first mostly non-human-run McDonald's is open for business just outside Fort Worth, Texas. At just one location so far, customers can drive to the golden arches and expect to be served a Big Mac or a Happy Meal by a food and beverage conveyor instead of an actual, real-life human being."

This is the 'future' for McDonald's and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why the firm is pressing for greater automation – it is a response to increasing calls for the minimum wage in fast-food restaurants to be raised, which would of course increase McDonald's costs:

This creates a conundrum for those advocating for higher minimum wages. Either the stakeholders of those firms are able to signal a willingness to pay higher prices for a personal/human touch, or firms will push for automation wherever they can introduce it. Lowering costs is just another way of becoming more efficient, which is what customers seem to say they want from firms, even though McDonald's currently pays about as low a wage as it is possible to get away with in the US:

"In Texas, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and hasn't increased in nearly a decade. It ranks above only Georgia and Wyoming's minimum wage of $5.15, which is $2.10 less than the US federal minimum wage. Five other states have not adopted a set minimum wage: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee. … McDonald's is one of 300 publicly held companies with the lowest median worker wages, according to a 2021 Institute for Policy Studies report."

Take care

David

David Chandler

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)

© Sage Publications, 2023

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e 

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Touchscreens, conveyor belts: McDonald's opens first largely automated location

By Erum Salam

December 23, 2022

The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/23/mcdonalds-automated-workers-fort-worth-texas

 

Strategic CSR - Plastics

The article in the url below presents the 'war on plastics' from the perspective of those companies that produce the plastics:

 

"The backlash against single-use plastic has engulfed straws, bags and takeout containers, but the plastics industry is fighting back, arguing alternatives can be worse for the environment and disruptive for businesses. Trade groups are spending more on lobbying, reaching out to consumers and promoting recycling amid mounting regulation. Their message: Plastic bans target only waste and don't take account of environmental negatives associated with raw materials and the production of alternatives."

 

What I found interesting were the graphics in the story, which compare the carbon footprint of various alternative types of bags to the single-use plastic bag. For example:

 

"Cotton bags must be used 131 times for their carbon footprint to drop below that of a single-use plastic bag."

 

In other words (putting symbolic value aside), if we assume, generously, that cotton shopping bags are used twice a week, then that equates to over two years' worth of consistent use before these bags make more sense than single-use plastic bags. And that presumes the plastic bag is only used once, rather than multiple times, in reality. Similarly, bags made from "more durable plastic" must be used 11 times before they beat the single-use plastic bag, while a paper bag must be used 3 times. In other words, while the article does not gloss over the extent to which plastic pollutes our environment, it also questions whether alternatives are necessarily less polluting. Nevertheless, plastic bags have received a great deal of attention from those focused on imposing specific outcomes:

 

"A United Nations report shows 127 countries of 192 reviewed had adopted bans or other laws to manage plastic bags as of July. New York recently joined California in passing a state ban on single-use plastic bags. Advocates say bans cut plastic consumption and litter without a significant burden on consumers and businesses."

 

Firms, of course, might disagree with that last thought – protesting they are often caught in the middle of their various stakeholders, who are pulling them in different directions:

 

"McDonald's Corp. scrapped plastic straws in the U.K. last year but now faces a backlash. More than 44,000 people recently signed a petition calling for the fast-food chain to bring back plastic straws, complaining that paper replacements go soggy and make it hard to drink milk shakes."

 

In short, like many aspects of the CSR/sustainability debate, the article demonstrates that working out which outcomes create the optimal social value is complicated.

 

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

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

© Sage Publications, 2020

 

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In Plastics War, the Industry Fights Back

By Saabira Chaudhuri

May 21, 2019

The Wall Street Journal

Late Edition – Final

B5

https://www.wsj.com/articles/plastics-industry-pushes-back-against-bans-11558358911

 

Strategic CSR - McDonald's (II)

The article in the url below shows how fast food in the U.S. has evolved over the past 30 years. Of course, the term "evolved" sounds inherently progressive – in that fast food evolved in a way that promotes health. In reality, the opposite is closer to reality. While it is true that menu options have expanded and often include salads (which are healthier only as long as you don't drown them in dressing), it is the size of the portions and their makeup of fat and salt that caught my attention in this article:

 

"But as menus swelled over the past three decades with grilled chicken wraps (McDonald's) and 'fresco' burritos (Taco Bell), many options grew in size and the calories and sodium in them surged, according to new study from researchers at Boston University and Tufts."

 

The research was recently published in The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and consisted of a study of multiple fast-food chains over 30 years:

 

"The researchers studied 1,787 entrees, sides and desserts at 10 chains — Arby's, Burger King, Carl's Jr., Dairy Queen, Hardee's, Jack in the Box, KFC, Long John Silver's, McDonald's and Wendy's — from 1986 to 2016. In that time, the number of items in those three categories rose 226 percent."

 

The results are not encouraging:

 

"Across the 10 chains, the researchers found, the average entree weighed 39 grams more in 2016 than in 1986 and had 90 more calories. It also had 41.6 percent of the recommended daily allotment of sodium, up from 27.8 percent."

 

The same pattern is evident in the desserts on offer:

 

"In 2016, the average fast food dessert weighed an extra 71 grams and had 186 more calories than the average dessert 30 years earlier, the researchers found."

 

And don't forget the sides:

 

"The researchers found that there were 42 more calories on average in items like chips, soups and French fries in 2016 than there were in 1986. Sodium content rose to 23.2 percent of the recommended daily allotment from 11.6 percent, even though portion size did not grow substantially."

 

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

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

© Sage Publications, 2017

 

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/

 

 

Bigger, Saltier, Heavier: How Fast Food Changed Over 30 Years

By Tiffany Hsu

March 4, 2019

The New York Times

Late Edition – Final

B3

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/03/business/fast-food-health-salt-calories-portions.html

 

Strategic CSR - McDonald's (I)

The article in the url below demonstrates the range of issues facing a company as it tries to create value for its diverse set of stakeholders. This is true even for a firm as large and complex as McDonald's ("Every day McDonald's serves 69m customers, more than the population of Britain or France"), which wouldn't normally spring to mind as the epitome of a socially responsible organization. The article profiles the career of Bob Langert, who converted a short-term assignment in the firm in 1988 (dealing with a spat over polystyrene packaging) into a 25 year career as McDonald's CSR officer:

 

"It was a Herculean task. … Apart from litter, he had to deal with animal welfare, environmental destruction, obesity and worker's rights."

 

The opportunities, however, when a company the size of McDonald's decides to make a change in operating practices, are massive:

 

"McDonald's [often] took action even when there was little sign of public concern. Shaving one inch off the napkins saved 3m lbs of paper annually, for example, but few consumers noticed."

 

Another example is the firm's supply chain for eggs:

 

"In the late 1990s, after complaints from campaign groups about the living conditions of hens, Mr Langert visited an egg facility to find the conditions were indeed terrible. In August 2000 the firm said it would buy eggs only from suppliers that gave hens 72 square inches of space, compared with an industry average of 48 square inches. Suppliers resisted so strongly that McDonald's had to find new sources for its eggs. But those who complied found that the mortality rates of hens decreased and egg-laying rates increased, offsetting the extra costs."

 

The list of issues were endless:

 

"Human working conditions also caused the company trouble. … Another issue was the use of 'trans fats' to cook the restaurant fries, which were deemed to increase the risk of heart disease; it took six years for the chain to phase out the practice. But the company has also added more salads and healthy options."

 

Even if critics continue to campaign against McDonald's and hold it up as the anti-CSR company, it is clear from the article that the potential to change the world lies with these large organizations, much more than the Patagonias or NGOs of this world:

 

"Was all the effort worth it? It seems like that many of the people who care a lot about these issues would never eat a fast-food burger in the first place. But Mr Langert did more than most to reduce environmental waste and animal cruelty."

 

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

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

© Sage Publications, 2017

 

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

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Do you want ethics with that?

February 9, 2019

The Economist

Late Edition – Final

55

https://www.economist.com/business/2019/02/07/a-25-year-battle-to-improve-the-image-of-mcdonalds

 

Strategic CSR - Environmentalism

In celebration of Earth Day this past Sunday, the article in the url below summarizes the history of the environmental movement's evolving relationship with business:

 

"Now widely known as Third Wave environmentalism, the idea first became a reality in 1990, when McDonald's teamed up with my organization, the Environmental Defense Fund, to reduce more than 300 million pounds of solid waste by doing away with its foam-clamshell packaging. The Third Wave built on the progress of the first two: Teddy Roosevelt-era land conservation, followed by mid-20th-century antipollution laws like the Clean Air Act."

 

The article then goes beyond that to argue that this relationship has entered a new phase of much closer co-operation/co-ordination:

 

"Market-based approaches and corporate partnerships are standard practice today. Yet too many environmentalists still regard business as the enemy, and vice versa. That may finally be changing, because an emerging wave of environmental innovation is making these partnerships more productive, and their results more precisely measurable. Call it the Fourth Wave of environmental progress: Innovation that gives people new ways to solve environmental problems."

 

For example:

 

"Last year, … Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, joined with EDF and other groups to reduce fertilizer waste on the vast network of farms from which it purchases roughly two million tons of corn each year. The move is part of Smithfield's goal of cutting supply-chain greenhouse-gas emissions 25% by 2025. The company is the first in its industry to set such a target, and its progress is enabled by corn growers' increasing investment in tools that help determine the most efficient ways to apply fertilizer."

 

This line of argument is perhaps all the more surprising (and welcome) because it is written by the current president of the Environmental Defense Fund. He argues that the fourth wave of environmentalism is substantively different to each of the three preceding waves, principally in terms of the complexity of the co-operation between business and environmental activists:

 

"Where Third Wave partnerships tended to be one-on-one, the Fourth Wave boasts many multilateral partnerships. EDF's work to measure methane emissions from the oil-and-gas supply chain involved scores of academic institutions and energy companies, and now we're working with the Netherlands Institute for Space Research to derive emissions data from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-5P satellite, sent into orbit last year. More than 400 companies have joined Walmart in its effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in its global supply chain by one billion tons—more than the total annual emissions of Germany."

 

The key seems to be to leverage evolving technology:

 

"In any era, those doing the hard work of solving environmental problems take advantage of the best available tools, and in this era those tools include innovations that can help drive transparency, responsibility and low-cost solutions. Technology can obviously be used for good or ill. But when sensors, machine learning and data analytics are used to shape smart policy, rein in free riders, and reward corporate responsibility, they will enable changes that help people and nature prosper."

 

Perhaps, but I would think the more difficult transition is mental. The shift from seeing business as the 'enemy' to seeing it as an essential part of the solution is transformational. It is hard for activists committed to an ideologically pure vision of the environment to shift to accepting that some pollution is an inevitable cost to economic and social progress.

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

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

© Sage Publications, 2017

 

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

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Fourth Wave Environmentalism Fully Embraces Business

By Fred Krupp

March 21, 2018

The Wall Street Journal

Late Edition – Final

A17

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fourth-wave-environmentalism-fully-embraces-business-1521585072

 

Strategic CSR - Minimum wage

The article in the url below presents a strong argument in favor of minimum wage jobs:

 

"Entry-level jobs matter—and you don't have to take my word for it. In a speech last week on workforce development in low-income communities, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that 'it is crucial for younger workers to establish a solid connection to employment early in their work lives.'"

 

Although the author of this article has a dodgy record as an employer (to say the least), I think there is value in his position on this issue. Specifically, he argues that the downside to a significant jump in the minimum wage is heightened in an age of increasing automation:

 

"In a survey released last month, the publication Nation's Restaurant News asked 319 restaurant operators to name their biggest challenged for 2017. Nearly a quarter of them, 24%, said rising minimum wages. … McDonald's said last November that it would install self-order kiosks in all 14,000 of its U.S. restaurants. Wendy's announced in February it would add kiosks at about 1,000 locations to 'appeal to younger customers and reduce labor costs.'"

 

While prior research on the effects of a minimum wage suggest that a significant jump discourages entrepreneurs from creating more jobs, the article suggests that, given the increasing ability of machines to replace humans in the workplace, any legislation designed to raise the minimum wage should really be called "the Robot Employment Act":

 

"The trend toward automation is particularly pronounced in areas where the local minimum wage is high. Eatsa, a 21st-century version of the automat, now lists seven locations in four cities, each of which will be subject to a $15 minimum wage within the next 36 months."

 

And this problem is only going to become more apparent:

 

"Taking automation to the next step, Miso Robotics and the owner of CaliBurger announced in March they have developed a robotic arm, called Flippy, that can turn burgers and place them on buns. CaliBurger plans to install them over the next two years in 50 restaurants worldwide."

 

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

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

© Sage Publications, 2017

 

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/

 

 

The Minimum Wage Should Be Called the Robot Employment Act

By Andy Puzder

April 14, 2017

The Wall Street Journal

Late Edition – Final

A19

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-minimum-wage-should-be-called-the-robot-employment-act-1491261644

 

Strategic CSR - McDonald's

Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry knows that many chefs like fast-food. The article in the url below challenges some of the best chefs in the world to apply their discerning palates to identify which fast food chain is getting it right (or at least, less wrong). The results indicate the scale of the challenge facing McDonald's as the fast-food industry responds to consumer demands for healthier (yet, good tasting and cheap) meals. While different chefs liked different chains, it seems that none of them think McDonald's food is worth eating:

 

"At the airport. En route to another critical meeting. Fast food is everywhere, and unavoidable. Even celebrity chefs producing the world's most-praised meals have an occasional hankering. So where do they get their fix? We asked them, and alongside the predictable Shake Shack and KFC were some surprising results. More were notable by their absence. We're looking at you, McDonald's."

 

The range of fast-food outlets selected is impressive. In terms of burgers, Shake Shack and In-N-Out Burger both get mentioned twice, while Five Guys also gets noted. As the quote indicates, however, McDonald's is notable by its absence from consideration.

 

Hope you all have a good weekend.

David

 

David Chandler

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

© Sage Publications, 2017

 

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/

 

 

The Best Fast Food, Picked by the World's Top Chefs

By Richard Vines

July 21, 2016

Bloomberg Businessweek

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-21/best-fast-foods-according-to-world-s-top-chefs

 

Strategic CSR - McDonald's

In my strategic management course this spring, a student reminded me of the McDonald's Peace Theory – the idea that no countries that have McDonald's stores within their borders have ever gone to war with each other. The theory came from Thomas Friedman of The New York Times and can be traced to the article in the url below, which he wrote in 1996:

 

"So I've had this thesis for a long time and came here to Hamburger University at McDonald's headquarters to finally test it out. The thesis is this: No two countries that both have a McDonald's have ever fought a war against each other. The McDonald's folks confirmed it for me. I feared the exception would be the Falklands war, but Argentina didn't get its first McDonald's until 1986, four years after that war with Britain. Civil wars don't count: McDonald's in Moscow delivered burgers to both sides in the fight between pro-and anti-Yeltsin forces in 1993. Since Israel now has a kosher McDonald's, since Saudi Arabia's McDonald's closes five times a day for Muslim prayer, since Egypt has 18 McDonald's and Jordan is getting its first, the chances of a war between them are minimal. But watch out for that Syrian front. There are no Big Macs served in Damascus. India-Pakistan? I'm still worried. India, where 40 percent of the population is vegetarian, just opened the first beefless McDonald's (vegetable nuggets!), but Pakistan is still a Mac-free zone."

 

The theory held for quite some time and is a testament, not to the unifying power of McDonald's 'food' (with 'food' placed firmly in inverted commas), but to the power of capitalism to promote societal progress. It was broken only recently after Russia invaded Ukraine:

 

"Obviously, I say all this tongue in cheek. But there was enough of a correlation for me to ask James Cantalupo, president of McDonald's International and its de facto Secretary of State, what might be behind this Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention -- which stipulates that when a country reaches a certain level of economic development, when it has a middle class big enough to support a McDonald's, it becomes a McDonald's country, and people in McDonald's countries don't like to fight wars; they like to wait in line for burgers. Or as Mr. Cantalupo puts it: 'We focus our development on the more well-developed economies -- those that are growing and those that are large -- and the risks involved in being adventuresome [for those growing economies] are probably getting too great.'"

 

What is also interesting is that, following Russia's invasion, McDonald's closed its three stores in Crimea in 2014 and withdrew from the country (see here). As the company said at the time:

 

"Like many other multi-national companies, McDonald's is currently evaluating potential business and regulatory implications which may result from the evolving situation in Crimea. … We believe it is prudent and responsible to sort through these details thoroughly. Additionally, due to the suspension of necessary financial and banking services, we have no option but to close our three restaurants in Crimea. It is important to note that this is strictly a business decision which has nothing to do with politics. We are taking numerous steps to support our employees during this time. We hope to reopen our restaurants soon so we can welcome back our loyal customers. "

 

This discussion in my class arose in response to a quote from Micklethwait and Wooldridge's great book, The Company: A Short History of  Revolutionary Idea (2003, pxv), which I assign as a reading for my students:

 

"The most important organization in the world is the company: the basis of the prosperity of the West and the best hope for the future of the rest of the world."

 

The idea of that particular class is to discuss the history of the corporation, how it evolved to where it is today (a result of a series of deliberate political and judicial decisions), in order to better understand why concepts like the LLC, limited liability, corporate personhood, boards of directors, and investor relations with the firm all exist in the way that they do today. The point more relevant to this Newsletter, however, is the status of the corporation as the dominant institution of our time. This lies in contrast to the state, the political party, the Church, and the family as dominant institutions of previous times. While the 'value' of specific corporations to society will vary (and, in my opinion, McDonald's does not rank very highly), the broader point about the power of capitalism to advance societies and the danger of authoritarian governments to impede societies is reinforced powerfully by the McDonald's Peace Theory. As Friedman notes:

 

"In the 1950's and 60's developing countries thought that having an aluminum factory and a U.N. seat was what made them real countries, but today many countries think they will have arrived only if they have their own McDonald's and Windows 95 in their own language."

 

I am sure there are more elevated signals of 'progress.' Nevertheless, those metrics (assuming the latest version of Windows) are as good as any others in determining what counts as progress today in many countries that wish they had economies as developed as ours, along with the companies that generate that progress:

 

"Said Mr. Cantalupo: 'I feel these countries want McDonald's as a symbol of something -- an economic maturity and that they are open to foreign investments. I don't think there is a country out there we haven't gotten inquiries from. I have a parade of ambassadors and trade representatives in here regularly to tell us about their country and why McDonald's would be good for the country.'"

 

Take care

David

 

David Chandler

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

© Sage Publications, 2017

 

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/

 

 

Foreign Affairs Big Mac I

By Thomas L Friedman

December 8, 1996

The New York Times

Late Edition – Final

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/08/opinion/foreign-affairs-big-mac-i.html