Topic: Corporate Citizenship

Environmental sustainability is now an imperative for supply chains, and buyers and procurement professionals have more power than ever to exert pressure on suppliers to provide green products. Businesses are also partnering with government and nonprofits to create change in this arena. How do you communicate with suppliers on environmental innovation? At the Stanford 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference, executives from an HMO, a government agency, and an entrepreneurial company share successes in greening the supply chains.

The electronics industry is on the forefront of the movement to improve social responsibility and environmental sustainability across manufacturing and supply chains through collaboration. Industry experts gathered at Stanford for the 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference to discuss the business case for such collaboration, review the challenges, and explain why this industry has been particularly successful in this regard.

Nike has traveled the full range of the corporate social responsibility movement, from the campaigning days when it was a poster child for all things to do with poor working conditions through the era of multistakeholder partnerships. It has now moved into the next phase where corporate responsibility becomes part of the business model. Speaking at the Stanford 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference, Nike's VP for corporate responsibility, Hannah Jones, looks at the future of corporate responsibility as the focus shifts upstream.

Companies around the world are trying to figure out how to evaluate their performance--as well as that of their suppliers--on a host of corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions in areas such as diversity, community development, and environmental issues. How can CSR influence business initiatives and the value of CSR efforts be measured? In this panel discussion, Stanford 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference panelists share lessons and resources.

For Wal-Mart, social responsibility includes keeping products affordable to the millions of low- and middle-income consumers who form the bulk of its customer base. In this University podcast, Lawrence Jackson, former Wal-Mart president, brings the perspectives of someone who grew up in inner city Washington, D.C., to ask a Stanford audience at the 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference whether pushing for social and environmental responsibility in business is a racially and economically segregated movement.

Many countries that should be thriving are dragged into poverty and strife by the burden of corruption. The loss goes far beyond the sums that change hands dishonestly; the true price must take the ensuing opportunity costs into account. In this audio lecture, Peter Eigen describes strategies that can be used by companies, governments, and citizens to break the cycle of corruption and lift themselves to more efficient, fair, and honest dealings.

In nonprofit management, organizations should approach corporations as they would clients and offer tailored marketing operations that serve their needs. That's the advice Nancy Lee delivers in this audio lecture. Speaking to an audience of nonprofit executives during the 2006 Nonprofit Management Institute at Stanford, Lee shares the lessons from 20 years of building nonprofit-corporate partnerships that both serve corporations' objectives and enhance nonprofits' mission delivery.

How do we look after the global public good in a society where globalized businesses aren't subject to international control? In this audio lecture, Peter Eigen explains civil society organizations' role in creating necessary structures and rules to fill the gaps in current global governance. Suggesting cooperation between academic, business, and social actors, Eigen uses Transparency International's policies as examples in the fight against corruption and environmental abuse.

As a leading thinker on corporate social responsibility, Oded Grajew is challenging businesses, consumers, and governments to join in acting ethically towards a sustainable social good. With early roots in the Brazilian toy business, Grajew now heads the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility. In this audio lecture, he shows that business can be a powerful force for positive change and shares methods of enlisting everyone's help to build a sustainable society.

Social Accountability International President Alice Tepper Marlin has been leading the push to create a credible, comprehensive, and efficient verification system for assuring humane workplaces around the world. In this audio lecture, she describes the strategies the Social Accountability International's SA-8000 standard has used to get global supply chain stakeholders operating on the same page when it comes to providing employees with safe, equitable, and financially beneficial working conditions.