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Campbell’s 3rd Generation CSR Strategies: 9 Points You Can Use

Dave Stangis, vice president of CSR for Campbell’s, recently spoke about third generation strategies for CSR and sustainability. Unlike past generations, which could be summed up with words like compliance and philanthropy, the mark of success for this generation will be cannibalization of the sector as CSR becomes integrated into a company’s functions just like human resources, finance or quality. Dave talked […]

A New Shade of Cause Marketing: Reward Donors (and Convert Them To Consumers)

Imagine frequenting your local coffee or sandwich joint and receiving said item on your tenth visit. Imagine being rewarded with a free trip from Boulder to Boston after choosing Continental for 100,000 air miles worth of travel. Easy, these customer loyalty programs have been around for a while, working seemingly well for both high-margin and […]

Has McDonald’s Gone Walmart on Us?

McDonald’s just penetrated my prejudice-painted blinders to score some points.  Like Walmart before, McDonald’s was once my favorite company to malign. Animal cruelty, lousy work conditions, rainforest destruction, supplier coercion, detrimental marketing and obesity (yes, I think McDonald’s has a responsibility for the products they sell) were some top offenses. But McDonald’s has been systematically […]

How To Grow Your Business By Giving Your Employees a Calling–with Chip Conley

When Chip Conley applied his interpretation of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to his hospitality company Joie de Vivre, he tripled its size when most of his competitors were going bankrupt in the post-9/11, Travelocity-frenzy years. Click the player to listen to my 20-minute conversation with Chip or right-click and save for the MP3. [Audio clip: view […]

The Alternative Isn’t Nothing, It’s Something New: NetApp’s Free Fix To Going More Green

You want more green initiatives in your company and so do your employees and consumers.  You’d love to give employee rebates for hybrid car purchases or offer transportation stipends, but the funding for these programs just isn’t there right now.  It’s taking action (rather than any specific action) that counts. A year ago NetApp was […]

Why Investing Smartly Means Choosing Companies With Happy Employees

How does good beget good? And what are you doing to tip the domino? In his book, The HIP Investor: Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World, R. Paul Herman lists employee satisfaction as an indicator of strong investment returns.  He points to Wharton finance professor Alex Edmans’ work identifying a “direct positive correlation over […]

Why It’s Good Business For Levi’s To Care About What You Do With Your Jeans at Home

Your next pair of Levi’s might come with a clothesline or shoebox-sized dryer.  After a recent lifecycle assessment, Levi’s realized that 60% of the climate impact of a pair of jeans comes after the jeans are made and sold; nearly 80% of this is from drying the jeans in a dryer.  The presumed and easy […]

How Transparency Can Benefit Your Company (There’s More To Be Gained Than Consumer Trust)

“If you’re not scared by what you’re revealing, than you’re not being transparent enough” –Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh Generation If real transparency is scary, why create it?  Like with most things that bring real value (and take real effort), there are several benefits of having a glass-walled company.  A note before the benefits: transparency isn’t a […]

Can You Crowdsource Your Sustainability?

Smart business talk today revolves around meeting stakeholder interests.  But it can be daunting for companies to do that. Whereas before they were primary liable to shareholders, they’re now pressed to satisfy consumer demands for products that are sustainable as well as affordable and durable; they’re expected to take the environment and the community and […]

The Total Impact of Great Beer–With New Belgium Brewing’s Kim Jordan

Click the player to listen to my conversation with Kim or right-click and save for the MP3.  Either way, you should listen. I’d bet good money that most of us would love to have Kim Jordan’s job as New Belgium Brewing Company’s intrepid leader of good beer and good business. Beyond making (and tasting) great […]