Causes and effects

Most companies make charitable donations, but few approach their contributions with an eye toward enhancing their brands. Those that do take such an approach commit talent and know-how, not just dollars, to a pressing but carefully chosen social need and then tell the world about the cause and their service to it. Through the association, both the business and the cause benefit in ways they could not otherwise. Organizations such as Avon, ConAgra Foods, and Chevrolet have recognized that a sustained cause-branding program can improve their reputations, boost their employees' morale, strengthen relations with business partners, and drive sales. And the targeted causes receive far more money than they could have from direct corporate gifts alone. The authors examine these best practices and offer four principles for building successful cause-branding programs. First, they say, a company should select a cause that advances its corporate goals. That is, unless the competitive logic for supporting the cause is clear, a company shouldn't even consider putting its finite resources behind it. Second, a business should commit to a cause before picking its charitable partners. Otherwise, a cause-branding program may become too dependent on its partners. Third, a company should put all its assets to work, especially its employees. It should leverage the professional skills of its workers as well as its other assets such as distribution networks. And fourth, a company should promote its philanthropic initiatives through every possible channel. In addition to using the media, it should communicate its efforts through the Web, annual reports, direct mail, and so on. Cause branding is a way to turn the obligations of corporate citizenship into a valuable asset. When the cause is well chosen, the commitment genuine, and the program well executed, the cause helps the company, and the company helps the cause.     

Ethical Aspects of the Marketing of Savings and Investment Products in the UK

In spite of strengthened financial regulation, ethical concern continues about the promotion and distribution of financial services in Britain, including savings and investment products. Greater ethical attention needs to be paid to products, price, promotion and distribution. The authors are all faculty members of the School of Management and Finance, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Ennew. Alison McGregor gratefully acknowledges funding provided by the Association of British Insurers.     

International Comparisons of Biotechnology Policies

Biotechnology policies are in many respects similar across the countries studied and are of three types: industrial policies, regulatory frameworks, and protection of intellectual property. Government-funded research, seed money, and tax credits are used within all of these countries, with the majority of support concentrated in R&D and capital investment, reflecting the knowledge and capital intensity of the industry. Tariffs, quotas, and other non-tariff barriers to trade are not widely used.While the European Union enacted process-driven legislation to regulate genetically modified organisms, biotechnology-derived products in the US and Japan are regulated under existing product-driven legislation. Regulatory stringency in each country appears to reflect public attitudes towards biotechnology. Labelling of genetically modified products and patentability of transgenic animals remain controversial issues that divide the US and the EU.As a country with a small domestic market for biotechnology, Canada has an interest in reducing trade obstacles caused by differential national policies.     

Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Some Successful Corporate Practices

This article describes "Project Breakthrough: A Survey of Corporate Practices for Shattering the Glass Ceiling." Evidence is presented that the "glass ceiling" remains intact in many areas. A list of barriers (social sterotypes) that support the glass ceiling are presented. Some corporate strategies found in the literature are also presented. Sixty-nine companies in the Houston area were surveyed. A summary score based on responses to thirty-four practices listed in the survey were computed. The top twelve organizations were identified as "distinguished," and site visits were conducted. The practices of these companies are listed.     

Skills in the green economy: recycling promises in the UK e‐waste management sector

In advanced economies the ‘greening’ of the economy is widely seen as promising extensive job creation and upskilling, alongside its other benefits. In popular and policy rhetoric, the growing importance of ‘green skills’ is asserted frequently. This study critically examines these claims within the context of the electronic waste management sector in the United Kingdom. Drawing on the cases of a non‐profit organisation and a small private enterprise in North West England, we observe that despite government support for developing skills in e‐waste, both the development and utilisation of skills remain minimal. Critically, the relatively more skill‐intensive process of reuse is substantially less profitable than recycling and resource capture. The study concludes by noting that the expectations from the green economy for high‐quality jobs need to be assessed within the context of similar, misplaced celebrations of previous transformations of work to avoid recycling the same promises.     

From global to local: reshoring for sustainability

The UK clothing industry has seen the extensive offshoring of manufacturing, which has created fragmented global supply chains; these present a range of supply issues and challenges, including many related to sustainability. Reshoring is a reversion of a previous offshoring decision, thereby ‘bringing manufacturing back home’ (Gray et al. J Supply Chain Management 49(2):27–33, 2013), and can be motivated by increased costs and supply management problems. While not a new phenomenon, the reshoring of activities is growing in practice and there is an imperative for academic research (Fratocchi et al. J Purch Supply Manag 20:54–59, 2014). Through an in-depth longitudinal case study, this paper explores how sustainability can be addressed through reshoring; the studied UK-based clothing SME has strong principles and is explicitly committed to bringing its supply chain ‘home’. There is a recognised need for more OM research using a social lens (Burgess and Singh Oper Manag Res 5:57–68, 2012), so Social Network Theory (SNT) is employed to examine the reshoring decision-making process. SNT applies a relational, qualitative approach to understand the interactions between network actors, and focuses on the types and strengths of relationships and how they provide context for decisions (Galaskiewicz J Supply Chain Manag 47(1):4–8, 2011). The findings demonstrate the importance of socially complex, long-term relationships in managing a sustainable supply network. These relationships contribute to the resources that a firm can harness in its supply practices, and SNT extends this with its emphasis on the strength of ties with suppliers, and the trust, reciprocity and shared meanings it engenders. For the studied firm these advantages are derived through its localised supply chain, and collaborative supplier relationships, and its progressive reshoring of activities is integral to achieving its sustainability principles.     

Long term projections of carbon emissions

Future scenarios of climate change depend on the projections of greenhouse gas emissions, which are highly uncertain. A framework for projecting emissions should focus on the sources of economic growth and the changing structure of the global economy over time. It also requires an understanding of key historical and statistical issues, including the role of convergence assumptions and the appropriate basis of comparisons between countries. This paper presents a methodology developed using the G-Cubed multi–country model in which the economic structure and emissions outcomes are determined simultaneously. In order to illustrate the importance of the assumptions underlying the way these long term carbon projections are produced we also explore the debate around the “Castles and Henderson Critique” of the Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) regarding the use of Market Exchange Rates (MERs) rather than Purchasing Power Parity exchange rates (PPPs) for benchmarking income differentials in the world economy. We show that under one scenario, emission projections based on convergence assumptions defined in MER terms are 40% higher by 2100 than emission projections based on PPP comparisons of income differentials. While this result can not necessarily be generalized to all forecasting frameworks, the potential magnitude of the difference suggests that this is a significant issue for such projection efforts.