When Good Companies Do Bad Things : Responsibility and Risk in an Age of Globalization

by Peter Schwartz; Blair Gibb

• ISBN13: 9780471323327
• ISBN10: 0471323322
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-05-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

A good reputation is certainly an asset for any company, but to a public that has raised its expectations of business' responsibility to society, being good just isn't good enough. More than public relations posturing or kowtowing to political correctness, social responsibility in corporations is proving essential to the long-term success of companies in today's globalized economy. Businesses must now contend with a globalized public that is increasingly aware of business' obligations to society and expects a level of accountability that most companies cannot meet. Good companies must go beyond merely being good-they must have integrity and a strategy aligned with it. Integrity in business has traditionally meant being honest, upright, and ethical, but in response to globalization, companies are being forced to move beyond this definition and add to it another fundamental quality-integration with society. Corporations must anticipate and respond directly to the demands of public opinion rather than waiting for government intervention, mediation, and regulation to force them into action. When Good Companies Do Bad Things explores the strategic relationship between know-how, integrity, and integration, demonstrating how companies that fail to embrace the deeper meanings of these terms jeopardize their reputations and future prosperity. The notion of corporations taking on social issues for the greater good is gaining momentum, not only because of political correctness but because it can strengthen a company's long-term strategy. Peter Schwartz and Blair Gibb examine well-known cases of companies like Shell, Nike, Texaco, and Nestlé, illustrating the huge financial risks of corporate assumptions that lead many companies to make poor choices. When Good Companies Do Bad Things explores the strategic relationship between know-how and integrity, demonstrating how companies that do not embrace the deeper meanings of these terms can jeopardize their own reputations and future prosperity. The authors present new approaches that demonstrate how it is possible to translate social value into business value. Peter Schwartz, author of The Art of the Long View, and Blair Gibb recount well-known cases of companies like Shell, Nike, Texaco, and Nestlé, companies that found themselves facing accusations of hazardous environmental practices, racism in the workplace, and human rights violations. To themselves and the corporate world they were each considered good companies, until they were blindsided by issues on which large segments of the public felt that their trust had been violated. Schwartz and Gibb present new approaches to avoid the financial pitfalls of bad corporate assumptions and enable good companies to make good on translating social value into business value.

Author Biography

<b>PETER SCHWARTZ</b> is Chairman of the Global Business Network and author of the bestselling The Art of the Long View. He is the former head of scenario planning at Royal Dutch/Shell in London and directed the Strategic Environment Center at SRI International.<br> <br> gt;BLAIR GIBB</b> is a GBN principal, former planning officer at Amnesty International's London headquarters, an international trade specialist, and poet.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction	xiii
Social Responsibility in the Context of Globalization	1	(8)
Business as Villain: A Historical Overview	9	(16)
Corporations Today	25	(42)
Royal Dutch/Shell	26	(7)
Unocal	33	(9)
Nestle	42	(2)
Texaco	44	(4)
Union Carbide	48	(3)
Nike	51	(4)
A. H. Robins	55	(4)
Stepping Over the Line	59	(3)
Summary: Phases of a Crisis	62	(5)
Risk Management or Scenario Thinking?	67	(6)
The Nike Business Idea	70	(3)
Best Practice---and Beyond	73	(22)
What Is Best Practice?	73	(20)
Beyond Best Practice	93	(2)
Reperceiving Social Responsibility	95	(36)
Steps in the Reperceiving Process	106	(9)
Cheap Labor and Competition---Race to the Bottom?	115	(3)
Environmentalism	118	(2)
Equal Employment/Racial and Gender Issues	120	(3)
When Bad Countries Happen	123	(8)
Business, Governments, and Nongovernmental Organizations	131	(16)
NGOs in the New World	132	(6)
Governments in the Globalized Economy	138	(4)
The Media---Turning up the Heat	142	(5)
Issues of the Future	147	(10)
New Stories	157	(12)
Getting Personal	169	(8)
Stop and Think	169	(2)
Identify Your Opportunities	171	(1)
Join Your Colleagues	172	(1)
Seek Out Epiphanies	173	(1)
Use Your Learnings	174	(1)
Continue the Process	175	(2)
Why Good Companies Do Bad Things	177	(2)
Appendix	179	(4)
Notes	183	(6)
Index	189