Week 7 Blogging

For this blog entry, covering the questions from Chap. 6, I found some of the following information:

2. The first part of this question asked about businesses that were seen as some of the most ethical. To answer this question I found the list from Business Ethics website:

The first on the 100 best corporate citizens was a company called Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. The company offered the following statement, concerning their purpose and principles, on their website:

"Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is a values-driven company that views profit as a means to achieve a higher purpose. We allocate 5% of our pre-tax earnings to social and environmental causes and focus on our Company Purpose and Principles in business operations. We are motivated to achieve success because the more profitable we are, the more good we can do in the world. "

The second company on the 100 best corporate citizens list was Hewlett-Packard, a computer company based in Palo Alto, Calif. Their website had the following statement on their website about the importance they place on diversity in the workplace:

"Creating a diverse, inclusive environment has been an ongoing journey of continuous action for many years. It has been a journey guided by deeply held values. Today, our diversity vision is one of global proportions. One that requires courageous, bold actions from many people throughout the world. We are proud to share what we have learned along the way and the aspirations we are actively working to achieve."

However, with all the good these business are doing there will always be another side to the coin and you will have companies that are considered unethical. Some of the more recent companies to have been called into question by the media have been companies such as Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and my least favorite Wal-Mart.

While the unethical behavior may vary between each of these companies, the fact remains that many instances, by each of these companies, have been documented showing their unethical behavior.

6. This question talked about CSR, or corporate social responsibility, and whether companies who were well thought of for placing a high value on CSR were likely to influence purchasing decisions.

I feel that a great place to start for this question is the same website that lists the 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2006.

The companies featured on this list, which included Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., H-P Co, Motorola, T.I., Nike, Starbucks, etc.., are companies that ranked high in a slew of categories. The categories that the companies were ranked were Community, Corporate Governance, Diversity, Employee Relations, Environment, Human Rights, Product, and Total Return.

I, for one, do feel that the way a company is viewed, as far as CSR goes, does influence my purchasing behavior. Although I wish I could say that all of the purchases I make are from socially responsible companies, I'm honest with myself, and I really can't.

However, knowing a companies behavior on a responsibility level does really influence my purchasing behavior, as I hope that it would everyone elses.

Brandon

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