'B Corp' leaders challenge Apple, others to become force for good
Apple should put the planet before profits, a group of more than 30 business leaders from major companies have urged, via a full-page advertisement in the New York Times demanding members of the Business Roundtable lobby group become more ethical in their practices.
The advertisement takes the form of a letter addressing the Business Roundtable, an organization representing 181 of the largest companies in the United States, including Apple. The open letter is in response to a decision made by the Business Roundtable to change how it defines the "purpose of a corporation" to one promoting "an economy that serves all Americans," rather than just shareholders.
While the Business Roundtable wants companies to benefit all stakeholders, adding customers, employees, suppliers, and communities to the list of responsibilities, the group of "B Corp" CEOs view this as not a revelation to them. B Corps refer to companies that have become "certified" in providing a positive impact for the new stakeholders, as well as the environment.
In the letter published in the New York Times, the B Corps insist "We operate with a better model of corporate governance -- benefit corporation governance -- which gives us, and could give you, a way to combat short-termism and the freedom to make decisions to balance profit and purpose."
The ad also includes a list of 33 business leaders representing major brands, including Ben & Jerry's, Danone North America, Patagonia, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and others.
"We're living in a world where business is responsible for more than 60% of the pollution of our air and our water and our land, and yet businesses take very little responsibility," said Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario. "I think what the B Corp community does is brings together these like-minded companies to be a greater force for good in the world."
While the additional concern of helping protect the environment is likely to be new to many of the firms in the Business Roundtable, it certainly isn't new to Apple, which regularly touts its environmental credentials. Along with iPhone trade-in programs and including recycled materials in its products, the iPhone maker also works to minimize its carbon footprint by investing in solar power initiatives servicing its operations around the world, as well as other conservation efforts.
The full-page ad letter from B Corp chiefs to Business Roundtable CEOs.
The advertisement takes the form of a letter addressing the Business Roundtable, an organization representing 181 of the largest companies in the United States, including Apple. The open letter is in response to a decision made by the Business Roundtable to change how it defines the "purpose of a corporation" to one promoting "an economy that serves all Americans," rather than just shareholders.
While the Business Roundtable wants companies to benefit all stakeholders, adding customers, employees, suppliers, and communities to the list of responsibilities, the group of "B Corp" CEOs view this as not a revelation to them. B Corps refer to companies that have become "certified" in providing a positive impact for the new stakeholders, as well as the environment.
In the letter published in the New York Times, the B Corps insist "We operate with a better model of corporate governance -- benefit corporation governance -- which gives us, and could give you, a way to combat short-termism and the freedom to make decisions to balance profit and purpose."
The ad also includes a list of 33 business leaders representing major brands, including Ben & Jerry's, Danone North America, Patagonia, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and others.
"We're living in a world where business is responsible for more than 60% of the pollution of our air and our water and our land, and yet businesses take very little responsibility," said Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario. "I think what the B Corp community does is brings together these like-minded companies to be a greater force for good in the world."
While the additional concern of helping protect the environment is likely to be new to many of the firms in the Business Roundtable, it certainly isn't new to Apple, which regularly touts its environmental credentials. Along with iPhone trade-in programs and including recycled materials in its products, the iPhone maker also works to minimize its carbon footprint by investing in solar power initiatives servicing its operations around the world, as well as other conservation efforts.
The full-page ad letter from B Corp chiefs to Business Roundtable CEOs.
Comments
Maybe those same CEO’s should start giving.
”Using the stock-options-granted measure, the average compensation for CEOs of the 350 largest U.S. firms was $13.3 million in 2017, up 1.7 percent from $13.0 million in 2016. From 1978 to 2017, inflation-adjusted compensation based on realized stock options of the top CEOs increased 1,070 percent.Aug 16, 2018”
We’re a bunch of spoiled and entitled brats who want and want. Each generation thinks they ‘have the solution’ and each generation forgets history, even recent history. Not that long ago plastic bags were the solution to the abuse represented by paper bags. No one anticipated the effect of plastic bags, and instead of learning from that error we just want to replace it with something else that will likely become a pollutant which we don’t know enough yet to see as a pollutant—everything in excess becomes a pollutant.
We need to stop the selfish and entitled attitude which has diseased our culture. We need to value the basics—family, food, protection, personal responsibility, self control, respect, morality—and not live in such selfish indulgence.
The (mostly) overpaid ~180 public company CEOs, OTOH, come through like a bunch of unbridled, cynical hypocrites. But here’s a chance for them to redeem themselves: they should take 50% of their salaries + incentives + bonuses, pool it all together to create a worker retraining fund, a fund that will help with all those Americans who have been thrown out of work thanks to their outsourcing and global trade/investment decisions. Then we might consider throwing some respect their way.
Until then, all they’re doing is to spout off on pet projects and preferences using other people’s (in this case, shareholders’) money...
Here’s what will happen: It won’t be too long before they’re thrown out on their butts.
Math fail again (in your quote: 13.0 * 1.017 != 13.3). The CEOs who wrote that letter are not the CEOs described in your quote. None of them, I believe, head a top-350 corporation. You also don't know what they give. (Nor do I - I'm not saying they're paragons of charity. I just have no data, and I'm pretty sure you don't either.) Don't you realize that the two things you wrote contradict each other? If their sole focus is making money, then they aren't going to be setting up any entities to do anything (except make money).
Of course. But you can take small incremental steps, and improve things over time. One of the most obvious and pressing is improving your environmental footprint. And despite the whining of insane planet-haters (which we have a few of here), that's a relatively easy sell as more and more people are waking up to the reality of a very dangerous future. No, GE (if it survives) is not going to become a B-corp next year. But even they could improve.
If you’re not implying that — since I assume you were, among other things, using a plastic keyboard to type your response — then exactly what is the trade-off you’re willing to make? More importantly, the trade-off you think others should make?