Interview with Wayne Visser
By MTÜ Vastutustundliku Ettevõtluse Foorum, Estonia
Implementing CSR in SMEs
Can legal reforms rescue business back from greedy shareholders?
Can legal reforms rescue business back from greedy shareholders?
Article by Wayne Visser
An International Sustainable Business column for The Guardian
The notion of a social enterprise – a business that explicitly strives to create wider societal benefits, rather than focusing narrowly on shareholder returns – is not new. In the 1700s and 1800s, a charter of incorporation was only bestowed on those businesses that were socially useful – for example, water utilities or railroads.
As Joel Bakan, legal academic and author of The Corporation, explained to me: “The original notion of the corporation was that the sovereign would grant the status of corporation to a group of business people in order to acquit themselves of some responsibility to create something that was in the public good … the notion that this was simply about creating wealth for the owners of the company was alien.”
The 18th and 19th centuries also saw the birth of the co-operative and credit union movements, initially in Britain, France and Germany, and later spreading across the globe. Today, according to the International Co-operative Alliance, more than a billion people are members of co-operatives worldwide, with co-operatives providing 100m jobs (20% more than multinational enterprises).
The economic activity of the largest 300 co-operatives in the world equals that of the 10th largest national economy. In the US alone, there are more than 29,000 co-operatives, accounting for more than $3tn (£1.9tn) in assets, generating more than $500bn in revenue and $25bn in wages.
Despite these noble roots, and the existence of co-operatives as an institutional alternative, the modern corporation with its with short-term, shareholder-driven mission has come to dominate our global economic landscape. Multinationals especially are seen by a growing tide of critics as not only failing to act in the interests of the public good, but as being agents of wholesale value destruction in communities, economies and the environment.
Bakan goes so far as to argue that today’s companies are pathological in nature, in the sense that “the corporation has a legally defined mandate to relentlessly pursue – without exception – its own self-interest, regardless of the often harmful consequences it might cause to others.”
Partly in reaction to the growing power and impact of big business, we have seen the rise of another counter-movement over the past 40 years, focused on social and environmental entrepreneurs. Among early pioneers were the Ashoka Foundation (established in 1980), Fundes (1985) and the Social Venture Network (1987), with a new wave of momentum coming from high profile cash injections by the Schwabb Foundation (1998) and Skoll Foundation (1999) and books like The Power of Unreasonable People by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan.
Within the big corporates over the same period, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development programmes have gained ground, moving through defensive, charitable, promotional and strategic stages, as I have described elsewhere. However, in the face of growing pressure to prioritise their fiduciary duty towards shareholders, these CSR and ‘triple-bottom line’ efforts have been widely criticised as little more than window-dressing and corporate spin, and largely ineffective in tackling our most pressing social and environmental crises
…
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”download” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/article_usa_bcorps_wvisser.pdf”]Pdf[/button] Can legal reforms rescue business back from greedy shareholders? (article)
Related websites
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Link[/button] CSR International (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2013) Can legal reforms rescue business back from greedy shareholders? The Guardian, 23 February 2013.
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Ten Web 2.0 Trends Shaping the Future of Business
Ten Web 2.0 Trends Shaping the Future of Business
Paper by Wayne Visser
What is Web 2.0 Really?
Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as ‘web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, inter-operability, user-centred design and collaboration’. The term owes its origins to a 1999 article by IT consultant Darcy DiNucci, which challenged programmers to adapt to the spread of portable Web-ready devices. The concept was broadened out in 2005 by online media pioneer Tim O’Reilly, who gave contrasted Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 using examples: DoubleClick versus Google AdSense, Britannica Online versus Wikipedia, personal websites versus blogging, publishing versus participation, directories (taxonomy) versus tagging (folksonomy) and stickiness versus syndication, to mention but a few.
In 2006, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams showed how Web 2.0 was set to disrupt how markets operate and how businesses are organised. They called this new paradigm ‘wikinomics’, defining it as ‘the effects of extensive collaboration and user-participation on the marketplace and corporate world’.
Wikinomics, they said, is based on four principles:
1) Openness, which includes not only open standards and content but also financial transparency and an open attitude towards external ideas and resources;
2) Peering, which replaces hierarchical models with a more collaborative forum, for which the Linux operating system is a quintessential example;
3) Sharing, which is a less proprietary approach to (among other things) products, intellectual property, bandwidth and scientific knowledge; and
4) Acting globally, which involves embracing globalization and ignoring physical and geographical boundaries at both the corporate and individual level.
Another Web 2.0 building block is Chris Anderson’s concept of ‘The Long Tail’ – named after the area of a statistical distribution curve where it approaches (but never quite meets) the axis. Anderson’s breakthrough idea was that, in a Web 2.0 era, selling less to more people is big business. The Long Tail questions the conventional wisdom that says success is about generating ‘blockbusters’ and ‘superstars’ – those rare few products and services that become runaway bestsellers.
Anderson sums up his message by saying that:
1) The Long Tail of available variety is longer than we think;
2) It’s now within reach economically; and
3) All those niches, when aggregated, can make up a significant market; and
4) The Long Tail revolution has been made possible by the digital age, which has dramatically reduced the costs of customized production and niche distribution.
Taking Tapscott and Williams’ four principles (openness, peering, sharing and acting globally), plus another principle derived from Anderson’s ‘long tail’ concept (mass customization), let’s take a look at the future of business through a Web 2.0 lens …
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”download” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/paper_web2_trends_wvisser.pdf”]Pdf[/button] Ten Web 2.0 Trends Shaping the Future of Business (paper)
Related pages
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”info” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.kaleidoscopefutures.com”]Page[/button] Kaleidoscope Futures (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2013) Ten Web 2.0 Trends Shaping the Future of Business, Kaleidoscope Futures Paper Series, No. 2.
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Cases Demonstrating CSR 2.0 Principles
Interview with Wayne Visser
By MTÜ Vastutustundliku Ettevõtluse Foorum, Estonia
Stages of CSR in Europe today
Interview with Wayne Visser
By MTÜ Vastutustundliku Ettevõtluse Foorum, Estonia
Ecuador & Dominican Republic Notes 2012
05 September 2012
En route to Quito. It’s been a tiring day-and-a-half of airports, queues, flights, taxis and a brief few hours in a hotel. London-Miami-Santa Domingo-Panama City-Quito is certainly not the most direct way to get to Ecuador, but needs must.
The air time has been unusually unproductive and unreflective, despite pre-flight plans to mark Cambridge dissertations. Instead, I have been entertained by the Alien prequel Prometheus, an offbeat Scottish heart-warmer The Angel’s Share (bad lad finds meaning in life via a whiskey distillery) and the amusing period film Hysteria (about the invention of the vibrator as a cure for anxiety in housewives). I have also been listening to the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (A Study in Scarlet) and At World’s End (Ken Follett), besides reading wizard detective Pete’s exploits in Moon Over Soho (Ben Aaronovitch).
Ahead lies a busy schedule of talks in Ecuador, followed by a keynote in Dominican Republic, hopefully with a few days of R&R in and around Santa Domingo.
07 September 2012
Had a great day yesterday – addressed a CEO breakfast in Guayaquil, then drove 3 hours over the Andes to visit a porcelain factory in Cuenca.
I’ve written a review of John Elkington’s The Zeronauts – “guaranteed to inspire a new generation of sustainability”.
08 September 2012
Had a good workshop today in Quito, using the CSR 2.0 Self-Assessment Diagnostic tool. Interesting regional differences between cities.
09 September 2012
Arrived in Dominican Rep last night. Today, explored Santa Domingo’s old city. Hot & sticky, but a wonderfully vibrant culture & great music. Enjoying working at my hotel in Santa Domingo beside a pool with turtles swimming around & basking in the sun on the rocks! 🙂 Watching the US Open Tennis men’s final. Can Murray hold his nerve & go on to win his first grandslam title? Go Andy go!
11 September 2012
Enjoyed giving the keynote at Dominican Republic’s 1st CSR conference by INTRAS. Tonight, a taste of Santa Domingo’s music & dance!
13 September 2012
In transit in Miami airport for the n-th time. One day, I need to get beyond the terminal to the beach! Looking forward to being home.
19 November 2012
I’m in Quito, Ecuador for the week, presenting at various events on the ethical economy, responsible business 2.0. & future fitness
Just heard that I’m to be included in the CSR International Top 20 Sustainability Leaders of 2012, based on an expert poll.
21 November 2012
Had an interesting session today at the Chamber of Commerce in Quito, talking about safe, shared, smart, sustainable & satisfying futures
23 November 2012
Another busy day in Ecuador, including a TV interview. Tomorrow is the Charity Ball, where I’ll be posing as a penguin
24 November 2012
Had a packed week, presenting to students at the Catholic University, entrepreneurs at the British-Ecuador Chamber of Commerce, local government agencies at the National Decentralisation Strategy event, NGOs dealing with women and rural development, companies embarking on S2M certification in the security and oil sectors, and the newly established Minister of Transparency – all this as part of Responsibility 2.0 Week. The forums gave me a great opportunity to test out my 5-S Future-Fitness Framework, which proved to have great potential as a tool for dialogue and planning among multiple stakeholders. Participants were able to identify problems, measures and actions to guide progress towards a more safe, shared, smart, sustainable and satisfying future.
As always, I was generously hosted by Roberto Salazar and his companies, Hexagon and S2M. We have resolved to collaborate on a research paper based on our experiences this week, and I will also focus one of my Guardian columns on dialogue as a catalyst for social cohesion in Ecuador. We finished off the week with a Charity Ball last night, which saw me schmoozing with the British and EU ambassadors in Ecuador, doing my best to impersonate a penguin (in my tuxedo). There was a fantastic live band called The Academicians and the lively dancing was pure joy to watch – and to indulge in. No wonder Latin Americans score so high on measures of happiness and life satisfaction. Somehow, celebration is at the heart of their culture, despite all the challenges faced by people in the region.
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Where Next for the Circular Economy?
Where Next for the Circular Economy
Article by Wayne Visser
An International Sustainable Business column for The Guardian
It is not hard to make the case for a circular economy, ie one where closed-loop production brings us closer to the goal of zero waste; according to Hunter Lovins, author and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, our global economy is so inefficient that less than 1% of all the resources we extract are actually used in products and are still there six months after sale.
Not only is this unbelievably inefficient, it is also profoundly unsustainable. As Richard Heinberg says in his book, Peak Everything, “The 21st century ushered in an era of declines”, from global oil, natural gas, and coal extraction to yearly grain harvests, climate stability, population, fresh water and minerals like copper and platinum.
The idea of a circular economy is not new. In the 1960s, US economist Kenneth Boulding called for a shift away from “the cowboy economy”, where endless frontiers imply no limits on resource consumption or waste disposal, to “a spaceship economy”, where everything is engineered to be constantly recycled. Mariska van Dalen, a circular economy expert at the consultancy and engineering firm Tebodin, captures the essence of the concept as: “Waste is food, use solar income and celebrate diversity.”
One of the most prominent advocates for the circular economy is Michael Braungart, co-author of Cradle to Cradle (with Bill McDonough). Today, Braungart holds academic chairs in Cradle to Cradle innovation and quality at Rotterdam School of Management and for design at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, where Braungart has found his intellectual home.
When I interviewed Braungart for the Top 50 Sustainability Books a few years ago, I found out that he regards the Netherlands as most likely to become the first circular economy. “The Dutch never romanticised nature, so it’s different to the United Kingdom or Germany,” he said. “There’s no ‘mother nature’, because with the next tide they would just swim away. It was always a culture of partnership with nature, learning from nature, and that’s what we need. We can learn endlessly from nature, but it’s not about romanticising nature.”
The Netherlands also have a culture of support, whereas the Americans, Germans, British and Swedish have a culture of control, Braungart said. “They assume human beings are bad anyway and we need to control them to be less bad. But the Dutch culture is a culture of support, because if you don’t support your neighbour, you will drown (because your neighbour couldn’t take care of your dyke). Even if you don’t like your neighbour, you need to support your neighbour. So Cradle to Cradle is a culture of support.”
I was interested to find out whether experts working on the circular economy in the Netherlands also shared Braungart’s confidence. Krispijn Beek, who worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation and Agriculture on sustainable business policy, said “Cradle to Cradle was a big hit in the Netherlands, including government.” Apparently, the trend really took off after a 2006 television documentary, Afval = Voedsel (Waste = Food).
However, at a later point the idea stalled – at least in government. Beek claims that “one of the showstoppers was the commercial certification process, which made it impossible to use Cradle to Cradle in public procurement.” …
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”download” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/article_netherlands_wvisser.pdf”]Pdf[/button] Where Next for the Circular Economy? (article)
Related websites
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Link[/button] CSR International (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2012) Where Next for the Circular Economy? The Guardian, 10 December 2012.
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The Future of CSR
The Future of CSR
Towards Transformative CSR, or CSR 2.0
Paper by Wayne Visser
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities – Josiah Charles Stamp
Abstract
This paper argues that CSR, as a business, governance and ethics system, has failed. This assumes that success or failure is measured in terms of the net impact (positive or negative) of business on society and the environment. The paper contends that a different kind of CSR is needed if we are to reverse the current direction of many of the world’s most pressing social, environmental and ethical trends. The first part of the paper reviews business’s historical progress over the Ages and Stages of CSR: moving through the Ages of Greed, Philanthropy, Marketing and Management, using defensive, charitable, promotional and strategic CSR approaches respectively. The second part of the paper examines the Three Curses of Modern CSR (incremental, peripheral and uneconomic), before exploring what CSR might look like in an emerging Age of Responsibility. This new CSR – called systemic or radical CSR, or CSR 2.0 – is based on five principles (creativity, scalability, responsiveness, glocality and circularity) and forms the basis for a new DNA model of responsible business, built around the four elements of value creation, good governance, societal contribution and environmental integrity.
Taking Stock on CSR
My starting point for any discussion on CSR – by which I mean corporate sustainability and responsibility, but choose whichever label you prefer (corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship, sustainability, business ethics) – my starting point is to admit that CSR has failed. The logic is simple and compelling. A doctor judges his/her success by whether the patient is getting better (healthier) or worse (sicker). Similarly, we should judge the success of CSR by whether our communities and ecosystems are getting better or worse. And while at the micro level – in terms of specific CSR projects and practices – we can show many improvements, at the macro level almost every indicator of our social, environmental and ethical health is in decline.
I am not alone in my assessment or conclusion. Paul Hawken stated in The Ecology of Commerce (1994) that ‘if every company on the planet were to adopt the best environmental practice of the “leading” companies, the world would still be moving toward sure degradation and collapse.’ Unfortunately, this is still true. Jeffrey Hollender, founder and CEO of Seventh Generation, agrees, saying: ‘I believe that the vast majority of companies fail to be “good” corporate citizens, Seventh Generation included. Most sustainability and corporate responsibility programs are about being less bad rather than good. They are about selective and compartmentalized “programs” rather than holistic and systemic change’ (Hollender & Breen, 2010).
In fact, there are no shortage of critics of CSR. Christian Aid (2004) issued a report called ‘Behind the Mask: The Real Face of CSR’, in which they argued that ‘CSR is a completely inadequate response to the sometimes devastating impact that multinational companies can have in an ever-more globalised world – and it is actually used to mask that impact.’ A more recent example is an article in the Wall Street Journal called ‘The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility’, which claims that ‘the idea that companies have a responsibility to act in the public interest and will profit from doing so is fundamentally flawed’ (Karnani, 2010). This is not the place to deconstruct these polemics. Suffice to say that they raise some of the same concerns I have and which I discuss in this paper …
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”download” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/paper_future_csr_wvisser.pdf”]Pdf[/button] The Future of CSR (paper)
Related pages
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”info” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.kaleidoscopefutures.com”]Page[/button] Kaleidoscope Futures (website)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”info” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Page[/button] CSR International (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2012) The Future of CSR: Towards Transformative CSR, or CSR 2.0, Kaleidoscope Futures Paper Series, No. 1.
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The Age of Responsibility (Italian Interview)
The Age of Responsibility (Interview by UCID, the Italian Association of Catholic Managers and Entrepreneurs, Italy)
South Korea Notes 2012
12 March 2012
Flying to Seoul tonight. Speaking at a conference on ISO 26000 & CSR. It is my first visit to Korea so extra exciting.
13 March 2012
Clues that you are in Seoul:
- Clue #1 – there is a pre-installed laptop in the hotel room.
- Clue #2 – the flat-screen TV is nearly cinema size.
- Clue #3 – the toilet has a console with 13 buttons … I’ll let you guess what they are all for 🙂
- Clue #4 – the desk lamp is touch-sensitive.
- Clue #5 – plug sockets fit all international plugs; no adaptors required.
- Clue #6 – there is a free-to-use mobile phone in the hotel room.
- Clue #7 – “vegetarian” includes fish & chicken.
14 March 2012
The ISO 26000 & CSR conference in Seoul was good. Delish veggie dinner at Sanchon temple restaurant, with exquisite traditional Korean dancing.
15 March 2012
Talking with CEO of Citibank Korea the other night, he admitted that 60% of the global financial crisis was caused by greed, pure & simple. Another interesting lesson: the Korean government is funding social enterprises – but subsidisation increases failure rates and lowers productivity.
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