Center for Social Innovation

Research: The Business of Bribery

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2010

Is there a monopoly of bribery?

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Research: Shareholders Nudge Companies

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2010

Corporate social responsibility and transparency encourage companies to do good.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Government

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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TARP Head Allison Challenges the Banking Industry

Banking industry executives need to look broadly at changes to reform the American financial system, says Herbert Allison, MBA '71, the head of the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Resource: News Article

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

A Fine Green Niche

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2009

Maria Yee established her eco-friendly, high-end furniture company long before going green was the done thing. Two decades later, her company’s environmentally sound practices not only reflect a planet-friendly ethos, but also drive a market-friendly creative edge. Here’s how and why Yee stays green in a brown industry.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Healthcare

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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In Africa and at Home, Supply Chains Are Getting Kinder and Greener

Solutions to supply chain problems from motorcycle parts in Africa to grocery delivery and solar power in the US were shared at the Advancing Socially and Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains Conference presented by the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum and the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Resource: News Article

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Entrepreneurship

Walking the Double Bottom Line: Entrepreneurs Tackle Joint Social and For-Profit Missions

It is not easy for an organization to merge the business acumen of the corporate sector with the conscience of nonprofits. Panelists discuss learning how to balance their double bottom lines of profits and social goals.

Resource: News Article

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights

Lobbying for Good

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2009

In their efforts to be socially responsible, most companies fail to wield their most powerful tool: lobbying. Yet corporations such as Mary Kay, Royal Dutch Shell, and General Motors are increasingly leveraging their deep pockets, government contacts, and persuasive powers for the cause of good. Not all kinds of socially responsible lobbying are created equal, however. The authors discuss which forms are best for companies and society. —By Kyle Peterson & Marc Pfitzer

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Dropping the Ball

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2008

Why the Soccer Ball Project—one of the world’s first multistakeholder efforts to stop abuses of labor rights—is failing to protect workers in Pakistan. —By Anthony Ewing

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Cultivating the Green Consumer

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2008

Consumers say they want to buy ecologically friendly products and reduce their impact on the environment. But when they get to the cash register, their Earth-minded sentiments die on the vine. Although individual quirks underlie some of this hypocrisy, businesses can do a lot more to help would-be green consumers turn their talk into walk. —By Sheila Bonini & Jeremy Oppenheim

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Research: When Good Wins

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2008

CSR as competitive advantage.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Nonprofit Management

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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What’s Next: The Carrot Is Mightier Than the Stick

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2008

Rewarding the socially responsible with customers.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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When More Mission Equals More Money

The more a business focuses on it’s social mission, the more revenue it will generate.

Resource: Blog Post

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofit Management

Speaking of Nonprofit Retirees…

Nonprofits need to think seriously about helping their employees’ with post-work survival.

Resource: Blog Post

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Selling Vs. Selling Out

The author warns that selling a company or organization should not mean selling out as social missions will prove to contribute to long term success.

Resource: Blog Post

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Why I Like Fair Trade… And What it Needs

Good Capital invests in socially responsible Adina.

Resource: Blog Post

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Government

Despite Joining Bailout, BB&T Says it Prefers Free Market

BB&T decides to help with the bailout of the financial market.

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education

Corporate Citizenship Supporting Education

[photo - Photo: Mohammed Abbad Andaloussi]

Can change the world by engaging in corporate citizenship one hour a week? Al Jisr, and its founder Mohammed Abbad Andaloussi, are convinced that we can. In this audio interview, host Sheela Sethuraman interviews Analoussi about his efforts to improve education in Moroccan schools by involving businesses. So far, more than 100 corporations have "adopted" some 200 schools, providing volunteers, support, and a real world perspective to students.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Risks and Opportunities of Going Green

What does Wall Street make of the trends in cleantech, corporate environmental strategy, corporate social responsibility, and emerging carbon markets? In this audio lecture, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, two Goldman Sachs managers discuss how their investment firm is making the financing of corporate deals contingent upon the incorporation of increasingly stringent environmental criteria.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development

TransFair's Work in Fair Trade

Coffee price fluctuations over past decades have created extreme financial crises and long-term poverty for thousands of small-scale Latin American farmers. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation sponsored audio lecture, David Funkhouser of TransFair USA, details how the Fair Trade movement arose as a market-based approach to poverty alleviation and international development. He discusses Fair Trade's function to offer suppliers fair, above-market prices, and TransFair's role in supporting that movement.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Reducing U.S. Emissions Affordably

Now that global warming is recognized as a real and serious problem, discussion is turning to practical challenges of reducing emissions in the long term. Host of the Center for Social Innovation, Rick Duke, discusses a new report by McKinsey & Company that considers how to address the problem affordably. In this audio lecture, Duke outlines some of the emerging technologies and public policy changes that will be needed to support such a process.

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Resource: Audio

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Social and Environmental Responsibility at HP

With energy costs on the rise and the U.S. government expected to push for reduced carbon emissions, environmental sustainability has become a market imperative for Hewlett-Packard. Speaking at Stanford for the 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference, HP's senior VP of personal systems, Tony Prophet, shares how his company is working to reduce its environmental footprint throughout the product life cycle.

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Resource: Audio

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Corporate Social Responsibility Panel

A key to assessing and expanding a company's corporate social responsibility agenda is developing appropriate reporting mechanisms both inside and outside the firm. Panelists from The Coca-Cola Co., United Technologies Corp., McDonald's Corporation, and KPMG share best practices.

Resource: Video

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Value Creation

The nonprofit sector delivers social value and the for-profit sector delivers economic value, right? Wrong! Jed Emerson argues that value is nondivisible, whole, and blended. He invites us to think beyond philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, social enterprise, and other limiting mindsets.

Resource: Video

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Living Your Values

Changing the status quo in major organizations may seem overwhelming. Debra Meyerson offers strategies to effect change from within through tempered radicalism, drawing on research findings and bottom-up approaches.

Resource: Video

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Social Entrepreneurs Invent the Future

Can businesses deliver strong returns to shareholders while also promoting the health of people and the planet? Gary Hirshberg, the phenomenally successful pioneer of the organic foods industry, utters a resounding yes.

Resource: Video

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Making Money While Going Green

Scientists predict that we have less than 10 years to sufficiently reduce carbon emissions to avert a total environmental disaster. Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield Farm "CE-Yo", tells of his company's efforts over the past 25 years to reduce its environmental footprint while increasing profits. Hirshberg shares lessons from his book Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World, in this Stanford Center for Social Innovation audio lecture.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education

Corporate Citizenship Supporting Education

Can change the world by engaging in corporate citizenship one hour a week? Al Jisr, and its founder Mohammed Abbad Andaloussi, are convinced that we can. In this audio interview, host Sheela Sethuraman interviews Analoussi about his efforts to improve education in Moroccan schools by involving businesses. So far, more than 100 corporations have "adopted" some 200 schools, providing volunteers, support, and a real world perspective to students.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Risks and Opportunities of Going Green

What does Wall Street make of the trends in cleantech, corporate environmental strategy, corporate social responsibility, and emerging carbon markets? In this audio lecture, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, two Goldman Sachs managers discuss how their investment firm is making the financing of corporate deals contingent upon the incorporation of increasingly stringent environmental criteria.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development

TransFair's Work in Fair Trade

Coffee price fluctuations over past decades have created extreme financial crises and long-term poverty for thousands of small-scale Latin American farmers. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation sponsored audio lecture, David Funkhouser of TransFair USA, details how the Fair Trade movement arose as a market-based approach to poverty alleviation and international development. He discusses Fair Trade's function to offer suppliers fair, above-market prices, and TransFair's role in supporting that movement.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Reducing U.S. Emissions Affordably

Now that global warming is recognized as a real and serious problem, discussion is turning to practical challenges of reducing emissions in the long term. Host of the Center for Social Innovation, Rick Duke, discusses a new report by McKinsey & Company that considers how to address the problem affordably. In this audio lecture, Duke outlines some of the emerging technologies and public policy changes that will be needed to support such a process.

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Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

No Results Found

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Gardenburger

The CEO of Gardenburger, a seller of veggie burger products and other food alternatives to meat, considers the company’s advertising strategy. He aims to take the company from the small health-food niche to the consumer mainstream.

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Healthcare

Exubera and NICE

This case details the 2006 decision by the United Kingdom to deny coverage for a new form of inhaled insulin. In doing so, it highlights the challenges to innovators in managing conflicts over the costs, benefits, and risks of new technology.

Resource: Academic Case

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Disclosure Dilemma: Financial Reporting of Contingent and Environmental Liabilities

The case discusses U.S. and international accounting guidance regarding the disclosure of contingent and environmental liabilities.

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Entrepreneurship

Overstock.com and Worldstock

Worldstock, Overstock.com’s socially responsible initiative, which marketed handicrafts produced by developing nation artisans to the United States, was suffering losses. Some stakeholders wondered if Worldstock would be shut down or spun off if the situation did not improve.

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Government

San Diego Padres: PETCO Park as a Catalyst for Urban Redevelopment

The San Diego Padres’ ballpark was the first integrated sports facility/development project ever attempted. While it proved to be a huge success for the Padres, San Diego, and taxpayers, there were many obstacles that had to be overcome.

Resource: Academic Case

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The Nonmarket Environment of Google

With Google's rapid international growth, came a number of nonmarket challenges including privacy issues in both the United States and European Union, the spectrum auction, intellectual property, corporate social responsibility, and business practices in China.

Resource: Academic Case

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Models of Corporate Governance: Who's the Fairest of Them All?

This case explores the various corporate governance systems that have been adopted in the United States and abroad. It examines issues of control, director and auditor independence, board structure, and more.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Healthcare

Gilead Sciences (A): The Gilead Access Program for HIV Drugs

Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This first part of the case describes the organization's initial considerations.

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Healthcare

Gilead Sciences (B): Implementing the Gilead Access Program for HIV Drugs

Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This second part of the case explores the company’s experience with a distribution program.

Resource: Academic Case

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Industrial Products AG Thailand (B)

A shipment of industrial products gets waylaid by customs in Thailand, with a charge of smuggling. When the project manager refuses to pay an extortionary fee and is reported to officials, the company manager must figure out how to defuse the situation.

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights

Dr. Frances Conley (A): The Resignation, (B): The Return

In 1991, Frances Conley, the first female, tenured full professor of neurosurgery in the United States, resigned from her position at Stanford Medical School over the appointment of a new department chair who was known for sexual harassment. As she becomes thrust into the media limelight, she wonders what she should do next.

Resource: Academic Case

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Anatomy of a Corporate Campaign: Rainforest Action Network and Citigroup (C)

In 2000, the Rainforest Action Network launched a campaign to get Citigroup to stop financing destructive activities in endangered ecosystems. This third case describes how activists try to gain access to Citigroup's top management.

Resource: Academic Case

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The Nonmarket Environment of McDonald's

This case describes several nonmarket issues that could significantly impact McDonald’s business. Issues include rising obesity rates, legislation, media attention, and others.

Resource: Academic Case

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Arts, Culture, and Religion, Corporate Social Responsibility, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Visa Sponsorship Marketing

Visa’s executive vice president of international marketing, partnerships, and sponsorship played a key role in convincing Visa’s six regional boards and its international board to allow Visa to extend its Olympics and Paralympics sponsorship. His team planned to discuss the current corporate strategy and use it to refine the existing sponsorship strategy.

Resource: Academic Case

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Anatomy of a Corporate Campaign: Rainforest Action Network and Citigroup (B)

In 2000, the Rainforest Action Network launched a campaign to get Citigroup to stop financing destructive activities in endangered ecosystems. This second case relates the opportunistic revival of the campaign two years after it started.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

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Building Sustainable Organizations: The Human Factor

Although most of the research and public pressure concerning sustainability has been focused on the effects of business and organizational activity on the physical environment, companies and their management practices profoundly affect the human and social environment as well. This article briefly reviews the literature on the direct and indirect effects of organizations and their decisions about people on human health and mortality.

Resource: Research Paper

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Who's with Me? False Consensus, Brokerage, and Ethical Decision Making in Organizations

Organization members overestimate the degree to which others share their views on ethical matters. That is, a high level of "betweenness centrality" increases an individual's estimates of agreement with others on ethical issues beyond what is warranted by any actual increase in agreement.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Business, Socially Responsible Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment

Don't Tweak your Supply Chain - Rethink It End to End

The article examines environmental issues related to supply chains and supply chain management. Attempts to introduce sustainable practices into supply chains often meet with unexpected financial or environmental costs.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Socially Responsible Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment

Modern Management: Good for the Environment or Just Hot Air?

Establishments in better managed firms are significantly less energy intensive. Better managed firms are also significantly more productive. These results suggest that management practices that are associated with improved productivity are also linked to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Resource: Research Paper

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Government, Nonprofit Management

Morally Motivated Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is the private provision of public goods and private redistribution. This paper examines the scope of self-regulation motivated by altruistic moral preferences that are reciprocal and stronger the closer are citizens in a socioeconomic distance.

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

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The Business World: Moral and Spiritual Inquiry through Literature: POLECON 349

This course uses novels and plays as a basis for examining the moral and spiritual aspects of business leadership and of the business environment. The literature covered illuminates the character of business people and the cultural contexts of values and beliefs in which commercial activities take place in a global economy.

Resource: MBA Course

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The Paths to Power: OB 377

Understanding the processes of power and influence in organizations is critical for leaders. This course aims to teach students how to to diagnose and analyze power and politics in organizational situations, show students how to exercise power effectively, and help students come to terms with the inherent dilemmas and choices involved in developing and exercising influence.

Resource: MBA Course

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Leadership Perspectives: OB 363

This course examines the concept of principled leadership and the various ways leaders try to institutionalize values within their organizations. Through assigned readings, interactive lectures with visiting executives, and weekly small group discussions, students learn how leaders implement their principles, and reflect on their own values and career aspirations.

Resource: MBA Course

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Ethical Issues in Biotech Industry: GSBGEN 522

This course focuses on the bioscience industry (biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, genomics, and vaccine). The emphasis is on the ethical and social challenges of running companies in these areas.

Resource: MBA Course

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Work and Family: GSBGEN 376

This course examines the strategies that highly educated women and men use to combine work and family. It also explores how managers can help others achieve balance in these two areas.

Resource: MBA Course

Innovators : All

Topic :

Government Programs, Nonprofits, Social Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Government

An interview with Jeremy Sokulsky (MBA '04)

Jeremy Sokulsky is working with government land managers, environmental regulators and private conservation investors to restore Lake Tahoe clarity.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education, Human Rights, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Dave DeForest-Stalls (EPNL '07)

Dave DeForest-Stalls wants to help kids stay out of gangs. He's providing mentorship and hip ways to keep youth on the straight and narrow.

Resource: CSI Affiliates

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Environment, Government, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Court Gould (EPNL '06)

Court Gould is pushing for Pittsburgh to grow sustainably. He's working hard to inform decision makers about to accomplish that most effectively.

Resource: CSI Affiliates

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Philanthropy & Responsible Investing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Government, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Ruth Bolan (EPNL '06)

Ruth Bolan is giving voice to indigenous peoples of the Pacific Island. She funds documentaries that bring their culture and challenges to millions of viewers.

Resource: CSI Affiliates

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education, Human Rights, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Daniel Grossman

Daniel Grossman's Wild Planet creates toys that parents love as much as kids. His aim is to inspire learning and inventiveness.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Environmental Sustainability for Small Businesses

When does a house painter learn about low VOC paint? Are high-efficiency lightbulbs always better? How can you reduce package waste and still meet client expectations? How can a small business owner keep up with sustainability issues? Now Intuit and eBay have sites where small businesses share their green knowledge. Amy Skoczlas Cole, who runs eBayGreenTeam, and Rupesh Shah of IntuitGreen talk about small business and green.

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Resource: Audio

Topic :

Doing Business Better

A national debate over the behavior of ousted Hewlett-Packard chief executive Mark Hurd had just made headlines. Advance publicity for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, a movie about greed writ large, was picking up volume. And political pundits were arguing daily over what it meant for candidates to be perceived as either pro- or antibusiness as midterm elections approached. Stanford GSB students reflect on Wall Street's bruised reputation.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Business, Socially Responsible Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment

When Corporate Responsibility Means Going Local

McDonald's has migrated to India, and with it, a commitment to corporate social responsibility. In this university podcast, executive Abhijit Upadhye discusses how the introduction of the "golden arches" into the subcontinent over the past six years has resulted in the creation of local opportunities in the areas of agriculture and food production, storage, and transportation.

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Resource: Audio

Topic :

Don't Tweak your Supply Chain - Rethink It End to End

The article examines environmental issues related to supply chains and supply chain management. Attempts to introduce sustainable practices into supply chains often meet with unexpected financial or environmental costs.

Resource: Research Paper

Topic :

Investing at the Bottom of the Ladder

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2011

Companies that invest in their lowest-level employees are more productive and more profitable.