Business and Society Column

The Reputation Institute held a webinar early December on its 2012 Global RepTrak 100 poll to announce which global companies earned “The Best CSR Reputation in the World.” While this was surely a celebratory event—featuring a nice holiday gift for the winners!—the topic under discussion was a potential downer: “Is CSR dead or just mismanaged?”

A 2011 Cone/Echo Global poll finds that more than 90% of the world’s consumers want businesses to launch “operational innovation for the greater good.”  There is more to this than a company “cleaning up its act” by, say, reducing pollutants or protecting human rights in its supply chain.  It is about a company using its know-how and leverage to develop new business practices that have a positive impact on the world.