Tag Archives: social enterprise symposium
June 29th, 2012 by golivos under Social Enterprise Symposium. No Comments.
by Hunter Pavlik (MBA ’13)
Note: Each of the participants in the Spring 2012 SVC Smith Experience was asked to blog about a session that piqued their interest at this year’s Social Enterprise Symposium.
Before Thursday night, my knowledge of the global cocoa industry was limited to the fact that the crop is grown in the tropics and in some of the poorest countries in the world. When I walked out of the Sustainable Chocolate Sourcing discussion I had gained a greater sense of the work that is being done at the local level by tens of thousand of farmers and what two exceptional start ups are doing to improve the lives of the farmers they work with.
The background of the cocoa industry was a great introduction by Robert Peck of the World Cocoa Foundation. However, it was the information that followed, mainly the personal stories shared by Tim McCollum of Madecasse Chocolate and Amanda White of Divine Chocolate that caught my attention and changed my view on the chocolate industry. I grew up eating Hershey’s and Mars’ products but had little exposure to small-market chocolate bars before the panel. Thanks to the stories of the Tim and Amanda my views and my likely future purchasing decisions have been changed. (more…)
Tags:Cocoa, Hunter Pavlik, Madecasse, social enterprise symposium.
June 7th, 2012 by golivos under Social Value. 1 Comment.
by Paduka Prasad Padhy, MBA ’13
Note: Each of the participants in the Spring 2012 SVC Smith Experience was asked to blog about a session that piqued their interest at this year’s Social Enterprise Symposium
Coming to the business school I was not sure of a career path I would pursue. With a multitude of career choices and uncertainty about my personal strengths I wondered what career would be the best for me and where can I work passionately? When I came to the b-school I thought that I was the only one who is in such a position but surprisingly I found a lot my classmates in a similar condition searching the right path and thinking about the post MBA career path. Even though I have completed one complete semester at Smith School of business I am not sure what I would like to do post MBA and am still in search of the proper fit of my passions to my career choice. Dr. Mrim Boutla’s workshop on “More Than Money Careers” is an eye opener for many MBA students who are in pursuit of the right career choice post MBA.
The session was a beautiful example of aligning your passions to your career. The main theme through out the session was following our passions to reach our careers. Dr. Boutla beautifully presented a set of career paths in the non-profit sector with ways to reach the final destination in each of them. She segmented the career choices as government, non-profit, non-profit generating revenue, for profit social, sustainable business and business practicing CSR. Dr. Boutla prettily articulated the differences between each career choices with examples. The power point used in the workshop was a very effective tool with the contact persons listed for each area and the ways to reach out the people. The presentation articulated the LinkedIn groups and other useful websites that can be used to pursue each career path.
Not the best volleyball player
A very common theme used through out the presentation was aligning our passions, strengths and interests to our career choices. Dr. Boutla effectively used the Shaq show as an example to show how a great athlete like Shaquille O’Neal can fail miserably when he is not playing the right game. The right mix of energy and enthusiasm coupled with the true passion and strengths for a particular career make it a right choice and help us to be enthusiastic towards our work. The session also presented the 3 types of fit – function, community and impact – and how they are important for a career choice. Dr. Boutla also introduced beautiful tools and utilities such as public service loan, government loan forgiveness program and graduate leverage that can be used to determine the financial viability of a career. It helped me and every other student aspiring to work in the field of social value creation by providing some great tools and resources along with the guidance and career advise of an expert coach. (more…)
Tags:more than money, mrim boutla, social enterprise symposium.
May 14th, 2012 by golivos under Social Enterprise Symposium. No Comments.
by Shantanu Chandra MBA ’13
Note: Each of the participants in the Spring 2012 SVC Smith Experience was asked to blog about a session that piqued their interest at this year’s Social Enterprise Symposium.
Pradeep Suthram, MBA '12, leads a session at the College Park Impact Workshop
This Thursday “The Stamp Student Union” at the University of Maryland glistened with social value, nobility and impact. Thanks to the social enterprise symposium organized by the Center of Social Value Creation- the monetarily driven sharp business minds of the Robert H Smith School of Business could take a deep breath and get a feel of contribution and impact to the society. In the contemporary business era the need of social value alongside making profits has acquired paramount importance and hence it is inevitable for business schools to not provide exposure in this area to its students. The social enterprise symposium was a key move in this direction. The event was kicked off by a Key Note address from Mr Stan Litow of IBM and ended with a wonderful Networking reception alongside a number of dignitaries from various panel discussions and workshops. (more…)
Tags:College Park Impact, Measuring and Reporting Sustainability, Shantanu Chandra, social enterprise symposium.
July 29th, 2010 by Guest under Uncategorized. 1 Comment.
By Scott Henderson
Several months have passed since we gathered at the Smith School for the 2010 Social Enterprise Symposium and feasted on a variety of perspectives and ideas shared by presenters, panelist, and audience members alike. One particularly profound perspective deserves further reflection and consideration.
In recent weeks, two separate op-eds ran in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/16/AR2010071604070.html) and Wall Street Journal deriding corporate social responsibility initiatives. Both commentators framed their arguments around the maxim that corporations must place the creation of value for shareholders as its primary objective. While Matthew Bishop and Michael Green (http://www.philanthrocapitalism.net/2010/07/is-csr-evil/) offered a solid rebuttal to the two critiques, something we learned at the Symposium needs to be included in this debate.
Stanley Litow’s keynote address about IBM’s decision to center their core strategy on corporate citizenship provided substantial proof on the prudence of corporate citizenship. What was most compelling was his statement that IBM reaps a 3:1 return on investment for their corporate citizenship efforts.
By devoting their best and brightest minds to tackling some of the world’s most vexing issues, Litow claimed IBM can trace its ROI to five sources:
Talent – recruitment and retention of their knowledge-based workforce.
Investments – IBM has seen sizeable investments in its stock from Socially Responsible Investment Funds (SRIs) that account for $1 trillion in assets and must invest in socially responsible organizations.
Technology innovation – the world’s biggest problems require new solutions and breakthroughs, many of which IBM can use to solve similar problems for their paying clients and generating revenues from licenses and patents in the broader marketplace.
Brand – the major emphasis of their advertising and marketing campaigns center around their corporate citizenship efforts and helps them stand out from their competitors
New market entry – they have found much greater success in gaining entry into new countries and regions by leading with their corporate citizenship initiatives
The ability to generate $3 for every dollar invested in corporate citizenship initiatives is important and noteworthy. Because it is IBM making the claim, we social entrepreneurs can take great comfort in their validation of the notion that doing good can translate into doing well.
What do you think? Is this noteworthy or not worthy?
Scott Henderson is managing principal of CauseShift, a team of strategists who help clients provoke, connect, and market. He has led shifts for a variety of organizations, including P&G, UNICEF, and wecanendthis.com, a yearlong, multi-partner initiative to spark innovation and engage more people in the cause of ending hunger in America. Scott is a regular keynote speaker and publisher of rallythecause.com.
Tags:corporate engagement, CSR, employee engagement, IBM, social enterprise symposium, social entrepreneurship.
March 25th, 2010 by Guest under Uncategorized. 1 Comment.
**This post is part of our Social Enterprise Series this week, leading up to the 2nd annual Social Enterprise Symposium on Thursday, March 25. View the live stream of the event here.
Marriott’s “spirit to serve” our customers, employees, and communities is the way we do business and has been an important part of our company culture since our founding over 80 years ago. Working with charitable organizations we are serving our communities through these signature SERVE issues:
S Shelter and Food
…addressing housing and hunger needs including in times of disaster
E Environment
…working towards a greener, healthier planet
R Readiness for Hotel Careers
…educating and training the next generation
V Vitality of Children
…aiding sick and impoverished children
E Embracing Global Diversity and Inclusion
…providing opportunities, especially through the workplace
For almost three decades Marriott’s environmental efforts have focused on water and energy conservation. As our program has matured, we began collaborating in 2007 with Conservation International, a global conservation organization, to map our carbon footprint and develop a long-term environmental strategy for full future sustainability.
It includes:
(1) carbon offsets through the protection of rainforest;
(2) further reduce fuel and water consumption by 25 percent per available room over the next 10 years as well as install solar power at up to 40 hotels by 2017;
(3) engage the company’s top 40 vendors to supply price-neutral greener products across 12 categories of our $10 billion supply chain;
(4) create green construction standards for our hotel developers to achieve LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council; and
(5) educate and inspire employees and guests to support the environment, including through green meetings and events.
Rainforest preservation is a cornerstone of Marriott’s environmental strategy and one way we are engaging our guests and employees in protecting the environment. In 2008 Marriott pledged $2 million to protect 1.4 million acres of rainforest within the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve in Brazil. The project provides education, medical care, employment and a “Bolsa Floresta” stipend for the more than 3,000 Juma residents (about 400 families) who are trained and compensated to protect the rainforest. Juma is a REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) initiative addressing deforestation and the consequential emissions of greenhouse gases, and is also the first avoided deforestation project to achieve Gold Status under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) standards.
Closer to home, Marriott’s headquarters in Bethesda is also working toward a more sustainable future. The building was recently awarded LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Existing Building Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). More than 30 of Marriott’s hotels are also in the pipeline to achieve LEED certification. Marriott was the first major hotel company in the U.S. with a LEED certified hotel–The Inn and Conference Center by Marriott at the University of Maryland in College Park.
For more information about Marriott’s corporate social responsibility program and environmental efforts, please visit:
Marriott International is a platinum sponsor of this year’s Social Enterprise Symposium.
Tags:CSR, marriott, social enterprise symposium, sustainability.
March 24th, 2010 by Guest under Uncategorized. No Comments.
**This post is part of our Social Enterprise Series this week, leading up to the 2nd annual Social Enterprise Symposium on Thursday, March 25. View the live stream of the event here.
By Scott Henderson
Let me get this out in the open. I think it’s ridiculous that we even need to have a term like “corporate social responsibility” or “CSR.” What’s more meaningless than talking in jargon and acronyms?
You can’t compartmentalize doing good anymore. It’s not a department. It’s not a job title. It’s who you are and what you do, not just what you say you are.
Somewhere along the way, we collectively forgot this fact.
In the broadcast era, those running companies were detached from those who bought their products and services. Brands were created to personify the company. By their very nature, brands are artificial constructs. This disconnectedness created a numbing effect on ethics and decision-making – much like a man shaving with a face full of Novocain.
Historically, companies have used cause marketing, corporate philanthropy, and corporate social responsibility efforts to offset any negative behaviors. Interestingly, many have housed these in different silos of operations. But with the world increasingly becoming interconnected, consumers want to see brands and companies realign their cause efforts into an integrated strategy.
For this reason, companies need to be rooted in authentic commitments to doing good. They need to be alive and dynamic, constantly manifesting themselves in the individual and collective actions of company staff and like-minded partners. Their initiatives should be aligned with company culture and principles, not out there as standalone projects.
Everything about our society is changing – rapidly and constantly.
How we communicate, get and share information, and engage each other — online and offline – is different than it was just a few short years ago.
Information moves faster, people are more closely connected, and the level of interest and commitment that people have when it comes to social issues and causes has never been greater. Our society has shifted and how companies support causes, respond to disasters, and mobilize the public needs to shift as well.
The time has come for companies to move past the gimmicks and devote more earnest efforts at addressing the root problems of our day. It’s time companies ask more of their charity partners and actually solve the causes, not just serve them.
It’s time we get real about our role in bettering the world. Are you with me?
Scott Henderson is managing director of CauseShift, helping organizations think, innovate and solve problems. He is currently leading WeCanEndThis.com, a yearlong initiative to shift the conversation about hunger in America and create real, tangible solutions. Follow him on Twitter at @ScottyHendo.
Tags:cause marketing, CSR, philanthropy, social enterprise symposium.
March 23rd, 2010 by Guest under Uncategorized. 1 Comment.
**This post is part of our Social Enterprise Series this week, leading up to the 2nd annual Social Enterprise Symposium on Thursday, March 25. View the live stream of the event here.
By Daniel Aronson
Interest in corporate responsibility and sustainability is growing exceptionally rapidly: By one measure, interest in sustainability has increased 1,000% in the last five years and over 350% in just the last year. Everyone knows CSR and sustainability are fast growing areas, but when we quantify it, we get an even better sense for just how fast the tide is rising.
With this growth comes a change in the influence of social responsibility, and that is accompanied by – as it must be – a change in how social responsibility is practiced.
The Link to Business Strategy
For many, many years, social responsibility proponents have been trying to make it more central to how businesses think and what they do (I’ve been working on this personally for over a decade, and others have been involved that long or longer). And we have really begun to succeed, with more and more companies making it part of their strategy and operations.
Going along with that is a burgeoning change in how social responsibility is practiced – bringing in the types of practices that are used to tackle the other important issues companies face. For example, companies are doing much more about collecting, analyzing, and reporting information on their social responsibility and sustainability initiatives.
A number of firms have made major strides in this area, such as one Fortune 50 company that recently launched a dashboard showing energy use across the hundreds of buildings they own. This is as is it should be: social responsibility and sustainability are too important not to be managed to the same high standards as the rest of the business. We must be responsible, and we must also be smart about how we do it.
Closing the Knowledge Gap
Even with this progress, however, there is still a long way to go. IBM research shows that well under half of companies have a good understanding of what their customers expect from them in terms of corporate responsibility. And only a small minority collects CSR-related information as frequently as they need it. To truly ensure responsibility’s place at the table, these gaps in knowledge and information need to be closed, the way they would be if they existed in other parts of the business.
IBM’s Approach
Technology
For today’s businesses, which are complex, global, and fast-moving, this will require technology. For almost 100 years, IBM has helped the world advance through science and technology, and corporate responsibility is no different. We are using our Smarter Planet technology to helping businesses know more, react faster, and use resources more efficiently – for example, a new system helped one group reduce their employees’ carbon footprint from travel and work by 40%.
Engaging Employees
We’re not only using technology to improve operations, but also to improve how corporate decisions reflect people’s deepest values. Over a hundred thousand IBMers were able to participate in a two-day, real-time conversation on what opportunities would reflect the values of IBM – one of which is “innovation that matters for our clients and for the world” – and the needs of our clients.
One of the results of that conversation was IBM’s Big Green Innovations initiative to improve management of alternative energy, carbon, and water as well as to improve modeling of things like pollution, climate, and pandemics. As a result of the passion of our employees and the opportunity to help clients with these important issues, IBM invested $100 million in this initiative.
Having thousands of employees participate in devising an idea to make money and improve the world at the same time shows something about what IBM is like, as does investing $100 million in making it happen. Sometimes overlooked is the fact that the focus areas for Big Green tell you something about IBM too: A penchant for taking on the problems of tomorrow.
When people think about the most pressing environmental problems, they typically think about energy, pollution, and carbon, but it is much less common to include water on that list. But water is not only a big driver of today’s issues (a 10% reduction in the energy used for water would be the equivalent of taking millions of cars off the road) it is going to be an even bigger issue down the road. IBM wants to be a leader in solving not just today’s problems, but tomorrow’s too.
On behalf of the 400,000 employees of IBM, I look forward to talking and working with you to move corporate responsibility, and the world, forward.
Daniel Aronson is the Global Offering Lead, Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability, Strategy & Transformation, Global Business Services at IBM. IBM is a gold sponsor of this year’s Social Enterprise Symposium.
Tags:CSR, employee engagement, IBM, social enterprise symposium, sustainability.
March 22nd, 2010 by Guest under Uncategorized. No Comments.
**This post leads off our Social Enterprise Series this week, leading up to the 2nd annual Social Enterprise Symposium on Thursday, March 25. View the live stream of the event here.
By Lucille Pilling
How do I find a job in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability? This is a question that the panel on CSR: How a Company Communicates its Cause identified as one to anticipate and one I am asked often.
The response is that there are very few positions available in this field (although that is beginning to change). The majority of corporate CSR related positions are awarded to internal candidates that either are seasoned professionals that know the firm well and are close to retirement or young enthusiastic employees who are given sole responsibility to lead a CSR initiative. This too is changing as corporations progress from CSR as a form of risk aversion, to CSR as strategic philanthropy, to CSR as an integral part of core business strategy.
Think Company First
The best way to obtain a position in CSR is to identify a firm with an environmental, social or governance (ESG) message that matches your interests, start working there and become a visible participant in the firm’s ESG component.
Personal Branding
Another piece to this approach is to develop your personal brand by identifying and unleashing your passion in your career within the work at hand, the organization and how you progress. As the recession recedes, corporations are increasingly realizing the importance of attracting and retaining talent through their CSR initiatives. This is particularly true, as the recent study from Pew Charitable Trusts verifies, for the Millennium generation.
Dr. Lucille B. Pilling works at the intersection of global public health and corporate social responsibility. Her involvement in CSR began 14 years ago developing public private partnerships on the nonprofit side. She teaches CSR at New York University and is a CSR strategist.
Tags:CSR, job hunting, social enterprise symposium.
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