Campbell Soup Company ranked second on the 2011 edition of Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens List". Dave Stangis, Campbell's VP of CSR, was named one of the 100 "Most Influential People in Business Ethics" in 2009 by Ethisphere Magazine. In 2009 Campbell launched a program called Reading Stars which gets company employees involved in tutoring students learning to read in Camden, New Jersey which is where Campbell headquarters is located. Campbell is also involved in the progression of the LGBT community and has launched ads in The Advocate, the nation's largest LGBT-interest magazine. Despite taking heat for ambiguity in their ad's intentions, Campbell claimed to simply respect and support all types of people with their products. Campbell's sustainability goals, which it hopes to achieve by the year 2020, include cutting "the environmental footprint of its product portfolio in half as measured by water use and CO2 emissions per ton of product produced." Campbell also has goals to modify recipes and "measurably improve the health of young people in their hometown communities by reducing hunger and childhood obesity by 50%." Campbell's many social and ecological goals are what continue to keep its reputation up on the front of CSR.
Coca-Cola also has an above average reputation in CSR. Recently, after the horrific damage caused by natural disasters in Japan, Coca-Cola pledged 2.5 billion yen ($31 million at the time) in donations towards the relief and rebuilding efforts there over the next three years. Coca-Cola also is know for its many strides in the green movement. In 2007 Coke cut down the amount of water it used by 6% and also reduced its energy used for lighting by 50%. 85% of the containers distributed by Coke containing Coke products are 100% recyclable, the remaining 15% are environmentally efficient. Coke dedicates millions of dollars to initiatives for water conservation, education, and nutrition and fitness and has dedicated $451 million alone in support of global sustainable community initiatives. Coke was ranked 14th in 2011 on Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens List".
The tobacco end of the industry receives its own fair share of recognition for their efforts in CSR. Altria Group Inc., one of the world's largest tobacco corporations, came in at number 35 on Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens List". In September alone Altria offered financial assistance towards Hurricane Irene relief efforts in North Carolina and Virginia and Altria employees came together and donated $2.6 million to various non profit organizations. Altria has now started a cigarette butt litter prevention program with which they spread the word throughout the smoking community to dispose of cigarette butts in respectful and appropriate manners.
http://www.socialfunds.com/shared/reports/1297029284_Coca-Cola_09-10_Sustainability_Review.pdf
http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/31867-Coca-Cola-Raises-Total-Pledge-to-2-5-Billion-Yen-US-31-Million-for-Relief-and-Rebuilding-Efforts-in-Japan
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Processing/Coca-Cola-reports-progress-in-reducing-environmental-impact
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/package_design.html
http://www.foodproductdesign.com/news/2011/09/coke-awards-9-6m-in-grants-to-support-sustainabil.aspx
http://www.usbthinkingahead.com/2011/09/campbell-soup-company-sets-updated-sustainability-goals.html
http://www.thecro.com/files/100Best2011_List_revised.pdf
http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/vcm/detail/Career-Advice/View-from-The-Top/At-Campbell-Soup,-Resolute-Belief-in-CSR-Redefines-HR-&-Recruitment?id=60019&filter_type=0&filter_id=0
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2378
http://causecast.org/business/altria-group-inc
http://www.csrpedia.com/programs/altria-cigarette-butt-litter-prevention-567
In terms of the tobacco companies, how would they rank above other companies with less harmful products. Are the deadly effects of the tobacco products overlooked when they evaluate CSR? Why would a tobacco company get the edge over say a produce company who is maybe a bit less conscious about the environment but with products that do not kill their consumers?
ReplyDeleteBrady,
ReplyDeleteNice research.
Try including your own perspective on what you are posting. It will provide a more in-depth insight for your team members to follow-up.
I also enjoyed the large amount of Research you put into this post, Brady. What I would like to see, however, is more research on companies that do not have good practices of CSR. Although we now know which companies are going above and beyond the call of duty to help others out, it would be interesting to see which companies are not. By doing this, we could work to see which companies truly care about communities, employees and the environment. This compassion and commitment to CSR should greatly impact our industry investment recommendation.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the Altria, I have to agree with Dylan Mark. It makes me question whether its act of "kindness" is to simply cultivate CSR points as to look decent compared to all the harms of its product. On another note, good job on the research. Do you know if Campbell is the CSR company in the food industry?
ReplyDeleteI would think the effects of the product are indeed overlooked when ranking CSR, at least to an extent. Tobacco companies can't drop any negative stigma's simply by getting involved in the community when so many people hate the products they produce but their efforts in community programs and things of that nature need to be examined as a company effort independent of what the company is producing. Whether or not that's merely to help an image that started poor or not is irrelevant when they are getting recognition. That being said, I'd have to say there is probably a pretty high possibility that Li and Dylan are right in thinking it's simply to balance out the harm their product does.
ReplyDeleteAlso Campbell is definitely a major player pertaining to CSR in the industry however I don't want to definitively call it THE CSR company. It is the highest ranking from this industry on Corporate Responsibility Magazine's list.
ReplyDelete