Long gone are the days in which corporate philanthropy was a synonym of CSR, and even if it is still valid for some firms, it should be accompanied by other methods to communicate, impact, and involve the business with all its external stakeholders. Following newer CSR approaches and best practices will make the business world more successful in developing the base of the pyramid and positively boost the community’s perception of the company.

The corporate and financial worlds have evolved towards achieving new ways to maximize their benefits and minimize their costs. Along these lines, new financial instruments and regulations have come up and, for the financial sector in particular, they reflect better the different interests and realities of investors, investees, markets, and regulators.

It is hard to argue with Henry David Thoreau’s quote: “Goodness is the only investment that never fails.” However, many advocate against CSR practices regarding them as being a green-wash for malpractices, or pointless actions designed to deviate attention from cold selfless capitalist moves. It is true that some initial CSR campaigns were meaningless public relations activities rather than responses to true social and environmental concerns. ...

Increasingly, social businesses and purely commercial ones are being aware of the importance of running, not only good social and environmental practices, but also of going beyond them, and playing a decisive role within the communities they work with. Implementing CSR and social programs in order to achieve these, comes in hand with measuring the real impact they have. Understanding it makes it possible to value the efforts and resources inves...

The low price of oil we have seen in the past months is not new and it is at times surprising the level of unexpected turmoil it has generated among markets, consumers, and even some analysts. The world has seen this and lower prices before. Even in the 90’s with prices at $20 bbl and particularly during more recent times when in 2008/09 the price fell from $128 bbl to less than $40 bbl, the industry has been able to adapt and has learned to b...

It’s been long since society started to realize that it needed alternative models to traditional capitalism. The current pattern of production and consumption established since industrialization supposed indefinite resources and raw materials. This lineal way of producing, consuming, and disposing, has showed that clearly resources are not unlimited and this has increased the price of commodities over time. Since the last century, we have been...

In the past five years, social innovation and social entrepreneurship seem to have gained popularity against charities and CSR programs, and they are being regarded as more efficient or committed to social and environmental causes. Nonetheless, many large multinationals like HP, IBM, Mc Donald’s and RBS among others have been leading the way in CSR and impact programs.

During the last decades, we’ve seen an increase in society’s concern about the impact of large corporations in the communities and the environment that surrounds them and in consuming in a more responsible way. Alongside we’ve experienced the rise of Corporate Social Responsibility together with an army of entrepreneurs who are coming up with innovative solutions to address social and environmental problems through Social Entrepreneurship. The...