CSR tlw11p,h1

CASE STUDY Whole Foods Market: Taking a

holistic approach
Driven by its higher purpose 'to nourish people and the planet', its core values and the
company motto of 'Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet', Whole Foods Market is
a mission-driven chain of natural and organic supermarkets with 500+ stores located
in the USA, Canada and the UK (Whole Foods Market, 2021 ). The company was
founded in 1978 by John Mackey (author of Conscious Capitalism), with a few partners
and a loan of US$45,000 (Whole Foods Market, 2016). The first store opened in 1980
in Austin, Texas, USA in 1988, under the name 'Safer Foods', which was later changed
to its current name. ln representing its deep commitment to consumer wellbeing and
the preservation of organic integrity, Whole Foods Market voluntaril y certified all its
stores and operations to become the first national 'Certified Organic' grocer in the USA.

Source: QualityH D/Shutterstock.com

the
CSR h�s been �t the heart of the company, with its higher purpose inc luding
ours
wellbe1ng of all 1t� stakeholders. Whole Fo?ds sells only food with no artificial flav �
colours, preservat1ves or sweeteners, sourcing the fresh meat of animais that has b eed
e

assessed for animal welfare, procuring seafood that is sourced from responsibly-rnanag
 Our changing world and the evolution of CSR

ainable fisheries, as well as obtaining eggs from cage-free hens

fish farms and sust
21 ).
(Whole Foods Market, 20 .
ln addition, the company Is known for its stakeholder integration, which aims to
benefit all: 'customer satisfaction, team member happiness and excellence, return on
invested capital, active environmental stewardship, service in local and global commu­
nities, and win-win supplier partnerships, among other things' (Whole Foods Market,
2016: 10). For example, Whole Foods Market attempts to provide fair compensation
to employees and suppliers with open access to the annual individual compensation
report. The vision of providing fairness to employees stems from leadership.ln 2007,
the then CEO, John Mackey, voluntarily reduced his salary to US 1 and elected to forgo
future bonuses or equity (Whole Foods Market, 2016).
Further, Whole Foods Market commits itself to the communities in which it operates
and to the environment. To achieve this significant goal, Whole Foods Market operates
three foundations:

Whole Planet Foundation: created in 2005, this is an independent, non-profit

organisation wíth a mission to empower the poor through microcredit, with a focus
on developing world communitíes that supply Whole Foods Market. To date, Whole
Foods Planet Foundation has contributed over US$101 million in funds, with over
4.3 million loans enabling just under 1 million entrepreneurs and their families to
come out of poverty. Of this, 89 per cent were women, borrowing US$174 on aver­
age (Whole Planet Foundation, 2021 ).
2 Whole Kids Foundation: created in 2011 to improve children's nutrition by sup­
porting schools and inspiring families (Whole Foods Market, 2016}.ln 2020, the
Foundation engaged with 8 million children across 11,760 schools, setting up
6,000 gardens and 500 beehives (Whole Kids Foundation, 2021 }.
j Whole Cities Foundation: this foundation is 'committed to individual and com­
munity health through collaborative partnerships, education and broader access
to nutritious food in underserved communities' (Whole Foods Market, 2016: 17}.
Since its founding in 2014, Whole Cities Foundation has partnered with over 191
not-f or-profits across 106 cities in the USA and Canada, contributing more than
$2.1 million to local communities.

Whole Foods Market is also strongly committed to environmental stewardship, with vari­
ous initiatives such as a food waste reduction strategy, use of alternative energy in stores
and facilities, charging stations for electric vehicles at stores as well as green buildings,
with several stores used as case studies for sustainability (Whole Foods Market, 2021 }.
{Continued)
 ln June 2017, Amazon pur�hased Whole Foods_ Market for US$l3.7 ·.
bl
health foods grocer was struggling as larger compet,tors moved into the 5 1l 1 on. l'n
ciality and organic supermarkets. Even though Whole Foods was the first iªce of sp:
space, many of these retailers benefited from th eir scale, infrastructure and e enter tnii
O
t
and were therefore able to offer similar products at a lower cost. Since the a ch�olog�
there are a few aspects that have changed, including the merchandise th acq_u,sition:
t
sold at the stores (which includes Amazon products such as Echo), discou 15 being
n
at Whole Foods Market for Amazon Prime members, free deli very for Prime ts 0ffered
the centralising of merchandising - leading to fewer_ �mployees in stores, a d��rnbers,
n
tralising of supplier bases, in order to cut costs. Add1t1onally, even th ough ma e cen.
brands looked to Whole Foods to market their products, those brands that were�tn�fl
ing sales may well come under the scanner and therefore lose shelf lífe at Whol F0driv.
e
{Banker, 2019). Some people have accused Whole Foods of 'selling out'. Time will t �1d_s
e ,f
its commitments to CSR and its stakeholders will remain solid.

. J

Source: 'Amazon Echo at Whole Foods' by Phillip Pessar is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Questions
How integral is CSR to the core operations of Whole Foods Market?
Describe the various CSR aspects that Whole Foods Market focuses on?
Based on the example of founder and former CEO John Mackey, how central 7d °
you think leadership is to CSR? Can it be dane without the support of the CfO. t
r
How is Whole Foods Market's commitment to its stakeholders unique? suppo
your answer with examples. k
.
How m1ght the Amazon takeover of Whole Foods change the company,5 outl oo
and commítment to CSR?
 Our changing world and the evolution of CSR

References
Banker (2019) 'How Amazon changed Whole Foods', Forbes, 25 June. Available at: www.forbes.com/
sites/ steve ba n ke r/2019 /06/25/ how-a mazon-cha nged-whole-foo ds/#6ce6e6ca 7 8d d
(Accessed: l O February 2021).
Whole Foods Market (2016) Annual report. Available at: www.annualreports.eo.uk/HostedData/
AnnualReportArchive/w/NASDAQ_WFM_2016.pdf (Accessed: 10 February 2021).
Whol e Foods Market (2021) Official site. Available at: www.wholefoodsmarket.com (Accessed: 10
February 2021).
Whole Kids Foundation (2021) Official site. Available at: www.wholekidsfoundation.org (Accessed: 10
February 2021).
Whole Planet Foundation (2021) Official site. Available at: https://wholeplanetfoundation.org
(Accessed: l O February 2021).

Further reading and links

Big Think (2019) Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey on conscious capitalism. Available at: www.
youtube.com/watch?v =kVKT8lsl n4 o (Accessed: 10 February 2021).
Mackey, J. and Sisodia, R. (2014) Conscious capitalism: Liberating the heroíc spirít of business. Boston,
MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
Mackey, J., Mcintosh, S. and Phipps, C. (2020) Conscious leadership: Elevating humanity through
business. New York: Penguin.
Whole Planet Foundation (2021) Official site. Available at: https://wholeplanetfoundation.org
(Accessed: 10 February 2021).
 CASE STUDY Strategic CSR at Ben & Jenys
Ben & Jerry's is an ice cream company that, since its humble beginnin s
in vermont, USA, has. had a social goal as part of its core business· 'Mg i� the 19)
. cest poss1.ble way , . Co-founders . a k , n 9 the oe'º1
possible ice cream, , n the rn B en Cohe
. . the ew n and it
.
Greenfield quickly real1sed the opporturnty to embed va 1 ues 1n n b s . ler�
� i ness. �º
company aims to create linked prospe. rity for everyone who is. connected to 1ts b . ,
5I
suppliers, employees, farmers, franch1sees,_ customer� and ne,ghbours. ln the e r� ness:
a
the two founders were committed to a vanety of social causes o n both a locaI andIYda�s.
. company was d'ff .
I erent, as 1t was no t ju st h ar�,
scale. People realised that th1s
. . , . t ere to rn
�
imise profit, but also to ach1eve socia 1 goa 1 s. B en & Jerry s 1s ,ounded on a nd d ed' ax.
icate�
to a sustainable corporate concept of linked prosperity.

Source: 'Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream' by jjandames is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

ed
lts dedication to its social mission was expressed years after the compa ny was fouíld
t one
by one of the company's advisors: 'We are not just another ice cream company, bu
d rman,
that works hard to have our soci al mission expressed in all we do' (Austin an He
. . · n env1·
2008: 84 ). Su bsequently, the company has rece,ved various awards for 1ts sacia 1 ª d
u
ronmental work, employees have been highly involved in various social causes, iílcl di;f
201
peace, equality and the environment, and it holds a Certified B Corp status (Kaye,
. . . d a s on e oi
Due to It bemg a purpose-dnven organisation, employees are highly en gag e -
h0
· pay cut to come to Ben & Jerry's, and I carne because l hªat
· a b1g
them sai·d : 'I too k quite
. .
been work.1ng m corporate Amenca for 17 years and I was sick of it. 1 wanted t0 see w
was different and it was very, very, very different' (Austin and Quinn, 2005: 2).
 ln 2000, Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry's, and some argue that it was due to the
company being a CSR icon (Austin and Herman, 2008). However, similar to the case of
Whole Foods, the acquisition led to a high leve! of criticism as employees, customers,
franchisees and social activists claimed that Ben & Jerry's was 'selling out' (Page and
Katz, 2012). At the time, a cultural gap existed between the parent company and its
subsidiary in terms of their CSR levels and motivations. Four years after the acquisition,
only 30 per cent of its employees felt that Ben & Jerry's had remained true to its roots
and origins. According to Austin and Quinn (2005), Unilever imposed severa! restric­
tions on the company's CSR, and its code of ethics required that the company remain
apolitical. Subsequently, employees were no longer allowed to use the brand name
while participating in anti-war marches and similar activities.
ln 2009, Paul Polman became the CEO of Unilever and emphasised the role of
Unilever in creating environmental and social value. Polman launched a 'sustainable
living plan', with the aim of doubling the size of the business while reducing its envi­
ronmental impact and footprint. Consequently, Ben & Jerry's was able to fully pro­
mote social and environmental causes, and employee engagement is now very high.
ln 2010, the company committed to purchasing 100 per cent fairtrade ingredients
where possible, including vanilla, cocoa, sugar, fruits and nuts in its products, and also
de monstrated consistent support for social enterprises. For example, the Ben & Jerry's
brownies are produced by a social enterprise that employs homeless people without
consideration of any previous work history or time spent in prison.
Today, the company's social mission is to 'advance human rights and dignity, enable
so cial and economic justice for historically marginalized communities', and the com­
pany works to protect and restore the Earth's natural systems through the way it con­
du cts business and uses its influence to achieve systemic change (Ben & Jerry's, 2021 ).
New flavours communicate social and political messages, such as its Pecan Resist ice
cream and initiative, standing for 'freedo m, community, belonging and justice in a
world that desperately needs more of these things right now'; and its Justice ReMix'd,
which supports reforms that invest in people instead of prisons (Ben & Jerry's, 2021 ).
The brand is once again attached to a política! stand, such as providing support for the
Black Lives Matter movement:

AII of us at Ben & Jerry's are outraged about the murder of another Black person
by Minneapolis police officers last week and the continued violent response by
police against protestors. We have to speak out. We have to stand together with
the victims of murder, marginalization, and repression because of their skin colar,
and with those who seek justice through protests across our country. We have to
say his name: George Floyd.
{Continued)
 for environmental susta inab i l ity and usesit
T h e company is also a strong advocate . s lll a i
en cy of a dd ress mg e 1 1m · ate change w ith th o
products to communic ate the urg
e more sustai na ble throug hout its e:/ ' 11
09a

i t's me lted, it's rui ned'. lt works to becom

n
ire s u p
ing the introd uc tio n of ca rbo n-neut ral freezer s. Ben & J erry's h as r ply
ch ain, inc lud . . 1 h am,. as part of th e Sei ece ntli
ent 1re v a ue e
adopted a new cl imate goal across Its rm i ng b elow 2 º C �:� B ased
e
part to kee p glo ba l wa . F
Targets lni tiative, so it can do its
p l as�c ro e,
rrn o r
tin ues to ma ke pro g ess in elimin atin g ;
the company report s tha t it con r
rn I�
stra teg y to vow to reduce its ca rbon fo
its ot
sup ply cha in as we l l as adj usting Pn nt �
( Be n & J er y ' s, 01 9).
20 2 5 and 20 50 , among oth e r ini tiati ves
r 2

Source: Rob Crandall/Shutterstock.com

ci a l
Ben & Jerry's also supports the community with an unusual initiat ive caring for so
es
oups_ that are often overlooked_ by othe r companies. For exampl e, th� com pan y stat
;�at
it is comm1tted to social Justice, mcluding LG BTQ + ( lesbian gay bisexual , tr a nsg ­
en
·ts
der, queer and al l other g ender I·dentities)
· · ·
nghts and ma
' '
rr iage e qual i ty,
based on 1
. . a
core value , w h 1 ch mclude a deep respect fo r al i people and an unsh akeabl e b e l i ef t h t
rn ·
ev�ryo_ne �eserves ful l and equal civi l ri g hts . ln 2 01 5 it su pported th e ' Say Ye s ! ' ca
e in
paI g n in lreland, travel l ing the country and hosting 'Y�sti vals', l ead ing u p to th e vot
 CSR mod e l s a n d fram eworks

su pport of ma rriage equal ity that yea r. With its 'Peace, Love and Ice Cream' movement,
Ben & Jerry's com m itted to be i ng a pa rt of the peace-b u i l d i n g move ment, recognising
that 'peace is someth i n g that we m u st a ctively create - by i nvesting i n hea lthy commu­
nities, soci al justice and econom ic justice fo r a l l , and respectfu l d i a l ogue a m ong people
everywhere' ( Be n & Jerry's, 2021 ).

Questions
How did Ben & J erry's CS R cha n ge over the yea rs a n d for what reaso ns?
Wo uld you say that its CS R is hol istic? What do you learn from its curre nt m ission?
What ma kes it a CS R icon? Why d o you th i n k bei ng a soci al icon makes co mpa n i es
more d esira ble for acq u isition by larger corporations?
What ca n the co mpany sti l l do to i m p rove its CS R? Provide a l ist of th ree th i n gs it
cou l d do better.

References
Austin , J. E. and Herman, B. (2008) 'Can the vi rtuous mouse a nd the wealthy e lepha nt live happily
eve r after?', California Management Review, 5 1 ( l ): 77- 1 02 .
Austi n, J. E . and Qui nn, J. (2005) Ben & Jerry's: PreseNing mission & brand within Unilever. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Business School.
Ben & Jerry's (201 9 ) 2 01 9 social a n d environmental assessment report (SEAR). Available at: www.
benjerry.com/about-us/sear-reports/201 9-sear-report (Accessed: 1 0 February 2021 ).
Ben & Jerry's (202 1 ) Official site. Ava ilable at: www.benjerry.com (Accessed: 10 February 2021 ).
Kaye , L. (201 2 ) 'Ben & Jerry's, now certified B Corporate', Tripie Pundit, 26 October. Ava i l a ble at: www.
triplepu ndit.com/201 2/ 1 0/ben-jerrys-certified-corp (Accessed: 1 0 February 2021 ).
Page, A. and Katz, R. A ( 2 0 1 2 ) The truth about Ben & Jerry's. l ndianapolis, I N : I ndiana University
Press.

Further reading and links

Ben & Jerry's YouTu be Channel ( 2 0 1 5) Our soci al mission: Ben & Jerry's. Ava i la ble at: www.youtu be.
com/watch?v= Lu2VBQBpn 7 U (Accessed: 1 0 February 2021 ).
Ben & Jerry's YouTu be Channel (201 7 ) Join the clim ate movement! Ben & Jerry's. Available at: www.
youtu be.com/watch?v=80N LPN H pm0k (Accessed: 10 Febru a ry 202 1 ).
Ciszek, E. and Logan, N. (201 8) 'Chal lenging the dialog ic promise: How Ben & Jerry's su pport for
Black Lives Matter fosters dissensus on socia l media', Journal of Public Relations Research, 30(3 ):
1 1 5-2 7.
Southern New Hampshire U niversity (SN H U ) (201 7 ) l nside Ben & Jerry's social mission. Ava i lable at:
www.youtu be.co m/watch?v=N_x3 bO H BwRA (Accessed : 1 0 February 202 1 ).
 CASE STUDY Nestlé
N e stl é is a food a n d beverage co mpany h ea d q u a rte red i n Switzer l a n d . lt i s the
l a rg est food com p a ny i n the world measu red by reven u es. With a revenue of over
U S $91 b i l l io n , N estl é was ra n ked by Fortu ne a m ong the top 1 00 la rgest corpora­
ti o n s i n the world in 2 0 2 0 . lt was one of the fi rst com pa n ies that clai med to
create s h a red va l u e a n d served as a case study, which late r h e l ped Porter a n d
Kra m e r (201 1 ) d eve l o p the CSV concept. Nestlé has a CSV Cou ncil ( o f which
Porter u sed to be a m e m ber and in 2 0 21 Kra mer is) and it a i ms to i m plem ent the
th ree key ways of CSV. Tod ay it no longer has a CSR report, but a CSV repo rt. The
co m p a ny states:

Creati n g S h a red Va lue is fu nda mental to how we do business at Nestlé. We

b e l i eve that o u r company ca n only be successfu l i n the long term by creati ng
va l u e both for o u r sha re holders a nd fo r soci ety. Our activities a nd prod ucts
s h o u l d m a ke a positive d ifference to society while contri buti ng to Nestlé's
o n g o i n g success. (Nestlé, 2 0 2 1 )

To create s h a red va l ue, N estlé made 3 6 com m itments that go beyond complian ce
a n d wor k a ccord i ng to their va lue. Accord i ng to N estlé, some of its key achievements
i n 2 0 1 9 i n clu de d : being na med a U N Globa l Compact LEAD company; addressi n g
p la sti c waste a n d com m itti ng to m a ke 1 00 per cent of its packa g i ng recyclable or
reu s a b l e by 2 0 2 5 ; a n d rol l i ng out a h u m a n rig hts tra i n i n g progra mme to over 1 0 0 ,
00

e m p l oyees.
 C S R mode l s a n d fra meworks

Source: DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock.com

However, Nestlé has been criticised over the years for alleged unethical or i rresponsi ble
behaviour by many people and organisations. From the baby formula controversy in the
1 980s (in which the company was accused of aggressively promoting baby formula to the
poor, resulti ng in a long boycott, which is ongoing for some grou ps); through smea r cam­
paigns against Nestlé's usage of palm oil, trafficked and forced labour and child labour; to
strong recent criticism of Nestlé's i rresponsible use of water (Coombs and Holladay, 201 5;
Guardian, 201 3; Samson, 201 6). lt is i nteresti ng to see a company, which commits to creat­
ing shared value and its th ree key ways, being strongly criticised for unethical behaviour.

Questions
What are the positive and negative aspects of Nestlé's CSV?
! Do you thi nk it creates shared va lue?
What could Nestlé do differently?
What does this case teach us about CSV?

References
Coombs, W. T. a nd Holladay, s. J. ( 2 01 5) Corporate social responsibility in the digital age. Bingley:
Em era ld.
Cuardian (201 3 ) N estlé ba by m i l k sca ndal has grown up but not gon� away. Ava i lable at: www.the­
gua rd i a n.com/ susta j na ble-busi ness/ nestle-babym i lk-scanda l-food-1 ndustry- sta nda rds (Accessed :
l O Feb rua ry 2 0 2 1 ).
Nestlé (20 2 1 ) our approa c h. Ava i l a ble at: www.n estlé .com/csv (Acces�ed: 10 Februa ry 2 0 2 1 ) . .
water 1s a fun ? a mental h u m � n right .
Sa mso n , K. ( 201 6 ) The privatization of wa te r : Nestlé denies that
Ava i lable at : www.globa I resea rch .ca/the -privatisation-of-wate r-nestle-denies- that-water- ,s-a-fu n -
da menta l-hu m a n-rig ht/ 5 3 3 2 2 3 8 (Accesse d : 1 0 Februa ry 2021 ).
 CASE STU DY Johnson & Johnson's stakeholder approach
The J o h nso n & J o h n so n fa m i ly of co m pa n ies i s a n i nternat i o n a l h ea lth ca re fi r m ,
w h i c h was fo u n d ed i n 1 886 by th ree broth ers. For nea rly 1 40 yea rs, t h e co m p a ny
h a s bee n p i o n e e ri n g h ea lthca re i n novati on i n fi e l d s ra n g i n g fro m d e nta l ca re to
cutti n g -e d g e ca n ce r treatm e nts. Th e com pa ny is orga n ised i nto th tee b u s i n ess s eg­
m e nts: J a nse n { ph a rma ceutic a l ), J o h nson & J o h n so n l n n ovat i o n ( a dva n ci n g ne w
h e a l thca re so l utions th ro u g h co l l a bo rati o n ) a n d Med i ca l Devic es. Acco rd i ng to
Ch u n ( 2 01 9), p h a rm a ceuti ca l co m pa n ies a re awa re that th e i r bo n d i � g _ with ve n d ? rs,
p hys i ci a ns, docto rs a n d patie nts is cru eia I for th e i r succe ss, a n d th 1s 1 s we l l a rt1cu-
lated i n J o h nson & J o h nso n 's credo.

Source: Sundry Photography/Shutterstock.com

l ndeed, Johnson & Joh nson's credo is a state ment of be li efs a nd a i ms rega rd i n g the
compa ny's responsi bi lity towa rds its va ri ous sta keholders, which guides a l l its actions.
Joh nson & Joh nso n's credo decla res the co mpany's responsibi l ity towa rds fou r sta ke­
holder grou ps: { l ) customers and suppliers; (2) employees; (3) th e com m u n ity i n which
th e company works as we ll as the wider world com m u n ity; a nd (4) the sha rehold ers of
the co mpa ny. Wh ile the credo rece ntly saw so me mi nar but i mporta nt updates, it has
kept the responsibil ity towa rds the fou r stakeholder groups at its core. Accord i n g to the
co mpa ny's website (Joh nson & Joh nson, 2021 a ) :

Robert Wood Joh nson, former cha i rman from 1 932 to 1963 a nd a member of the
Co m pa ny's fou nd i ng fa mi ly, crafted Our Credo h i mself i n 1 943, j ust before
Joh nson & Joh nson beca me a publ icly traded co mpa ny. This was long befor e
 I nt e rn a i a n d exte r n a ! sta k e h o l d e r s

he ard the term 'corporate social responsibility.' Our Credo is more

a nyo n e ever
th a n j u st a m oral com p as_s. We believe it's a reci pe for business success . The fact
th a t J o h nson & Joh n son i s one of only a ha ndful of compan ies that have flou r­
ore than a century of change is proof of that.
i sh ed throu gh m
l ity s�a ��d �n the credo is towards the company's customers: 'We
Th e fi rst res pon sibi
onsibility Is to the patie nts, doctors and nurses, to mothers a nd
be li eve ou r first resp
rs who use our products and services. ln meeti n g their needs eve­
fa th e rs a nd all othe
ryt hin g we do must be of high qu � lity.' ' Pati_e �� • was added before doctors and nurses
as a re cen t cha nge. To address th1s respons1b1l1ty, Johns o n & Joh nson aims to d evelop
safe and he alth y prod ucts, maintain affordable prices and contrai distribution of its
p rod ucts i n arder to allow fai r access. As part of this commitment, Johnson & Johnson
rose to the chal leng es of COVI D-1 9 and worked relentlessly to help develop a vac­
cine and ide nti fy thera pies to cou nteract this vírus. l n March 2020 , the company and
its Found ation com mitted US$50 mill ion to support frontline health workers - from
meal s to perso nal protective equ i pment, and extra training to mental health. This com­
mitme nt expa nds u pon a U5$250- million, multi-yea r commitme nt Johnson & Johnson
made ea rlier this yea r to support those on the frontli nes (Johnson & Johnson, 2021 b).

Our Credo
W• bel..Ve CM.Ir flttt reeponlibi11ty ,, to thti PfilMlnt1, doc;\o,.. and
nureH, h.> moth•" and '•thert � Ili oth4r1 who u•• ou, producis
end Mf'tf1eea. Ir, rMetJng thtllr ne.ct1, e,y•,y,hlng ..._.. do mu,t tM ot
'º
hlgh q1,,1ellty. w, rnu11 Contlently 11NW p10\01d• 'JIIU., ,� .. ou,
co1ts and rn,lnttin ,�ablo Pfice.1. Cua\Omert' ord.,, mutt be
Hrvloed promptty and �unit.ty Ou, b..lJlMas p1,1oert mu,t haw
.,, oppo,1unlty 10 make • ftilr profit.

W. are re1pon,.i,ble to O\U aq1�ec who VrtOtk wlth úC U,r�

tt-.. wo,ld. We mutt p,ovide '" tndwtve �,1uno •�l whet•
oach ptflOI\ mu.-t t>. C<lftlidered u 1n lndiVldull. We mul1 r•pe,ct.
thelr divon,ty •nd dton,iw. aJ\d reco0fl11• tNir rn-,tt. They rN.Lt\ h.tv•
1 - of ...:urity. fulfUm1nt 1nd pu,_ ln theirjobo- �doo\

Source·· Ph0t.o
graph supplied by author
(Continued)
C R tho u gh t

The second responsibility is towards its employees: 'We are respon sible to our employ­
ees who work with us throughout the world.We must pro vide an inclus ive work env_i­
ron ment where each person must be consi dered as an indivi dual. We must respect the rr
d iversity and dign ity and recognize their merit.' ln 2020, Johnson & Johnso � e � ploye_d
over 1 30,000 empl oyees worldwide, exhib iting mani fold intern ai CSR � r� ctrces _rn t � err
) detarls hrgh
favour. The company's 2019 annu al repor t (nam ed 'Health for Hum anrty
and wellb ei ng,
leveis of work place health and safety, concems for empl oyee healt h
recruitment for diversity and purpose, and empl oyee devel opme nt. .
empl oyees corpo rate volun teerr ng oppor­
ln addition, Johnson & Johnson offers its
s can also
tunities, paid leave to volunteer and skill-based volunteering. Employe�
ly
participate in a payroll-giving progra mme (in which employees donate drrect from
their monthly salary and the company matches their donat ions) and in disaster relief.
During the recent Austral ian bushfires, the compa ny provided unlimited paid leave to
employees who volunteered as firefighters and first responders.ln 2020, the company
provided 14 weeks of paid leave for people who were medically qualified to volunteer
in hospitais during the COVID-19 outbreak. These efforts can be seen as beneficial to
both the employees and the community.
The third responsibility is towards the community and the environment 'We are
responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community
as well, [...J protecting the environment and natural resources.' ln line with this respon­
sibility, Johnson & Johnson champions va rious local, national and global initiatives to
advance health and sustainability along three main dimensions: people, places and
practices. Within the people dimension, Johnson & Johnson created research partner­
ships and licensing agreements to provide treatment of neglected diseases in the devel­
oping world, and made H IV medicines more accessible to people in m ore than 1 00
developing countries. The company also donated 200 million doses of its treatment
for intestinal w? rms to children in more than 30 countries in the course of one year.
!n ter�s of env,ronmental su�tainabil ity, Johnson & Johnson declares that our planet
1s fa �ing unprecedented env,ronmental challenges, including climate change, water
_
scarc,ty, degradat,on of ecosystems, natural resources depletion and natura l disasters.
Regarding the latt� r, Johnson & Jo�nson works with its suppliers, not-for-profit partners
_
and other companres to prov,d e d1saster relief. ln 201 9, it allocated US$700 000 in
cash and US$36 m ! llion worth of products in support for immed iate, mid- and long­
term responses to cnses and natural disasters (Johnson & Johnson, 201 9):

f:5 a leader in the healthcare industry, we know that human health ;5 inextricably
l1nked to the health of the planet - we can't have healthy people and co mmun,·.
. .
t,es w,t. hout a hea 1thy environment. To this end, we are comm itted to marshaling
 I n t e r n a i a n d externa ! sta k e h o l d e r s

tise ,_ resou rce s a n d partnershi ps to red u ce the envi ron mental footpri nt
o ur exp er
e rat 1 ons, o u r p rod u cts a n d our extended su pply cha i n wh i l e deliverin g
of o ur o p
lth for AI I .
B ette r H ea
respon sibili ty is t �wards its sha reholders: ' Business must make a sound profit.
The tou rth
operate accord i ng to these principies, the stockholders shou ld reali ze a fair
( .. . ) Wh en we
ould be noted that the credo states to make a fair retu rn, not to maxi mise
return .' l t sh
val ue at � ny cost. The com pa ny pledges to del iver on its fi na ncial , qual ity
sh a re h ol d er
co mm itments a nd to conti nue to opti mise its portfolio. To i nvolve share­
a n d in novati on
efforts, in 201 9, the company hosted its second 'H ealth for Humanity
ho ld ers in its CSR
Report' webcast with i nvestors, provid i n g shareholders with the opportu nity to engage
a nd a sk qu estio ns of leaders in various pa rts of the company (Joh nson & Johnson, 201 9).
Th e credo represents the u n derlyi ng approach that gu ides the company and its opera­
tio ns in looking after a l i its sta keholders: 'Our responsibil ities to patients, consumers,
healthcare professionals, employees, communities and shareholders a re enshrined i n Our
Credo' (Johnson & Joh nson, 2019). As explai ned by Ali (201 8), si nce the Great Depression,
Johnson & Joh nson wa nts to place itself in the industry as a socially responsi ble fi rm, with
the ai m to promote social justice, which leads to a much broader view regard i ng its stake­
holders, as expressed i n its credo. Althoug h written in 1 943, it ca ptu res a sta keholder
integration approach that few compa n i es can demonstrate even today.

Questions
Read Joh nson & J o h nson's credo a nd ide ntify a l l the compa ny's listed sta kehold­
ers. Which sta ke holde rs a re missin g?
2 Try to prioritise the m . Whom do you th i n k is more importa nt and why?
., The credo was written i n 1 943 a nd has hard ly changed si nce. Why is this revolu­
tion ary in te rms of sta keholder management?
4 How wou ld you , as a sen i o r m a nager at Joh nson & Joh nson, expla i n the i mpor-
ta nce of the credo to a n ewly recru ited manage r in your tea m? .
S l n the last few yea rs, J oh nson & Joh nson has dealt with several large-sc a le lawsu1ts
ag ain st it. H ow d i d the compa ny add ress these lawsu its and what ca n we l ea rn
fro m th is about its sta ke holder ap proa ch?

References
Ali, � - A. ( 20 1 8) of stakehold� r recog­
'A multiple case study to exam ine the complex multilevel p rocess
n itio n by stakeho
lder-or iented firms' , Joumal of Leadership, Accountabiltty ndªEth'cs, 1 5(3 ). l l -3o.
(Continued)
':i R U C• l l [-, h t

Chun, R. (20 1 9 ) 'How virtuous g lobal firms say they a re: A content ana lys is of eth ical va lu e s' Jo
. . , urna/
of Busmess Eth,cs, 1 5 5( 1 ): 5 7-73 .
Johnson & Johnson (2019) Health for Hu ma nity report. Ava i lable at: https://heal thforhu ma nityre
j nj.com/_document/201 9-heath-for-hu manity-report-joh nson-joh nson?id=OOOOO l 7 2 - a 8f8- ��1:
a9fa-acfda52c0000 (Accessed: 02 November 2020).
Johnson & Joh nson (202 1 a) Johnson & Johnson credo. Ava i lable at: www.jnj .com/credo (Access
ed:
1 0 February 202 1 ).
Joh nson & Johnson (2 02 1 b) Official site. Ava i la ble at: www.j nj.com (Accessed: 1 0 Februa ry 202 1 ).

Further reading and links

Cavallo, K. and B rienza, O. (2002 ) 'Emotional competence and leadership excel lence at Johnson &
Johnson: The emotional intel ligence and leadership study', Consortium for Research on Emotiona/
lntelligence in Organizations, 1 - 1 2 .
Johnson & Johnson ( 2 0 1 7 ) O u r vision of health for humanity. Ava i labl e at: www.youtube.com/
watch?v=GT9Su94a lv0 (Accessed: 1 0 Februa ry 202 1 ).
 Ç- \
· 1-, - n
, . r, ,--, n
-, '- 1 1 e s ' l l J,
ln �I 111 e , 1 l a t 1 o n

CASE STUDY Business ethics at Salesforce

Founded in 1 999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff a nd others, Salesforce l nc. is
an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, Ca lifornia.
Salesforce provides customer relationship ma nagement (CRM) services and enterprise
applications focused on customer service, marketing automation, ana lytics, and applica­
tion development. Salesforce's CRM service com prises several broad categories:
Commerce Cloud, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud, Ma rketing Cloud, Com munity
Cloud, Analytics Cloud, App Cloud, and loT, with over 1 50,000 co rporate clients and a
revenue of over US$ 1 7 billion in 2020 alone (Craig, 2020; Salesforce, 202 1 ).

5ource: DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock.com
►
Business e h•cs

The e.o m
pa ny's culture is based on the notion of 'Oha na ', meaning 'family' in Hawa i i a n
. b u ·1 1t on four core va lues that i nspi re us to work togethe r every
re· 'Ou r. Oh a na. 1s
cult u owa
t r d 1 m p roving the wo_rl d' ( Salesforce , 2021 ): trust, customer success , .i nnovat1. on
da
Fi gure 4. 1 deta l ls thes e va lu es.
a n� e q u ality.

Trust We communicate openly with our customers and do

what it takes to keep their data secure.

,·

Our customers' success is criticai to our growth and

Customer Success
we're committed to succeeding together.

We pursue ideas that could change our company,

lnnovation
our country - and maybe even the world.

We respect and value employees from every

backg round, and we thrive as a result.

Figure 4.1 Salesforce's corporate values (based on Salesforce, 2021 )

Fo r exam ple, regard ing the last va lue on the list, Sa lesforce {202 1 ) states on its
website:

E q uality is a core va lue at Sa lesforce. We bel ieve that busi nesses ca n be powerfu l
pla tform s for social cha nge and that ou r higher pu rpose is to drive Equality for
all. C rea ting a cu lture of Eq ual ity isn't just the rig ht th ing to do, it's a lso the
sm art th i ng - em poweri ng us to i n novate, bu ild deeper connections with ou r
cu stom e rs, and ulti ma tely become a better compa ny. Diverse compa n ies a re
mo re in novative a nd better positioned to su cceed in the Fourth I ndustrial
R evoluti on.

!� n�q u ali_ty pill ars inclu de equal rights, equal pay, eq ual ed ucation a nd e q �al oppor­
s

ty. W i_th eq ual ed u cation, the company adopts 45 schools globa l ly and mtegrates
ST (sc e n
EM i ce, techno logy, engi neering and math ) i nto their cu rricu lum as pa rt of
{Continued)
 its Ci rcle the Schools Program. The company supports gender equality in many ways,
i ncl ud i ng th rough Lean-in circles, mentoring and celebra tions. Salesforce su ppo rts
LG BTQ+ rights and encourages its employees to bring thei r whole sel f i nto work, be ing
'visible , vocal and proud'. Consequently, employees are apparen tly proud to work a t
Salesfo rce, and in 2020, Fortune magazine ranked Salesforce at number six on its 'List
of top 1 00 companies to work for', based on an employee survey of satisfaction.
Salesforce.o rg is a social impact centre of Salesforce, focused on partnering with
the global community to 'tackle the world's biggest problems'. lt began as a corp o­
rate fou ndation but shifted to become a social enterprise to give free and discoun ted
technology to not-for-profit organisation s and other world-chang ing in itiatives. Using
its Nonprofit Cloud, Education Cloud and Philanthropy Cloud, Salesforce.o rg is 'accel­
erating social impact with purpose-built tech nology' to help close the impact gap. Over
the years, it has worked with over 40,000 organisations, invested nea rly US$300,000
in grants, and provided over 4.3 million corporate volunteering hours to 'bui ld social
innovation capacity through partner services, pro bono, and i mpact-led partnerships'.
Using theory of change to measure its socia l impact (see Chapter 9), Sa lesforce
assessed its positive contribution: 82 per cent of not-for-profit and education customers
reported that Sa lesfo rce.org technology had improved how they get thi ngs done, and
35 per cent reported an improvement i n the quality of services/su pport (Sa lesforce,
202 1 ). This impact, created by the commu nity pa rtners, can be seen as the col lective
social impact Salesfo rce helps to garner. Fu rther, the compa ny measu red its various
contributions, such as employee volu nteeri ng hou rs, against the related sustainable
development goal (SDG; see Chapter 5), with the outcome that SDG 3 (Good health
and well-being) was the one it had contributed towa rds the most. When COVI D-1 9
disrupted the work o f cou ntless people, Salesforce worked with not-for-profits to help
them shift to remote work platforms, so they could conti nue to su pport their clients.
Salesfo rce has an interesting approach to its busi ness eth ics, focused on the 'ethical
and humane use of technology'. Marc Benioff, cha irma n and co-CEO sa id: 'We know
that tech nology is not inherently good or bad; it's what we do with it that matters. And
that's why we're making the ethical and humane use of tech nology a strategic focus
at Salesforce'. To achieve this goal, Salesforce established The Office of Ethical and
Humane Use, which focuses on th ree pillars: ( 1 ) understanding the direct i m pact of
its products on the world; (2) creati ng an ethical i nternai cultu re and product design
process; and (3) advancing the field through mu lti-stakeholder d i alogues. lt engages
stakeholders and experts to achieve insights and ethical sta ndards. Salesforce has pub­
lished a special report on ethical leadership and business, with over 2400 consu mer
i �sights o � technology, equa lity and ethics. Salesforce has fu rther explored the respon­
srble creatron and use of artificial i ntelligence (AI) to bri ng awa reness of key issues to
� mployees, customers an � the pub_lic. lts mission is to 'su pport AI that respects h u man
nghts and helps all of socIety, not J ust some of it' (Salesforce, 2021 ).
 has a 2 O- page code of conduct, which expla i ns to newco mers a nd
h e compa ny
_T . empl oyees the ethical behaviour expected from them i n a number of areas.
e x1 st 1 n gm t Cod e d
.
'I scusses d 'I vers Ity at Sa lesforce usi ng the Hawa iia n concept
pl e, h e
fo r e;:hi, o r wo rki ng with un ity, to describe how different poi nts of view within the
of /O co ntribute to a strong and un ified team: ' employment decisions l ike hi r­
co mP a ny ca n omo tmg .
re never b ase d on 1 ega 1 1
. . ,
st1 cs
nd pr y protected personal cha ra cten
i n , fi r in g , a � ..
e to 1ts Hawa1 1an culture, the Code is summa rised i n the acronym
(S;l e sfo rce, 2 02 1 ). Tru
ful, alertness; L - lokahi, working with un ity; O - oia'i'o, truthful
A LO H A: A - ala , watch
humi _l ity; A - ahonui, patient perseverance.
h o n esty; H - ha' aha' a,
oesp ite a l l this outsta ndi ng wo rk, Salesforces has been criticised a nd sued by sev­
era ! part ies. ln 201 9, 50 women who clai med to be sex-trafficki ng su rv ivors, filed a l aw­
suit against Sa lesforce i n a San Fra ncisco court, cla iming that the company faci l itated
'sex traffi cki ng, negl igence, and conspi racy' by providi ng tools to support the growth of
Backpag e.com, a sex-trafficki ng website (Bach, 201 9; Jones, 201 9). As Backpage .co m
was seized by the US govern ment i n 201 8, the lawsuit targeted Salesforce. l n September
201 9, the judge rejected the suit. According to Forbes Magazi ne (Page, 2020), US$ 1 O
billi o n i n class-action lawsuits were recently fi led i n the UK and the Netherlands against
0racle and Salesforce for brea chi ng GDPR (Genera l Data Protection Regulation) i n the
way they process and share personal data to sel l online advertisi ng.

Questions
1- What steps did Sa lesforce take to become a n ethical company?
7. Deta il the corporate va lues of Salesforce. Would you consider them ethica l? Why?
3 Why is equa l ity so i mportant for Salesforce i n pa rticul ar a nd for business ethics i n
ge neral?
4 � n your opi ni on, is the compa ny's approach to social responsibi l ity and ethics
instrumental or mora l? Is it hol istic?
).
r
W hi ch asp ects of the strategic CSR defi n ition does Sa lesforce meet? Which o nes
can it yet im prove upon?
� � ha t ca n Sale sforce do to address the lawsuits agai nst it a nd to avoid legal action
líl th e futu re?

Referen ces
B ach , N . ( 201 9 ) 5 0
wo m en accu se Sa lesforce of 'facil· 1tati · sex tra ff.Ic k.i ng on B ack page.co m .
· · ng ' t h eIr
Ava · , ª b le
at:
(Ac�es sed : 0 htt ps:/ /fort u ne.com / 2 0 1 9/03/2 7 /sa lesfor ce-lawsu it-backpag e-se x-tra ff icki n g
1 F eb ruary 2 0 2 1 ) .

{Continued)
) 1\ a µ p r o ;1 c h e ,:; a n d 1 m ple 11 e n t a t 1 o n

Craig, R . (2020) America's busi nesses are run ning o n Sal � sforce: Why a ren't we tr� inin g ne w w
_ or ke
on it? Available at: www.forbes.com/s 1tes/rya ncra 1g/202 ?/08/ 1 2/am encas-bu sin ess es-a r rs
e­
ru nni ng-on-salesforce-why-a rent-we-tra i ni ng -new- workers-on-1t/?sh = 1 cb2 6ea b4 Sc3 (Access
ed:
1 0 February 2021 ).
Jones, e. (201 9) Salesforce sued over dealings with sex trafficking site. Available at: www.s ale sforce.
org (Accessed: 1 0 February 2021 ).
Page, e. (2020) Oracle and Salesforce hit with $ 1 0 billion GDPR class-action lawsu i t. Avai lab le at:
www.forbes.com/sites/ carlypage/2020/08/ 14/ ora ele-a nd-sa lesforce-hit- with-1 O-bil lion -gdp r­
class-action-lawsu iV?sh =S f83 dea9323c (Accessed: 1 0 February 202 1 ).
Salesforce (2021 ) Official site. Available at: www.salesfo rce.com (Accessed: 10 February 202 1 ).

Further reading and links

Mirvis, P. (201 2) 'Employee engagement and CSR: Transactional, relational, and developmental
approaches', California Management Review, 54(4): 93- 1 1 7.
Salesforce.org (201 8) Salesfo rce sustainability: Analyzi ng and managing our environmental impact.
Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV4WS_VCdVc (Accessed: 1 0 February 2021 ).
Salesforce.org (201 8) Equal ity trailblazers. Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=59GqMVB110c
(Accessed: 1 0 February 2021 ).
 B u s i n e , -; et h ic s

CASE STUDY Ford Pinto

The case of Ford Pi nto is often used to teach busi ness ethics (although, as was
explai ned in the i ntroduction, it is about unethical behaviour). ln the 1 970s, Ford
Motor Company developed a small ca r to compete with Volkswagen and other com pa­
nies, which was marketed as a 'carefree car'. While conducti ng some crash tests, Ford
learned that the Pi nto i ntroduced a severe haza rd - i n the case of a rear collision, even
at low speed, the car wou ld burst into fla mes. Ford officials faced a moral decision:
should they go a head with the existing desi gn, thereby meeti ng the prod uction sched­
ule but possibly jeopard ising consu mer safety, or should they delay production of the
Pinto and redesign the ca r to make it safer? The fi rm knew that if it chose the latter,
the cost would be about US$ l l per ca r ( Ladenson, 1 995).

Small Bite...$1919•
( for so many miles of carefree driving )
Ford's hllle Pinto lo prlc;od ,mnll. Out lt'e. blg on valu& englne eo you edn ,nergo uslly ll'!ID high•&�d lralfm..
nn(t perfo,rnMce. Pinto ave,aood ova, 25 mpg ln aim· Md Pinto'• iNloe stanct and low sllhouottt. a/9 .,_
ulatod c1tyta1.1butban driving. • -'gned for belklr st1tb1lil) -ov,n 11'1 gu,ty Y"indt li t,..u
Pinto eo.lls for 01,ty holl ftl mnny oll chwigos as VW, ruck-and•plnlcn ,t1.1c1lng (l,ke uponsi..,. apa,ts cara)
Ôntl•sl•lh H mony chOnli lubC5 tor p1ecfslon hlVHit1no.

o...--�----
11 h.11 more DVlifíllll ,oom ,nsld• th1n VW aod ts Pin10.ll't•ty04Jrford Ã.
only ª" 1ncn·tongar OulSlda Prn10 hH t1fgl'I b&C'IC, OHler'• now Along ·I.
�
1ton1 buck•l 1u1s ano ■ tu111 &ynehronízed tour- wllh Q\t Ofa�new S.- ,_ 0, •o-t-ur
14>80d lloOf 1n111 Pln1O !'110 nas a 75 n01sepow•1 dootPlnloAuMIOOIJI

PINTO --

Source: '19 71 Ford

Pinto Advertisem ent Life Magazine May 1 4 1 97 1 ' by SenseiAlan is licensed under CC BY 2.0

(Continued)
 R <l p p r o a c h s a n d i m p l e rn e n t a t i o n

Accord i ng to a memo, which was later leaked , Ford did an informe d cal cul ation
to d ecide which a ction to take. ln this calculati on, the company estim ate d th at l 8 Q
people wou ld d ie each yea r a nd that the cost per death wou l d be a bout US$ 200,ooo
( remem ber, this is the 1 9 7 0 s). Their calculat io ns in the leaked m emo were as foll ows
( a l l sums a re i n US$):

Benefits
Savings: 1 8 0 bum deaths, 1 8 0 serious bum injuries, 2, 1 00 burned vehicles
Unit cost: $2 00,0 00 per death, $67, 00 0 per injury, $ 7 00 per vehicle
Total benefit: ( 1 80 x $2 00,000) + ( 1 8 0 x $67,0 00) + (2, 1 00 x $ 70 0) = $49. 5
million

Costs
Sales: 1 1 million cars, 1.5 million light trucks
Unit cost: $ 1 1 per car, $ 1 1 per truck
Tota l cost: 12.5 m illion x $ 1 l = $ 1 3 7.5 million

Given these numbers, Ford decided to move ahead and sell the dangerous car, knowi ng
very we// that it would cause deaths. The Ford Pinto ended u p killing many more peop/e
than estimated (over 1,000) and the damages caused to customers and the company
far exceeded the calculation.

Questions
Ana/yse how ethical Ford was in its actions around the Ford Pinto from a deo nto lo gical
point of view. Is there an ethical justification to what they did using this a pproa ch ?
Now a � ply the utilita rian appro ach to answer the sarne quest io n.
What d1d you /earn from this case abou t busin ess ethics?
J � ha ! did you learn from your respon ses to each of the mora l approach es dis cussed
,n th1s chapter?
What wou/ d you have done if you were working in the Ford tea at the ti m e?
m

Reference
Lade �so �, R. (_1 995) Ford Pinto case. Chica g o, l
l: Cent er for the Stud y of Ethics in the Professi o n s,
l ll rn o rs I n st,tute o f Tech n o logy.
 s's resp o n si b ilify to w ards the
CASE STUDY lnfosy beyo n d
comm unity in lndia and
m
bo rat ive ide a be tw ee n se ve n you ng en gin ee rs in 1 98 1 fro
What started ou t as a co lla h an i n itia lly- bo rro we d ca pital
of
Na rayan Mu rth y's h om e, a nd wit
a roa m in fou nd er $ l 2 m il­
$2 5 0, has tod ay gro wn int o a glo ba l organisatio n ge ne rat in g ov er U5
just U5
, h a ma rket cap ital isat ion of ove r US $58 bill ion (lnfosys, 2 0 2 1 a).
lion in reve nue wit
has a dive rse wor kfo rce of 240, 000+
lnfosys serves more than 1 ,400 clie nts and
ting 144 nati ona litie s acro ss 46
emp loyees (of whic h 3 8 per cent are wom en), represen
countries (lnfosys Sustaina bility, 201 9, 2020).
h eadq u ar­
Today, lnfosys Limited is an l ndian -grow n m u ltin ation a l organisation,
ogy
tered in Karnataka, lndia, with a focus on business consu lting, inform ation techno l
and outsourcin g servi �es. Through its implemen tation of the Globa l Delivery Model ,
lnfosys has played a vital role in positioning l ndia as a global hub provid i n g outso u rc­
_
rng of IT solutions (lnfosys, 2021 a; Jose, 20 1 6).
lnfosys ann � unced its CS R com mitment in 1 996 with the establish m ent of the
lnfos�s F� undat, ? n (lnfosys Fou ndation, 2021 ). The Foundation works with not-fo r-profi t
_
orgarnsat,o�s to rmplement pr�Jects, predominantly in South lndia, although it is gradu-
a, ,y expandmg the reach and rmpact of its CSR .
. ,n ot h er areas of the country and th e
world. ln fosys CSR pol,·cy str·1ves for , econo m,c devei . . .
. op ment t h at pos 1t1ve ly , m pa cts
the society at /arge with m ,· n,· mal resou rce fo otprr nt' an d , e m b racef sJ respon s .1 b 1/1t ..
y
for the Company's actions and e ncou rage [s] a posi t'rve i· mpact . . .
.,vrt
. th ro u g h 1 ts act ,e s
on hunge r, poverty, malnu trit,· on , e nv,ronm ent' com m u n i·t·i es,
. , stake holde rs an d t he
soc,ety (lnfosys, 202 1 b: 3 ).

◄
 Source : 'ln fosys Mahin dra City' by seeveeaar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

The focus of the Fou ndati on's a ctivities includes healthca re, ed ucati on, co m mu­
nity involvement, envi ro n m enta l contribution, ru ra l development and cu ltu re ( l nfosys
Foundation, 202 1 ). So m e h i g h l ig hts of the Fou ndati on's a ctivities i n the past i ncl ude
the introd uction of the Aa ro h a n Socia l l n novation Awa rds; tra i n ing 1 00,000 students
under 'Project Genesis' to i ncrease the employability of students in the IT sector; resto­
ration of water bod ies i n Ka rnata ka; enabl ing access to and the pu rsuit of excel lence
in sport through the GoS po rts Fou ndation; and d isaster rel ief efforts in Ta m i l Nadu,
Karnataka and Keral a ( Fe rn a ndes, 202 0).
Since the esta blishm ent of the l nfosys Foundation, the focus on CSR has grown signifi­
can tly, evid ent th roug h the i mpact reported in its 2020 Sustainability Report across the ver­
ti cais of envi ron menta l susta i nability p ractices, stakeholder management and its response
to COVI D-1 9 . The compa ny has invested US$ 50 million in these and other CSR efforts. The
Report co nforms to the
Globa l Reporti ng l nitiative (G RI) sta ndards and forms the basis of
th e o rg a n isati on's
Com m u n ication on Progress (CoP) with the UN Global Compact (UNGC).
Th e res pon sib i l ity of
l n fosys towa rds the com m u n ity a nd society is pa rt of its
ap pro a ch to
cor porate g ove rn a n ce a n d sta keh older i ntegration:

At l nfosys, the g
oal of corpo rate governance is to ensure fairness for every stakeholder -
cu
��� �to � e rs, i nvestors, vendor-partners, the community, and the governme �ts 0 � he
. ntn es líl w _
!
h , ch we ope rate. We believe that sound corporate govern ance 15 criticai
1 n en h a n ·
cm g a nd reta i n ing investo r trust. lt is a reflect·1on of ou r cultu re, our po 1 ic,es,
· ·
0 u r re1 · ·
at, o ns h · p wi th sta k
º
, eholders a nd our comm 1tmen t to values. Accord m . g 1 Y, we
a l ways se
e k to e nsu re that our performa nce is driven by integrity. (lnfosy5, 2 2 1 a)
(Continued)
· - R a p proa c h e s a n d í m p l e m e n t a t i o n

An outstanding i l lustrati on o f the company's c_ommitment to the commu ni ty is throu h

_ g
its COVI D-1 9 response. With a focus on wel l bemg and the safety of Its key sta ke hol d
er
incl uding employees and pa rtners, lnfosys transformed into a 'Li ve Enterpri se' 'with th
:
a b i l ity to respond intu itively to dis_ru pt� �n and dynamic ma rket changes, whil e evolv i n
at enterprise sca le' ( lnfosys Susta m a b,l ity, 2020: 4). The company set up a COVI D-l gg
response team, which monitored and ensu red the hea lth, protectio n and safety of its
employees. The team a lso ensured business continu ity, del ivering on commit m e n ts to
cl ients by implementing the work-from-home moda l ity and ensu ring enha nce d com m u ­
nication and coordination with cl ients ( Das, 2020; lnfosys Susta ina bi l ity, 201 9, 20 2 0).
Fu rthe rmore, the lnfosys Foundation in lndia committed around US$ 1 3 .3 mil lion to
COVI D-1 9 re lief efforts, including the donation of food and medica l supp l ies an d p ro­
viding monthly wages for those workers and thei r fami l ies who a re most vulnera ble .
Additional ly, the Foundation worked with pa rtners to set u p 300+ beds exclusively fo r
COVI D-1 9 ca re fo r the disadvantaged popu lation.
More broadly on hea lthcare for underprivi l eged patients, the Foundation has focused
on advancing the existing hea lthca re infrastructu re by faci l itating the construction of
hospita l wa rds, providing eq u i pment to va rious hospita is and bui lding rest-houses for
patients across lndia. The Foundation has donated nea rly US$7 mil l ion to expand the
hea lthca re infrastructu re in lndia (lnfosys Foundation, 202 1 ). Fu rther, lnfosys addresses
educati onal issues to dose socia l ga ps. ln its q uest to reduce dropout rates i n pri ma ry
school by eliminating hunge r in classrooms, the Foundation has worked in pa rtner­
ship with loca l schools and non-profit organisations, providing free meals to unde r privi­
leged chi ldren, so that they do not have to earn money to pay fo r the i r meals ( lnfosys
Foundation, 2021 ). The Foundation has a lso colla borated with VISHWAS to p rovide
hea lthca re, ea rly chi ldhood ca re and elementa ry education fo r 300 disadvantaged and
ma rgina l ised chi ldren.

Questions
What are the positives and negatives of lnfosys's a pproach to CS R?
How mi ght lnfosys make its CSR more hol istic?
Who are the three ma in key stakeholder groups of lnfosys? How does the co m pa ny
cater to its key stakeholders throu gh its CS R?
How does the COVI D-1 9 response of lnfosys a l i gn with its overa l l CSR st ra tegy
?

What mi ght it do to improve on this response?

What can lnfosys do fu rthe r to tackle additional global issue s? Ho w m ig h t ,t
increase the impact of its activities globa lly?
 tp

Soc i a l a n d g l o b a l i s s u e s

Reterences . . . .
'Soc i a l a u d r t rn l ndra: Evrdence from l nfosys Ltd', Journal ofAccounting, 4( 1 ): 64-70.
K (2 0 2 0 )
o a s, ; � 0) Top 1 0 l nd i a n companies for CSR i n 2020. Ava i lable at: https://thecsrj o u rn a l.
e d s K. (2 0 2
F r� o p'. i n d i a n-c � � pa � i es- for- �sr- i n-2020 (Ac �essed: 1 0 Februa ry 2021 ).
n/t
1 a ) O ff1c 1al site. Avarlable at: www.r nfosys.com (Accessed: 1 0 February 2 0 2 1 ).
Infosys (2 02
1 b ) Corpora te soc,a · 1 respons,· b 1· I rty.
· Ava,· la b l e at: www.infosys.com/i nvestors/corporate-
1nfosys (2 02 s corpora e-soc,a
ce/ D ocum en t / t · 1 -respons,'b'I'
, rty-polrcy.pdf
· (Accessed: 1 0 Febru a ry 2 0 2 1 ).
ove rn an
ndation (20 2 1 ) About l nfosys Foundation. Ava i lable at: www.infosys.com/infosys-fo u nd a­
l nfo�ys Fo u _
February 1
tm l (Acc essed. 1 0 2 0 2 ).
ti o n.h
i l i ty (201 9_) l nfosys S u s�a i n � � il i ty Report 201 9. Ava i lable at: www.infosys.com /sus­
lnfosys s usta i nab
ta i n ab i l ity/do cume nts/rnfosys-susta rnab1l 1ty-report-201 8-1 9.pdf (Accessed: 1 O Fe bruary 202 1 ).
(202 ? ) lnfosys Su_sta i � � bil ity Report 2020. Ava i lable at: www.i nfosys.com/sus­
lnfosys sustain ability
tai nab ility /doc uments/r nfosys-sustarnab,lrty-report-2 01 9-20.pdf (Accessed: 10 February 2021 ).
Jose, P. D. (20 1 6) 'Bus i ness and society: Creating shared val ue - ln conversat i on with NR N a raya na
Murthy, Fou nder, l nfosys', 11MB Management Review, 28( 1 ) : 43-5 1 .

Further reading and links

Garud, R. and Kumaraswa my, A (2 005) 'Vicious and virtuous circles in the management of knowl­
edge: The case of lnfosys Technologies', M/5 Quarterly, 29( 1 ): 9-3 3.
lnfosys Foundation (2014) Ti ll the change is for rea l . Available at: https://youtu.be/3Zcnj nXR A8 8
(Accessed: 1 0 Februa ry 2 0 2 1 ).
lnfosys Foundat i on (201 9) l nfosys Foundation: Feed i ng the need for ed ucat ion. Avai l able a t: www.
youtube.com/watch?v= op-meqQ l M8c (Accessed: 1 0 February 202 1 ).
Khanna , T. and Pal epu, K. G. (2 004) 'Globa lizat i on and convergence in corporate gove rn a nce:
Evi dence from l nfosys and the l nd i an software industry', Journal of lnternational Business Studies,
3 5 (6): 484-50 7.

►
 CASE STUDY Patagonia: Environment as a
maior stakeholder
Founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, Patagonia is an American outdoor apparel com­
pany headquartered in California. From the outset, the company was an instrument of
environmental sustainability, as captured in its mission statement: 'We're in business
to save our home planet. At Patagonia, we appreciate that all life on earth is under
threat of extinction. We aim to use the resources we have - our business, our invest­
ments, our voice and our imaginations - to do something about it' (Patagonia, 2021 ).
As such, the company can be seen as an outstanding example of strategic CSR, falling
under the definition of how the term is used in this book. To achieve this grand goal,
Patagonia commits l per cent of its total sales or 10 per cent of its profit, whichever is
higher, to the restoration of the natural environment. Since 1985, Patagonia has
awarded over US$89 million in cash and in-kind donations to domestic and interna­
tional grassroots environmental groups, leading these groups to make a significant
difference in their local communities. ln 2002, Yvon Chouinard created the 7% for the
Planet non-profit organisation to encourage other businesses to do the sarne (Fowler
and Hope, 2007).
{Continued)
 - - -
-
- - . ...-.�..:--.......
� .. ,' .-_ . ·:: - -- . - � �. ,

Source: Andriy Blokhin/Shutterstockcom

Chouinard believes that if d ane right, business has the potential to a ddress the envi­
ronmental harms it often creates, an d to inspire positive change. Patagonia as a busi­
ne ss is an opportunity to challenge the conventional way of doing business and to
showcase responsible business making (Chouinard and Stanley, 2013}. Patagonia
aims to build the best produ ct, in terms of its du rability, so that consumers do not
need to buy another one for many years. lt further aims to cause no unnecessary harm
within its value chain and to use business to protect nature. Using innovative methods,
Patagonia (2021) portrays environmental activism and climate action:

As the climate crisis deepens, we see a potential, even probable end to such
moments, an d so we're fighting to save them. We donate our time, service s and
at least 1 per ce nt of our sales to help hundreds of grassroots organisations all
over the world so that they can remain vigilant and protect what's irreplaceable.
At the sarne time, we know that we risk saving a tree only to lose the forest - a
liveable planet. As the loss of biodiversity, arable soils, coral reefs and fresh water
all accelerate, we are doing our best to a ddress the causes, and not just symp­
toms, of global warming.

ln their book Con�cious Capitalism, Mackey and Sisodia {2014) argued that for
.
Patagorna, the env,ronment is the ultimate stakeholder. lndeed , as part of its cli­
_ _ _
mate act,v,s�, tn 2017, Patagonia sued then-President Trump's a dministration after it
�educed the s1ze of the B�ars Ears National Monument in Utah, claiming the move was
,llegal. ln 2020, �atagorna teamed up with other companies to lau nch the nonpartisan
_ _ _ _
T!me to Vote irnt,at,ve , where nearly 2000 companies granted time off to employees
to vote in the U� election. Patagonia vocally opposed Trump's anti-environmentalism
approach ��d with?�awal from the Paris climate action agreem ent. As part of its cor­
porate pollt�cal activism {see_ Chapter 5), Patagonia added a blunt message, Vote the
a-holes ?ut , to the tags of 1� 2020 R�ad to Regenerative Organic Stand-Up Shorts,
because we have be;n sta�dmg up to chmate deniers for almost as long as we've been
making those shorts {Lecla1r, 2020).
'At Patagonia, the protection and preservation of the environment isn't what we do
after hours. lt's part of our everyday work' {Patagonia, 2021 ). How? Firstly, Patagonia
views profit as a means to continue providing value to its customers and to advance its
social and environmental causes. The company takes the life cycle of its products very
seriously, from conception to ultimate disposal. lts former CEO, Casey Sheahen, said:
'We take complete responsibility for every product we make. We repair our products,
recycle them, help people sell them when they no longer need them. We are trying
to protect all of embodied energy in the product and not have it end up in a landfill'
(Mackey and Sisodia, 2014: 139). ln 2017, Patagonia launched its Regenerative Organic
programme to build healthy soil, which helps draw carbon back into the ground. lt is a
holistic agricultura! certification encompassing pasture-based animal welfare, fairness
for farmers and workers, and robust requirements for soil health and land management
{Patagonia, 2021 ). lt is a company that acts to reduce consumerism, and as such it is a
true market disruptor. On Black Friday in 2011 , when every other business was pushing
goods with sales, Patagonia carne out with an ad in The New York Times: 'Don't Buy
This Jacket', and contributed 100 per cent of the sales money to sustainability projects.
There were no discounts offered on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, and the company
asked consumers to buy less, not more, than normal.
Patagonia often features environmental issues in its catalogues and marketing cam­
paigns. ln addition to large global initiatives, Patagonia also supports severa! smaller
initiatives such as the Conservation Alliance, the World Trout lnitiative and the Organic
Exchange, to name a few. The company launched a worldwide recycling initiative, enti­
tled 'The Common Threads Recycling Program', and has a site devoted to the explana­
tion of its recycling process named 'The Footprint Chronicles'. Another initiative, 'Worn
Wear', was launched as a six-week repair tour involving more than 10,000 participants,
aiming to prolong the useful life of its clothing and changing people's relationships
with stuff.
The way Patagonia does its business is consistent with its philosophy of sustainabil­
ity and responsibility. Patagonia strives to be sustainable throughout its supply chain.
The company prioritises ethical and business standards equally. lt only works with fac­
tories that follow certain social and environm ental practices as well as maintaining
(Continued)
 qualit y standards, financial stability and fair pricing. To achieve this, Patagonia au
d·
all its fact ories and subcontract ors, and its social/environmental responsib ility te a'ts
can vet o a decisi on to work with a new fact ory based on that facto ry not com plyinm
with Patag onia's sustainability standards. The company also dem onstrates its enviro
n�
mental consciousness in the design and construction of its own facilities. Pa tagonia.
uses sustainable and recycled materiais, and the products it sells are designed to be of
high q uality and end uring.
Patagonia's true care for the environment was well illustrated in the 2014 Climate
March, during which 400,000 people took to the streets of New York City to march for
climate change action. The company supp orted the march and kept its retail doors in
the city shu t until 3pm to ensure that its employees could participate in the march.
ln September 2019, Patagonia supp orted the Strike for Climate marches around the
world. ln Australia, the UK and lreland, st ores and offices were cl osed so that employ­
ees could participate, while also launching its 'Facing Extinction' campaign to support
the school st rikes (Patag onia, 2019).
The company also takes care of its employees. ln March 2020, Patagonia made
headlines for being q uick to shut d own its retail stores as well as its online website
during the C0VID-19 pandemic, while sti/1 paying st ore and warehou,se workers (Leclair,
2020). F u rther, Patag onia provides employees thr oughout its worldwide operations
with a n umber of opp ortunities to support environmental work. For example, within
the Environmental lnternship Program employees can work up to 320 hours for not­
for-profit environmental groups while receiving their full pay and benefits. Employees
receive time off work to participate in climate marches and strikes. US and Canadian
empl oyees can earn up to US$500 (pre-tax) per year for using sustainable transporta­
tion, leading to 900 employees collectively driving 690,000 fewer miles in the first
year, reducing C02 emissions by 500,000 pounds.

Questions
How does Patagonia's business philosophy drive the company's strategy?
Examiníng the supply chain of Patagonia, from resource extraction to the dis posal
of pr oducts by end users, what does
Patagonia do at each step of the chain to
ensu re sustainability?
Watch this vídeo entitled 'Why Patagonia tells custo
mers its coats are toxic': www.
be.com/watch?v =Obk75wcpd5c. Is it smart busin
y ess to disclose negative
outu
1mpacts? Why?
x
� _amine Patagonia's CSR and the afo rementi oned elements of strategic CSR. Is
t ,s an example of strateg
ic CSR? How so?
 CASE STUDY Plan A for sustainability in Marks &
Spencer: There is no Plan B
ln 2007, Marks & Spencer (M&S), the British multinational retailer, replaced its corpo­
rate responsibility with 'Plan /\, 'because there is no Plan B' for this planet (Butler,
2013). 'Plan A is our way to help build a sustainable future by being a business that
enables our customers to have a positive impact on wellbeing, communities and the
planet through all that we do', says M&S (2021 ). The plan covered 100 commitments
to address the key social and environmental challenges facing the company and the
world: climate change, waste, sustainable raw materiais, fair partnership and health,
and the company recently published 100 updated commitments for fulfilment by
2025. ln 2020, M&S reported that all its stores, offices, warehouses and delivery fleets
had been self-certified as carbon-neutral - in accordance with the British Standards
lnstitution's PAS2060 specification. lt further aims to reduce its GHG emissions by 80
per cent and halve its food waste by 2030. lt further commits to shift to 100 per cent
recyclable packaging in the UK by 2022. ln 2020, M&S reported zero waste to landfill
from its operated UK and ROi stores, offices and warehouses. ln launching Plan A, M&S
signalled how the environment is a major stakeholder and showed that a holistic
approach throughout the entire supply chain is possible if the company works with all
its stakeholders to achieve this: 'We work with our partners, employees and customers
around the world to achieve our goals'. As M&S says on its website: 'By sourcing
responsibly, reducing waste and helping communities, we believe we can do our bit to
help protect the planet'. M&S ties its sustainability report items to the SDGs, with SDGs
14 and 15 under 'Products' and SDG 13 under 'Planet'.

References
.
Butler, (2013) 'Plan A integral to the rebirth of Marks. & Spencer, say� CEO', The_ Cuardian, 7 July
s.
7 /plan-a-integral-reb1rth-marks-spencer
t· www.theguardian.com/business/2013/Jul/0
Ava 1·1 able a.
(Accessed: 10 February 2021 ).
ksandspencer.com/sustainability
M&S {202l) Sustainability. Available at: https://corpor ate.mar
(Accessed: 1 O February 2021 ).
 CASE STUDY Paul Polman: Leading with purpose,
from Unilever to Imagine
The world we want is an enormous responsibility. (Paul Polman)

Paul Polman is an internationally renowned example of responsible leadership. He

grew up as one of seven children in a city in the eastern Netherlands, where the culture
is for people to remain modest. Their father was a hard-working man, juggling two jobs
his whole life to ensure that his children could attend university. Polman admits this
taught him 'not to be lazy' and made him stay humble.
Between 2009 and 2019, Polman was the CEO of Unilever, a multinational con­
sumer goods company co-headquartered in Rotterdam and London. With 400 brands
sold in 190 countries, 2.5 billion people around the world use a Unilever product on
any given day, including brands such as Dove, Orno and Lipton, and consequently, the
firm's potential to make a difference was enormous.
Polman led the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) (Unilever, 2021 ), setting an
ambitious goal to halve Unilever's overall environmental footprint by 2030 while grow­
ing íts business at the sarne time. The USLP now has three distinguished goals: improv­
ing health and wellbeing for more than 1 billion people; reducing its envirônmental
impact by half; and enhancing the livelihoods of millions. ln a recent interview with
Forbes (Aziz, 2020), Polman explained the rationale behind the USLP:

What you realize is that a lot of the violence in the world is driven by poverty and
by exclusion, [and] that helped me when we did the Unilever Sustainable Living
plan. So many companies with purpose are on the side of the environment which
(Continued)
 was very narrowly defined as trees and water �nd conservation. But it runs m
_ _ uch
deeper. �e need t0 f1ght for addressmg these Issue� of exclusion and poverty [... ].
_
And 50, ,f you don t understand that human d1men51on, and that the crisis w e fa ce
1

.
is one of humarnty more 50 than anyth'mg else, you can't really properly solve it.

Polman sees business opportunities in creating a sustainable global society beca use
it is the only way society can exist in the long run {Mirvis, 2008, 2011 ). This includes
issues such as food security, sanitation, poverty, employment and climate change . While
he stepped down as Unilever's CEO in 2019, he is still the Chair of the lnternational
Chamber of Commerce (ICC), The B Team, Said Business School, and Vice Chair of the
UN Global Compact. ln July 2019, Polman announced the formation of a new group,
called Imagine, to help combat poverty and climate change and assist companies in
meeting the SDGs. Over the years, Polman has received many awards and acknowl­
edgements for his contribution to sustainability.

Source: 'Paul Polman lors de l'Action Day' by COPPARIS2015 is marked with CCO 1.0

ln 2014, Polman was asked by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to be
part of the panei for developing the SDGs adopted in 2015, aiming to irreversibly
eradicate poverty in a sustainable and equitable way. He helped to launch the SDGs
in the UN General Assembly in 2015 with an inspirational speech, an excerpt of which
follows here:

Every day that we continue to abide poverty, thousands of children under the age
of five die and with them, their dreams and our dignity. Every day that we con­
tinue to treat the atmosphere as an open sewer, we are irretrievably pushing our
planet beyond its limits. And every day that business as usual continues, we
 delay the opportunities that we know await us in the New Climate Economy. lt's
not about doing less harm. lt's about moving to positive contributions. [ ... ] We
are doing what we can, but not what we must and all this time, we are running
out of time. (UN Global Compact, 201 5)

Polman often emphasises the need to balance sustaina bility and profita bility: 'We
cannot choose between [economic] growth and sustaina bility - they are mutually
dependent'. He consistently delivers the message that businesses cannot ignore their
contribution to climate change because the impact of climate change will affect their
business, whatever it is. To achieve both responsibílitíes, Polman focuses on long-term
goals and did away with the practice of qua rterly profit reporting at Unilever to encour­
age long-term thinking and investment (Cunníngham, 201 5):

The issues we are trying to attack with our business model and that need to be
solved in the world today - food security, sanitation, unemployment, climate
change - cannot be solved just by quarterly reporting. They require longer-term
solutions and not 90-day pressures.

Unlike many CEOs worldwide, whose pay packages ma ke headlínes for their increases,
Polman chose not to ta ke a pay increase when he joined Unilever in 2009. As a purpose­
driven CEO of Unilever, he continued to conduct selection interviews for employees at
all job leveis, looking for value and purpose alignment:

lf you want to have a purpose-d riven business, it's very important that you have
people who a re purpose-d riven. And to be a good leader, driven by purpose, you
first and foremost have to be a good human being and understand yourself as
well. What we were lookíng for was people that I call 'whole people' instead of
'half people'.

As a servant leader, Polman is usually focused on others - employees, society and the
environment. This is what led hím to do his work at Unilever, Imagine and in many
other endeavours:

The moment you discover in life that it's not about yourself, that it is a bout
investing in others, 1 think you're on the way to becoming a great leader.

ln 2020, Polman asserted that the COVI D-1 9 pandemic is a litmus test for the emerging
concept of sta keholder capitalism, where companies no longer focus on shareholders

(Continued)
 a lo ne, but on all their stakeholders. As part of his wor k at the IC C, Pal m a
15 e
i ng natio nal cham bers of commerce to wark c lasely with U N co u ntry t� � cou ra g.
rns
to su ppo rt the 45 millian business members araund the wa rld so tha t th i n °rder
i m mediate and effective actian to protect their workers, custa m ers a nd l oca�y ca n ta ke
comrn u nj.
ties d uring th is crisis (Slavin, 2020):

Th is ; 5 a moment we all need to ra lly together, and there are ma ny diffe re nt w

we can do that by providing sick leave or hea lth care, ar minim u m be n e fi tsays
or
relief from payments, or paying sma li er compan ,es . [m. supply cha insJ fa ster. lf
you are a landlord now, don't tell me you need two ar three months' re n t from
someane who isn't getting paid.

Questions
ln your opinion, is Polman an exa mple of responsible leadership? Why?
How does Polman create and communicate h is vision?
What do you think will happen to the USLP now that Palman has stepped down?
What does it tell you about Po lman and Unilever?
How wou ld you expect Polman's leadership to affect the way other businesses operate?
Describe possible mechanisms affecting individua is and arganisations.

References
Aziz, A (2020) 'Pau/ Polman on courageous CE Os and how pu rpose is the growth story of the century',
Forbes, May. Available at: www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/ 2020/0S/2 5/paul-polman-on-pur­
pose-cou rageous-ceos-a nd-the-growth-story-of-the-ce ntu ry-pa rt-l /?sh = 2 2 1 0 7 8 1 d l dfd (Accessed:
1 0 February 202 1 ).
Cunningham, L (201 5) 'The tao of Paul Polman', Washington Post. Available at: www.wash ington
post.com/news/o n-leadershíp/ wp/20 1 5/05/2 1 /the-tao-of-pau l-polman (Accessed: 1 0 Fe brua ry
2021 ).
M i rvís, P. H. (2 008) 'Com m enta ry: Ca n you buy CSR?' California Manag e men t Re vie w, 5 1 ( l ):
1 09- 1 6 .
Mírvís, P. (201 J ) ' � nilever's drive for sustaina bility a nd CSR _ changin g the gam e', in A M o hrm a n
s.
� nd A B. Shan! (eds), Organizing for sustainability (Vol. 1 , pp. 41 -72). Bingl ey: E mera ld.
Slavrn, T. (2020) Paul Polman : "Corona vírus is an acid test for stakeho ld er cap ita lis m " ', Re � te rs
Ev� nt5, March. Availab le at: www.re uterseve nts .com/s usta in a bility/p u l-polm a n-co ro n a v,ru s­
a
acrd-test-sta kehol der-c apíta lism (Acc esse d: 1 0 February 202
1 ).
U N Globa l Comp act (201 � ) Addre ss br Paul Polma n, CEO of Unilever. Availab le at: www.u n g l o �� 1
compac t. k r/wp/ ?page rd= 1 &page_rd=82 2 3 &la n g =en&uid = 7
1 2 1 & mod = docu m ent&c ka tte mPt
(Accessed: 1 0 Febru ary 202 1 ).
Unilever (202 1 ) Susta ina ble living plan . Avai lable e d:
at: www.uni lever .com /sus ta inable -livi ng (Access
1 O Feb ruary 202 1 ).
 CASE STUDY Tony's Chocolonely: Towards a sl ave-free
chocolate industry
D rive n by its mission of 'together we make 1 00 % slave-free norm i n cho co la te ', To ny'
s
Choco lo ne ly is a Dutch social e nterprise founded i n 2006 . l t carne to be afte r a D ut
ch
j ournalist, Teun ('To ny') van de Keuke n, d iscove red the harsh realities of the chocol a te
i ndustry. Duri ng a year-long probe i nto the secto r, Teun made the d iscove ry th at
around 20 per cent of all cocoa farmers in the lvo ry Coast engage d i n sla ve -la bo ur
practices. Th ese practices i nvo lved illegal child labour and mod e rn sl ave ry, e specia l ly
on cocoa farms i n West Africa. Teun decided to take acti on . He ate a couple of ch oco ­
late bars and turned h imself i n as a chocolate crimi nal to the court of justi ce (claim i ng
that by eati ng th e ch ocolate he was co ntri buti ng to the slave ry) . Whi le he won a moral
victory in th e case, the court decided against prosecution . He d ecided he had to do
somethi ng to change the i ndustry from with i n and, with a busi ness partner, he fou nded
a un i que chocolate company (Blom et ai ., 201 5; Kraa ij e n b ri n k, 20 1 9; Tony's
Choco lonely, 202 1 ).

Source: ' Fi le.To ny'sChocolo nely03 .j p g' b y Sebastian Kop pehel i s l icensed u nder C C BY 4 .0

o th
The f i rst chocolate ba r was produced i n N ovember 2 00 5 and, bei ng t r u e t �
miss i o n , i t was Fa i rtrad e-ce rtified and decla red 1 00 per ce nt slave -fr e e ( a lth ºui ,
recently the company has cha nged t h i s state m e nt to ' wo r k i n g to wa rds d ;�� )
l
slave-free chocolate, real1 s i n g t h 1 s 1s mo re complicated t h a n it o n g 1 n a ly s e d up·
l n itially, 5,000 Fai rtrade chocolate bars we re prod uced, but de m a n d e xce ed e :ny's
o a ,T
ply and ove r 1 3 ,000 bars we re sold o n li n e (To ny's C h ocolo n e ly, 2 0 2 1 ). T d Y
 c o lo n ely is the . ma rket l�ader i � the ch�cola te ba r seg ment i n the Netherla nds
Ch o
d h a s ex p a n de d 1ts f ootpn_nt �0 � 51 d e�a b lY ' � over�e as_ ma rkets {Tony's Chocolonely,
an
0 1 8 ) . E a ch cho col at� ba r 1 s d , v , ded i nto_ p I e �es m d 1fferent sha pes, to symbolis e
2 p p i n g on the ba r p rov1des mforma tio n about slavery a nd chi ld
.,n eq u a lity. The wra·
ost , m_po ss ,'bl e �o �onsu me th e chocolate without u ndersta n d i n g that
la b o u r. lt is a l m
h is co m pa ny has a n 1 mpa ct m IssIon .
t
l n 2 01 8 - 19, Tony's Chocolonely sold over 46 m i ll ion chocolate bars, having pu r­
ch ased 5 .5 m etric tons of cocoa beans d i rectly from its pa rtner cooperatives i n Gha na
a n d the lvo ry Coa st (the com pa ny cla i ms to be u nique i n this aspect - stati ng that no
othe r ch oco late ba r brand in you r su permarket knows, or d i rectly buys from, the farm­
ers). o u ri n g this period, Tony's worked with over 8,400 farmers d i rectly, all of whom
ea rn ed a dece nt incarne, and pa id US$4.3 m i llion i n premi u ms (i n addition to the
Fai rtra de premi u m) to the fa rmers to ensure that they a re able to adequately take
care of themselves a nd thei r fa m i l ies, as well as to re-invest some of these fi nancial
resources i nto cocoa farm i ng (Tony's Chocolonely, 2021 ). ln 2019, the Sustai nable
Brand lndex annou nced that Tony's Chocolonely was the most susta i nable brand in the
Netherlands {Kraaij enbri n k, 2 019).
Tony's mission is 'i mpact d riven' and the company considers its profit as a means to
a goal, not the end itself . The rea l mission is to 'end the most dire forms of i nequality -
modem slavery and illega l chi ld labor - i n the cocoa industry. At Tony's, we know that
cha nge sta rts with creati ng awareness'. ln its 201 7- 1 8 'Annual FAI R Report', the Chief
Chocolate Officer, Henk Ja n Beltman, stated that 'Tony's Chocolonely isn't a chocolate
company that makes a n i m pact, no, we're an impact organ ization that makes chocolate'
and 'impact is the actua l goal, while chocolate (and maki ng money) are the means'
(Tony's Chocolonely Annual FAI R Report, 201 8: 4). Tony's works towards SDG 1 (No
poverty), SDG 2 (Zero hu nger), SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth), SDG 10
(Redu ced i nequ a l ities), SDG 12 (Responsible consumption), SDG 13 (Climate action)
and SDG 1 7 (Pa rtnershi p for the goa ls).
To achi eve these i mp ressive goa ls, the com pa ny uses certification s, labels a nd
sta n dards to hel p it ben chma rk a nd a ud it its su pply cha i n as well as ra ise sta ke­
h older aw a re ness. Si nce its i n ception, every Tony's chocolate bar has been Fa i rtrad e­
certif ie d. At the ti m e (200 6), Fa i rtrade N etherla nds was one of the only organ isations
pro moti ng the Fa i rt rade p ractices of better pay and living cond itions for the farm­
e r�. To ny's ack nowledg es that whi le there is a prolifer atio n of certifications g loba lly,
Fa , rtra de is the one that closely a l i g n s with the company's mission, g iven that it g uar­
a nte es a m i n i m u m p ri ce a nd works with coo perativ e s. Whi le the compa ny recog nises

(Continued)
 the i m p � rtance of the certifi
cation, it conside rs the Fa i rtra de sym bol as bei n g ju st
th � sta rti n g point (Tony' s Chocolo
nely, 2021 ). The compa ny als o works closely wi th
Fa i rtr ade by i nte grat ing wide ly accepted benchma rks, improving existing mo dels,
research ing and s ha ring their insig hts with other compani es in the chocolate i n d u s­
try. Fo r exa m ple, Fai rtrade and Tony's use the Living Incarn e Model (that sets a liv i n g
incarn e reference price in Ghana), wh ich increases producti vity, diversifies inca rn e
and pay s a hig her price to fa rmers to give them a living incarne . Fa i rtrade and To ny's
ca ll upon chocol ate compa nies to ma ke living incarne the norm and to sta rt using
this model (Tony's Chocolonely, 2 02 1 ).
Anoth er important certification comes throug h B Corp (see Chapt er 1 ). Since 20 1 3,
Tony's Choco lonely has bee n a B Corp-certified enterp rise, with an overall B lmpa ct
Score of 1 00.9 (organisations can be certifie d with a minimum score of 80). This is
based on the company's score in four impact a reas: governance, workers, community
a n d environment. ln each of these four aspects, the company receives severa! sub­
scores, whích are totalled to determine its final score. For example, under workers (26. 1
points), Tony's Chocolonely scored 5.5 points for compensa tion and wages, 9.6 for ben­
efits, and 1 . 1 for training and education. These marks can help the company improve
its social and environmental performance over time.
Tony's Chocolonely benchmarks its work by defining five key aspects to achieving
its goal to create a 1 00 per cent slave-free chocolate industry and a truly fair supply
chain: (1 ) traceable cocoa beans (i.e. buying direct from fa rmers and cooperatives);
(2) a premium price (ena bling farmers to earn a respecta ble incarne and run their
farms); (3) stronger farmers (working together to professionalise farming cooperatives,
e n abling them to stand stronger together); (4) a long-term approach (ensuring farm­
ers a n d cooperatives have at least a five-yea r commitment to sales at a higher price);
a n d (5) improved quality and impact (investing in agricultura! knowledge and skills
related to growing cocoa and other crops). Moreover, the company h as sta rted imple­
me n ting the Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS), developed by
the lntern ational Cocoa lnitiative {ICI) and Nestlé, to assess the risk of child labour at
pa rtn er cooperat ives in Ghana and lvory Coast. Since the implementation of CLMRS in
201 7, the company has been able to identify further cases of child labour (313 in 202 0
alo n e) (Tony's Chocolonely, 2021 ).
Howeve r, To n y's Chocolonely aims to also chang e the entire industry. To do so, its
Open Chain {202 1 ) is a n open-source platform throug h whic h chocolate comp anies
ai! �ver the world ca n access the necessary knowledg e and toais equi them to
to p
el,minat� slave ry. For example, the Beantrac ker is a soft
_ ware system that is built with
Cha � n point tech � olo y to allow fully transpa rent bea
c�: m �
. from oth ers i n
app roa ch IS distinct
n-to-ba r tracea bility. Tony 's Open
_ tha t wh ile oth er sustain a bility pro grammes,
q l,ty ma rks a n d cert,f, cat ,o n s focus prim
_ anly on inc rea sing productivity Tony 's Op en
Ch ain focuses on ap plying the five a forement . es. The com pany invi tes its
. cipi
1• oned prin
 . e o g o b eyo n d ce rti fication a nd to develop direct, equ al relation ships thro ug hout
a ll 1 t5
s u p p l y c h a1· ? of cocoa f a rmm. g bY ª b'd•
1 i ng to and work ing with the f ive princ i pies
th e ny s.
defi n ed by To

Questions
To ny' s h as b een certifyi ng its chocol ate as Fa i rtrade si nce incept ion . Why is
Fai rtra de cert ifica tion criticai for the comp any?
H ow do the five principies defined by Tony's align with the definition of strategi c CSR?
oescr ib e three toais that Tony's uses to i mpact the enti re chocolate i ndustry. What
sh oul d oth er compa nies do to become more responsibl e?
Exam ine Tony's Chocolonely's scores on the B Corp website (https://bcorporation.
net). What might it do to i mprove its social performance?

References
Blom, E., va n Burg, J . C., Verh agen, P. and Hillen, M. ( 201 5 ) Tony's Chocolonely: How a social enter­
prise is cha ng i ng the chocolate industry. Ava ilable at: www.thecasecentre.org/educators/
products/view?id= l 249 29 (Accessed: 1 1 Februa ry 2021 ).
Kraaijenbri nk, J . (201 9) 'How to bring susta i nability to the masses: Tony's Chocolonely's impact strategy',
Forbes, 8 November. Availa ble at: www.forbes.com/sites/jeroenkraaijen brink/2019/l l /08/ how­
to-bring-susta i nabil ity-to-the-masses-to nys-chocolonely-i mpact-strategy/?sh= l 0ad92 3 3 7 1 2a
(Accessed: 1 1 Februa ry 2021 ).
Tony's Chocolonely (201 8) Ann ual FAI R report 201 8. Ava ila ble at: https://tonyschocolonely.com/
us/en/ou r-m ission/annual-fa i r• report (Accessed: 1 1 February 2021 ).
Tony 's Chocolonely ( 20 21 ) Ou r ti meline. Ava ila ble at: https:/ /tonyschocolonely.com/ us/en/our­
mission/our-tí meli ne {Accessed: 1 1 Febru ary 2021 ).
Tony's 0pen Chain (2021 ) Homepage. Available at www.tonysopencha in.com (Accessed: 11 Februa ry 2021 ).

Further reading an d links

B rown, J . (2019) 'How
Tony's Chocolo nely chocola te bra nd pla ns to end slavery', lndependent, l 0
May. Available at: www.independent.eo.uk/life-style/fo od-and-drink/to nys-chocolonely-c hoco­
late- bra nd- p1a ns-en
d-sla very- n etherlands-teun-va n-de -keu ke n-a88 7480l .html (Accessed: 1 1
Fe b ru ary 202 1 ).
To n ' s C ho colo
nely (20 20) An n u a l FAI R report 201 9 - 2020. Availab le at: https:/ /tonyschocolon ely.
y .
º
co m / i nt/ en/ an nual- fa i r-reports/annual-fai r-report-20 1 9-202 0 (Accessed : 1 1 Februa ry 2 21 ).
To ny's Ch o
colo nely {20 21 ) The story of Tony's Chocolo nely. Available at: www.yo utube.c om/
Watch ?v= kgwYc E ab B ls (Accessed : 1 1 February 2 021 ) .
To ny's C h .
ocolonely ( 20 21 ) Tony's story: The road to slave-free chocolate. Availa ble at: www.youtub e.
º
ry 2 21 ) .
to nc? m / watch?v= kgwYc E a b B ls & list=PLS E 5 690A l F 7 D C D 9 C4 (Accessed: l l Februa ou ube.co m/
y s C h ocolonely ( 20 21 ) Tony' s Chocolon ely story - short version. Ava ila ble at : www.y t
watc h?v== R
dRB 9 9 F9 zG8 (Accessed: 1 1 Februa ry 202 1 ).
 CASE STUDY LEGO

L E G O G r o up , fou n de·d i n 193 2 , i s· a well-kn own Dan i sh toy manufa cturer, with
The
ove r 1 8 , o o o p de cla res t h at .it 1. 5 comm1t
em ployees i n 40 countn es, and . produc ts sold i n over 13 0 countri es.
rou . ted to the development of ch ildren's
T h e L E G O G . g .1 n ati on, a n d .i t b ecame a UN Global
1 ma Compact signatory com-
c re a ti vity a nd . . .
. E ven. pri or to . t h 1s ( s i n ce 1997), the LEGO Group has had a code of
p a n Y i n 20 03
qu1 res sup p 1 1 � rs to o bserve t � e I LO con ventions on labour rights,
co n d u ct t h at re
es, the Un i versal Declarat1 on of Human Rights and local legi s­
t h e o EC D guid eli n
Group code of conduct addresses issues such as ch i ld labour,
la ti o n . Th e LEG O
co m p e nsatio n and worki ng h ours, discrimi natio n , coercion and harassment,
he alt h and safety, freedom of association , envi ronment and sub-suppliers. T h e
org a ni sati on has worked w i t h Save the Ch i ldren to particularly address ch ild
lab ou r issues . T hese actions are aimed at ensuri ng that LEGO components are
prod uc ed und er decent worki n g conditions . To ach ieve th is, the LEGO G roup
employs local, exper i e n ced a n d i n dependent auditors to carry out i n spections at
its su ppliers (UN Global Compact, 2010) . ln addition, i n 2018, the compa ny com­
rnenced the development of susta i nable LEGO elements from sugarcane and fur­
ther works with its sugarcan e suppli ers to ensure it adheres to the Responsible
Etha nol Sourci n g Framework . Accordi ng to the company's website, the sugarcan e
used i n the products i s certified by th ird-party standards a n d i s th i rd-party
aud ited ( LEGO, 2021 ).

1'f� ,����jl�,
Source· J
a mes Cop el a nd/ Shutterstoc
k.co m
(Continued)
 CASE STUDY PUMA: Changing fhe game of CSR reporting
PUMA is a German m u ltinational company that designs and manu factu res athletic and
casual footwear, apparel and accessories. PUMA employs more than 14,000 people
worldwide and distributes its products in more tha n 120 countries. While i ts slogan is
Forever Fast, PUMA a lso em braces the idea of 'Forever Better' by increasing its social
impact and reducing its environmental impact.
The com pany was set up nearly a centu ry ago in Germany. ln 1 924, Rudolf and
his brother Adolf (Adi) Dassler had joi ntly formed the compa ny Gebrüder Dassler
Sch uhfa brik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory). However, the relationship between the
sibl ings worsened until the two agreed to split i n 1 948, forming two competitive enti­
ties: Ad idas and PUMA PUMA beca me a public company in 1 986 a nd part of the
French group Kering i n 2007. l n 201 1 , the company completed its conversion from
a Germa n pu blic limited company to a Societas Europaea, the EU-wide equ ivalent,
changing its name from PUMA AG Rudolf Dassler Sport to PUMA SE. At the sa rne time,
Fra nz Koch replaced the long-servi ng Jochen Zeitz as the fi rm's CEO and bega n to lead
a vision of sustainability, CS R and business for peace within the compa ny.
Like many apparel companies, the most concerning CSR issue PUMA is faci ng is
modern slavery and fa ir employment. To address th is issue, PUMA has been a udi ti n g al i
of its su ppliers on a yearly basis since the yea r 2000, while making the results avail abl e
in its sustainability reports a nd publ icly providing a list of its suppliers. De spi te th ese
efforts, in 2004, a joint report from the National Labor Committee and Chi n a La b or
Watch stated that workers at some of PUMA's Chinese factories were end uri n g s weat­
shop conditions, working up to 1 6.5 hours per day for approximately 30 ce nts ( US) a n
source: Tooykrub/Shutterstoc k.com

hour, and PUMA pro m ised to i nvestigate the cla i ms. l n 201 2, one female employee
of PU MA's suppl ier i n Ca m bodia was shot d u ring a protest over working co nd iti ons.
PUMA acknowled ged the poor co nd itions and sa id it would work to a d d ress the sit­
uation, however reports of rece nt yea rs show that more work needs to be dane to
improve the worki n g envi ron ment i n these factori es, with dozens of people fa i nting o n
occasion due to heat o r smoke. PUMA is now com m itted to 'em bedd i n g h u m a n rig hts
and complia nce to I LO Co re Co nventions in a l l our operations a nd suppliers. M a ki n g
a positive i mpact o n com m u n ities where PUMA is present' ( PUMA, 202 1 ) . l n 201 9,
PUMA repo rted havi ng achieved zero fata l accidents at the compa ny's p rem ises a n d its
fi n ished goods' suppl iers for the seco nd yea r i n a row (PUMA, 202 1 ).
P U MA ta kes susta i n a b i l ity seriously. On its website, it states that 'susta i na b i l ity is
a key va lu e of PUMA, deeply i ntegrated i n ou r busi ness operations. lt gu ides our com­
pa ny to work faster towa rd a more j u st a nd susta i na ble futu re'. PUMA is com m itted to
ac hievi ng ten susta i n a b i l ity goals by 202 5 (labelled as ' 1 0FO R2 0', recently cha nged
�o ' 1 0 F0 R2 5'), i ncl u d i n g in the a reas of h u m a n rig hts, prod u cts, biod iversity, ci rcu l a r­
,ty a nd pla stic pol l ution. One of its recent susta i na b i l ity i n itiatives is the Fi rst M i le
col le cti on, whe re PU
MA pa rt ners with Fi rst M i l e to tu rn plastic waste i nto shoes a n d
p p
� a r� � - F i rst Mile is a netwo rk o rga n i sati on that a i ms to strengthen m icro-economies
i n H a iti , H ond u ra
s a nd Ta i wa n by col lecti ng plastic bottles to create susta i na ble jobs
ªn d re d u ce env i ro
nme nta l waste. Fi rst M il e then turns the col lected waste i nto recycled
�? 1 Ye5te �, wh i ch is used
by P U MA to d evelop its new co llecti on. B ack i n 201 0, PUMA
1 tc h e d i ts sh oeb
oxe s and w orked on a desig n i n nova tion to create the Clever Líttle

{Continued)
Bag . By replac i ng its t rad itional shoeboxes wit h a reusa bl e bag sl i pp ed ove r a re
ble ca rd boa rd box, the Clever Little Bag uses l ess pac ka g i n g th an the o ld sh oe bocyc.\ a .
. x a nd
has decreased the latter's w ate r, energy a n d fu e 1 co nsu m pt,on by m o r e th a n 6 0
Per
cent a yea r. With its li ght design, the Cl ever Littl e Bag uses l ess ene rgy to t r a n s po rt
nd
A, ª
65 pe r cent l ess pa p er. The sleeve that replaces the ca rdboa rd m. a teri a l is a n o n,vvOVen
bag that uses less energy and creates less waste throug h out 1ts prod ucti o n p ro s
a nd it ca n be reused as a susta i nable shopp i n g bag ( Be avis , 201 2 ). H ow eve r , r ec.�::i ,
Y,
PUMA seems to have retu rned to its use of reg u l a r shoeboxes.

Source: 'Puma's new Packaging' by Robert Stinnett is l icensed und er CC BY 2 .0

For a few yea rs, PU MA got involved i n a n u m ber of i nspirationa\ activit ies, such as
' PU MA Pea ce' which sig nal led its co mmitment to global peace. PUM A s u pp orted
' Peace One Day' and other i nitiatives, sponsored sports games betwe en c h ild ren � ro rT
riva l cou ntries or reg io ns, and eve n signed a symbol ic ' peace agree me nt' w i th Ad 1 ª
a
5 ?
After yea rs of riva l ry between the broth ers a nd the two compani es , PU M A a nd Ad id
showed the wo rld that peace ca n be made: ' PUMA Peace m akes sp o rts eq u i p �
er

n n\
donations as we th i nk that spo rts has the powe r to overcom e h ost ile bo u nd a ri e s, b
i n g � eople tog ether i n pea �e' � PU MA, 2021 ) .
.. . l n ti
Lt ke most othe r compa r n es m Europe, PU MA publ ishes a susta i nab 11l ty re p o rt
r
Foreword to the 2 01 9 docu ment, the co mpany's ch,. ef sou rc,. n g off1. ce r ( CSO) refe r
1

1 9)
to the company's responsi bil ity i n l i g ht of the school st ri ke m ove me nt (PUMA, 2 º

i
One of the lasti ng memo ries of 201 9 wi l l be the i ma g e of you n g p eo p l e tak ��
over the stree ts to protest the i na ction of gov ernm en ts a nd th e i nd u str y ,n t le
face of cl i mate c h a n ge . As a com pa ny which co u nts m a ny of the se yo u n g p e P
o
 mers, PUMA cannot idly sit by and do nothing. [ ... ] [Of the]
a m ong its cu sto
l O FO R20 Targ ets, we achieved good progress in nine areas, and we will increase
next cycle until 2025, for example by adding targets
our level of ambition in the
on m ore sustainable products, biodiversity and fair wages as well as protecting
the ocean from plastic pollut i on.

However, it was back in 201 2 that PU MA's annual report received significant atten­
tion from CSR scholars and practitioners for its innovative approach, and this was
highlighted in CSR textbooks (e.g. Blowfield and Mu rray, 2014) as being an exem­
plary report. lt was so outstanding that Nadine Exter (2014) referred to it (in her
lectu re) as a 'game-changing' report. PUMA presented an integrated report, ai med
at shareholders and other stakeholders together, while presenting both financial and
social performance indicators. What made this a remarkable report, however, was that
PUMA had decided to incorporate its 'externalities' and set out a m ission to place
value on the GHG emissions, water use, land use, air pollution and waste caused by its
operations worldwide, by 201 6. lt committed to doing so in three stages: (1 ) gathering
data on emissions and resou rce use; (2) calculating the financial values of the above;
and (3 ) focusing on the beneficiaries of the economic i mpacts of PUMA's operations
(see PUMA, 201 9).
This could have ali set a pathway to a seri es of remarkable annual reports.
Howeve r, in 201 3, CEO Koch was replaced by former football professional Bj õrn
Gulden, and the agenda of the company changed dramatically. lf the word 'sus­
tainability' was mentioned over 400 ti mes in the 201 2 report, this was redu ced to
unde r 200 ti mes in 201 6. The word 'peace' disappeared altogethe r. At the time
of writing, in 2021 , it is very hard to find a printable version of the re port and,
instead, PUM A offers only fragments of it on its website. For a bri ef period, PUMA
m ade history in CSR reporting and for seve ral years was seen as a pioneer and
ga me -cha ng er in CS R.

Questions
What were the benefits and advantages of PUMA's outstand ing plan for its sus­
ta inability reporting?
What were the risks?
Why do yo u think PUMA diverted from its original plan?
· On its website, PUMA publ ishes all its sustainability reports from the last decade.
Exa mi ne and compare the 201 2 and 201 9 reports.
Wha t el se might PUMA do to excel in its CSR reporting?

(Continued)