By Judith
Samuelson, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society
Program
Judith
Samuelson, the executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society
Program, has a great piece in the Harvard Business Review: Green Stakeholders: Pesky Activists or Productive Allies?
Here’s an
excerpt: “With every new headline, companies like Citigroup, the first of the
big U.S. banks to adopt the Equator Principles on green investing, are learning
that consulting with stakeholders is no longer about appeasing the enemy. It is
about making strategy decisions that stand the test of time. Coca-Cola and the
World Wildlife Fund tackling global water quality, McDonald's and Greenpeace
hammering out initiatives to mitigate deforestation, Clorox and the Sierra Club
working together on the rollout of a green product line -- the litany of
unlikely bedfellows grows as executives, board members, and investors watch
corporate imperatives and environmental concerns converge.”
Probably
the most interesting part of the piece is the interesting dialogue generated in
the comments section.