Corporate Reputation
Amazon: £7 billion sales, no UK corporation tax
Amazon.co.uk, Britain’s biggest online retailer, generated sales of more than £3.3 billion in the country last year but paid no corporation tax on any of the profits from that income – and is under investigation by the UK tax authorities. Regulatory filings by parent company Amazon.com with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show the tax inquiry into the UK operation focuses on a period when ownership of the British business was transferred to a Luxembourg company.
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/04/amazon-british-operation-corporation-tax
Supply Chain
HP, Intel and GE start fund to boost conflict-free minerals
A new fund backed by Intel, HP and the GE Foundation in the United States aims to lower the cost for smelters that seek to prove they’re conflict-free. It joins a variety of programs that have sprung up to support different stages of the mineral supply chain. The new Conflict-Free Smelters (CFS) Early-Adopters Fund was created to promote early participation in the Conflict-Free Smelter program overseen by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).
GreenBiz http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/04/04/hp-intel-and-ge-start-fund-conflict-free-minerals-electronics
Heineken boosts supply chain sustainability monitoring
Dutch brewer Heineken has launched a new monitoring system to enable it to monitor risks and sustainability within its global supply chain. The company, which produces both the Heineken and Amstel brands of lager, has implemented a new IT platform that will enable it to store and share data across buyers on its suppliers in over 100 countries. David Spacey, global procurement director at Heineken, said in a statement: “Our buyer’s discussions with suppliers have included environmental and social issues since 2005, but after recently benchmarking against other companies’ standard we chose to raise the bar.”
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