Google, Microsoft and Disney top CSR reputation ranking
According to Reputation Institute’s annual CSR RepTrak, Google has the best corporate social responsibility reputation in the world, beating Microsoft who held the top spot in 2012 and 2013. Microsoft, Walt Disney and BMW came second, third and fourth, respectively. The 2014 CSR RepTrak Study, which ranks the world’s 100 most reputable companies based on citizenship, governance and workplace, provides a business case for embedding CSR and sustainability principles into corporate strategy and operations. The study shows that firms with better CSR reputations have a much higher ability to foster desired supportive behaviours among consumers, including buying their products, recommending their company, or trusting the company to do the right thing when faced with difficulties or disruptions. The results from the study also show that many companies still struggle to effectively communicate corporate citizenship with the general public. More than half of the respondents from the US and the UK, for example, were neutral or uncertain when asked if a company was a good corporate citizen. (Environmental Leader)
Supreme Group to pay $434 million in damages and fines for ‘war profiteering’
A supplier of food and water to coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has agreed a settlement of more than $434 million in damages and fines following a court ruling in the US. According to the Department of Justice, Supreme Foodservice part of the Supreme Group, inflated the price for goods it provided such as fresh fruit, vegetables and bottled water, costing the government an estimated $48 million. In one instance the mark-up charged on non-alcoholic beer was increased from 25 per cent to 125 per cent. “That kind of conduct is repugnant, and we will use every available resource to punish such illegal war profiteering,” said US attorney Zane David Memeger. In a statement, Emma Sharma, general counsel for Supreme Group USA, said: “We accept full responsibility for and deeply regret our past actions. We have implemented new compliance mechanisms and strengthened our internal processes.” (Supply Management)
Inclusive Business
Project Peanut Butter and Hershey now producing life-saving therapeutic food in Ghana
The Hershey Company, in partnership with Project Peanut Butter (PPB), a project aimed at ending child malnutrition across sub-Saharan Africa, has announced that the Project’s newest manufacturing facility, in Kumasi, Ghana, is now in full operation. Thanks to a nearly $1 million investment from Hershey, the new plant will produce PPB’s peanut-based Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs), which the organisation calls the world’s most effective treatment for severe childhood malnutrition. The therapeutic food paste doesn’t spoil, doesn’t require cooking, and is portable, energy-dense and easy for mothers to give to their children at home. Although Ghana is one of the strongest emerging economies in Africa, roughly 30,000 children suffer from severe malnutrition at any time. At full capacity, the Project’s new plant will be able to produce enough to treat approximately 48,000 children each year. Project Peanut Butter is now operating in Ghana, Malawi, and Sierra Leone. (Sustainable Brands)
Tax
Luxembourg abandons attempt to keep tax list secret
Luxembourg has agreed to hand over a list of the hundreds of tax deals signed with some of the world’s largest businesses after initially promising to take the European Commission to court in a bid to keep them secret. Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said Luxembourg would comply with the commission’s demands to reveal what tax deals were signed between 2010 and 2013 after the EU widened its request to include all member states on Wednesday. The move comes after Luxembourg’s tax deals with more than 400 global businesses were revealed in a leak of 28,000 documents in November showing that some companies were paying less than 1 per cent tax by funnelling money through the Grand Duchy. Luxembourg faces two probes from the commission into whether it offered state aid to Amazon and the financing arm of Fiat. Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner responsible for both of these investigations, welcomed the decision to hand over the list of tax rulings. (Financial Times*)
Supply Chain
BBC: Apple ‘failing to protect Chinese factory workers’
Poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories which make Apple products has been discovered by an undercover BBC Panorama investigation. The programme filming on an iPhone 6 production line showed Apple’s promises to protect workers were routinely broken. It found standards on workers’ hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were being breached at the Pegatron factories. One undercover reporter, working in a factory making parts for Apple computers, had to work 18 days in a row despite repeated requests for a day off. Another reporter, whose longest shift was 16 hours, said: “Every time I got back to the dormitories, I wouldn’t want to move. Even if I was hungry I wouldn’t want to get up to eat. I just wanted to lie down and rest. I was unable to sleep at night because of the stress.” Apple declined to be interviewed for the programme, but said in a statement: “We are aware of no other company doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions.” (BBC News)
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