China’s Social Responsibility Specialists on Twitter

Following the upgrade of my Social Entrepreneurs/ enterprise and Environmental / Sustainability professional twitter lists, I thought I would expand to a third post that included some of the CSR professionals I know working in China. this list is a bit thinner than the others, partially because some practitioners are included on the other lists, so if you know of anyone who has been left off pleas…

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Rethinking Capitalism or Rethinking Expectations?

A very interesting interview of Michael Porter focuses on his recent work (thoughts) on how firms going forward are going to have to rethink how they formulate strategies. Creating shared value, Porter effectively states that firms will have look at their value proposition, look at quality, and look at their role as members of society.  That instead of operating through models that extract,…

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Three Gorges Dam Localizes Upstream Waste. Positive Externality?

One of the conversations that I find myself in, and write about as well, is the ability of tangibility to catalyze change. that instead of focusing efforts on issues like "climate Chnage" and saving the polar bears, it is important to look locally at the source to fix problems before their byproducts (methane, CO2, lead, etc) are able to do their damage.  So, when reading through the recent Busine…

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Increasing Wages Isn’t the Answer

Watching the Foxconn pays its low-level workers in Shenzhen the legal minimum wage at 900 yuan/month. Ma Liquan, a former employee informed China Central Television (CCTV, 11 May 2010): “After deducting mandatory social securities, we earn only some 800 yuan a month. No one seems to force us….and yet we’ve no choice but to do overtime work.” Set against the Harvard Business Review Case stud…

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China’s Environmentalists on Twitter

Following last week's post where I listed China's Social entrepreneurs and enterprises, I thought I would also update the list of people and organizations who are focused on sustainability and the environment in China.  As before, this is certainly not a complete list of those who exist on twitter, so if you see anyone missing, please post in the comments section. Environmentalists and Sustainabi…

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What Prevents Social Enterprises from Scaling

A recent clip of Malini Mehra, Founder & CEO for the Centre for Social Markets  answering the question of "What holds Socially business from scale?" presents an great opportunity to open a discussion about what problems prevent success for many social businesses' business plans. In the 2 minute clip, she mentions three issues that hold back the organization Enabling environment - p…

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Have You Ever Wandered Lonely Through the Woods?

From Brandi Carlile “Have you ever”: have you ever wandered lonely through the wood? and everything it feels just as it should you’re part of the life there, part of something good if you’ve ever wandered lonely through the woods How many urban dwellers would say no, that they have never wandered through the woods, and what does that mean for increasing awareness of sustainability? T…

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China’s Social Entrepreneurs on Twitter

While reviewing some old posts for issues/ discussions that I thought should be updated, I came across a post where I listed China's Social Entrepreneurs on Twitter... and it was old. Really Old. so, in an effort to make sure everyone is up to date and connected, pelase find the updated list of Entrepreneurs and Organizations.  I know that there are people and organizations that I am missing…

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Moving Students into the Longtail of Sustainability

The other day while working with some colleagues on a paper, we began discussing the various approaches to sustainability and responsible leadership that we are seeing within the business school community. A discussion that has been taking place for several years, but what was interesting about this review was to see the progress that has been made, and how we are seeing others look to advance…

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Harvard Thinks Green: Making Money While Making a Difference

Professor Rebecca Henderson from Harvard Business School gives a very interesting presentation at the recent Harvard Thinks Green forum, called "Making Money While Making a Difference: Is It Really That Easy?". Focused on the ability of the corporate model to be a (profitable) change agent, the key question that she attempts to answer is: Whether business can be a major lever for change, a…

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Embracing Your Inner Tempered Radical

While doing a bit of research on effective change agents, I came across an interview of Debra Meyerson who wrote Tempered Radicals How People Use Difference to Inspire Change at Work where she is quoted as saying the following: Effective agents of change at the grassroots level know who they are and what they are trying to accomplish. Effective tempered radicals hold on to their deepest goals, wh…

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