Business Ethics & CSR

Whoops!  Free Tibet flags: Made in China

Optimists take note: China may face a host of human rights problems, but its society and economy are far more open than in the recent past.  With so many textile products coming from China, it should hardly be a surprise to see Free Tibet flags being made there too.

Workers said they thought they were just making colourful flags and did not realise their meaning, but then some of them saw TV images of protesters holding the emblem and they alerted the authorities, according to one Hong Kong newspaper. 

Workplace danger and the new Corporate Manslaughter Act

Fortunately, the UK workplace is far safer than it has been in the past.  There are two main reasons driving the reduction in workplace injuries and fatalities.  The first is the changing nature of the workplace, where long term changes in the structure of industry makes workers’ lives much safer.

In the UK, as I other developed countries, the hot topic of recent years has been stress.  It’s bad for productivity, expensive to prevent, generates absenteeism and if workers are coaxed or cajoled into work they may sue if they feel their employer hasn’t taken their ailment seriously enough.

Worrying about work is preferable to being physically endangered by it, of course. In this respect, more stress is good news.  Workplace illness used to mean nasty diseases caused by asbestos, deafness from noisy machinery and skin problems caused by spilt chemicals.  Stress is different.  Like depression and other mental illnesses, stress is a matter of opinion.  Unlike depression, though, there is no clinical definition of stress, so we can all be diagnosed with it.  It’s very hard to know why more people complain of stress.  Working hours are shorter for most people.  Maybe it’s greater use of ICT.  Most likely is our increased willingness to say we have it.

Tesco creates waves in seaside holiday town

A fascinating business story buried in the home news section of the Independent today.  Supermarket giant Tesco has bought the Lyme Bay Holiday Village, only to immediately close it. 

Sir Stuart Rose moves upstairs at M&S

An interesting management change at Marks and Spencer sees Sir Stuart Rose being promoted to Executive Chairman as the retailer seeks to rebuild investor confidence.

Local councils may takeover struggling post offices

A really interesting development in the story of the struggling UK post office network today. It seems that local councils may finance and control some of the post offices that Royal Mail has earmarked for closure due to sustained losses.

Celebs take the rap for binge drinking

When a public company has to announce its financial results, the CEO has to decide the best angle to take in order to present the results in the best possible light.  When the numbers don’t look so good, it is often a cute move to deflect attention elsewhere.

So cue Tim Martin, Chief Executive of pub-chain JD Wetherspoon, who has briefed investors and the media on the reasons behind a fall in profits…

Bill Gates knocked off the top spot in the ‘World’s Richest’ rankings

US investment guru Warren Buffett has beaten his friend and occasional card playing partner Bill Gates to the title of the world’s richest man - according to the most recent Forbes ‘Rich List’.

The Microsoft co-founder had topped the Forbes business magazine’s rich-list for the past 13 years, but Mr Buffett’s wealth increased by $10bn last year to $62bn.  Mr Gates’s fortune climbed by $2bn during the same period, putting him down to third on the list with a fortune of $58bn. He was narrowly squeezed from second place by the Mexican communications magnate Carlos Slim Helu, whose $60bn net worth has doubled in the past two years. 

Paying the price for plastic bags

M&S have made the first move in what may be a new approach by retailers to charging for customers who want plastic bags at the checkout.

Has the price of a chicken fallen too low?

Tesco’s decision to reduce the price of its standard broiler chicken to just £1.99 has attracted great criticism, but Tesco is hitting back.

The slow decline of those unprofitable red boxes

When was the last time you used a public payphone?  When you tried to use the phone, did it work?  According to BT, the use of public pay-phones is in rapid decline and they argue that they can no longer afford to sustain the loss-making pay-phone network.

Ryanair advert grounded by the ASA

Once again, Ryanair has proved its ability to generate substantial publicity with a newspaper advert that was quickly banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.

An important new report on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Just a quick glance through the Economist’s recent survey of Corporate Social Responsibility throws up some fascinating facts and issues for discussion.

Do takeovers by ‘private equity’ firms destroy jobs?

Private equity firms are investment funds that tend to focus on buying companies that are undervalued or poorly managed, in order to turn them around and sell at a profit. To do that, they combine their own capital with borrowed money.  This can work, if the firm that’s been bought out can earn money fast enough to pay the interest on the borrowed money.

Festive cheer’ or promoting “binge drinking”?

Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has been branded the “godfather of British binge drinking” by Labour MP John Grogan.  He chairs the all-party Parliamentary beer group, which receives funding from breweries.  He used a Commons debate to push for action against supermarkets selling alcohol below cost price.

Mr Grogan’s comments came as MPs debated the health consequences of the availability of cheap alcohol. He said Competition Commission research showed Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket group, had underpriced beer and lager during last year’s World Cup by £15.1m. And he claimed the supermarket giants carried on the practice of selling alcohol below cost price “all the time”.

According to the BBC article Tesco chief is ‘binge godfather’

Mr Grogan told MPs: “Sir Terence Leahy must address this issue. They must stop putting their heads in the sand, the big supermarket bosses. We want some leadership from these very powerful individuals.”

A Tesco spokesman said Mr Grogan’s comments did “nothing to inform the serious social debate on binge drinking.  Alcohol abuse is of course a serious concern to us all and we are playing a leading role in the efforts to tackle it. The vast majority of alcohol bought at Tesco forms part of the weekly family shop. We also know people tend to stock up on beers and wines for home use during promotional periods and consequently buy less at other times.”

Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said shops selling cheap alcohol could face new laws and old MPs “We remain concerned about the practice by shops and supermarkets of deep discounting promotions - often as loss leaders and below cost price of alcoholic products.”