When you find yourself in a place of self-reflection, it’s easy to declare to make a change. It’s the follow-through that’s hard, and it’s no different for businesses who are making their own strategic shifts.
Recently, a group of executives representing major corporations announced that it would be modifying its objective. The Business Roundtable group includes CEOs from companies like Amazon, Chevron, GM, Lockheed Martin, American Express… you get it. And for years, they’ve worked under a mantle where the role of the corporation was to increase shareholder value.
That is, until recently, when the group’s chairman Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, announced the group’s mantra was changing, something he backed up with a revised statement the group is calling a “shared understanding” – to not just generate long-term value for shareholders, but also to deliver value to customers, invest in employees, deal ethically and fairly with suppliers and to support their communities by protecting the environment through sustainable business practices.
And while the reaction to this revision was generally positive, there were also many business and labor experts who brushed it off as the Business Roundtable’s way of paying lip service to prevailing expectations of corporate responsibility – especially since the group “in the past has fought anti-trust legislation, backed favorable tax cuts, and successfully lobbied to dilute restrictions on executive compensation.”
But there’s another business group out there that’s determined to hold the Business Roundtable accountable, and they’re not doing so quietly. Business Insider has reported that the group B Lab recently took out a full-page ad in the New York Times with a message for the Business Roundtable companies: “Let’s Get to Work.”
B Lab is a group that offers businesses “B Corporation” status, a designation that incorporates how a company’s business model impacts “workers, community, environment, and customers.” 3,000 companies have been awarded the private certification, including Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia, and the full-page ad seems intended to spur the Business Roundtable group to take action and “walk the walk,” saying “Let’s get to work to make real change happen.”
Whether or not these companies commit to real, tangible change remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain now – the world is watching.
Credit: Thomas Industry Update
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