Leading companies are laser-focused on corporate purpose. They explore what their purpose is and how it translates to their people and community and bring that purpose to life through intentional practices and strategies. They use a human-centered lens for all business operations because it helps them see around corners and delivers a competitive edge. All this leads to a future-forward outlook that enables a long-term view. Within this purpose megatrend, we see five prominent themes: Employee Power, Collaborative Advocacy, Responsible Tech, Long-Term Growth Going Mainstream, and Impact Measured.

Abbott was recently named one of America's Most JUST Companies by Forbes magazine and JUST Capital. The list recognizes the top 100 companies in the U.S. leading the way for responsible, sustainable business.

Every day, millions of Americans have to sacrifice food, education, and healthcare because the cost of housing is so high. The numbers are grim: only one out of every four households who needs housing assistance gets it; more than one in four renters pays more than half of their income on housing costs; and nationwide waiting lists for affordable housing are years long. Many lists aren’t even open to new applicants because the backlog is so enormous. The lack of affordable housing affects millions nationwide, and people who have full time jobs are not immune: the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) notes that someone has to make $21.21 per hour in order to afford a two-bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. Of the people fortunate enough to receive federal housing assistance in

In partnership with the Erb Institute, Innovation Forum recently hosted a conference in Detroit that delved into the best ways to assess materiality, build a business case and deliver impact at scale.

Smithfield Foods, Inc. is pleased to announce the grand opening of its new distribution center in Tar Heel, North Carolina, which will create approximately 250 new jobs in the state. Smithfield invested more than $100 million into the over 500,000-square foot facility, about the size of eight football fields, and its blast cell cold storage capabilities at its processing facility, which will strengthen the company’s supply chain to better serve customers globally.

“Ultimately, our goal is to establish a pipeline of talent and help develop the STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] skills that are vital to pursuing careers in tech,” says Viacom Chief Technology Officer Dave Kline. “We’re focused on crafting opportunities for the Girls Who Code alumni where they can explore, learn, and thrive in an all-encompassing environment surrounded by top-tier talent.”

From our global commitment to green building practices, to the order of magnitude our technology delivers in terms of energy and carbon emission reductions in IT, VMware aims to leave ahead a better future by weaving sustainability into everything we do, including the opening of our new VMware Discovery Center.

Aflac, the leader in voluntary insurance sales at U.S. worksites, is listed as a top five company in Comparably’s 2018 list of the 50 Best Company Cultures. Comparably is a California-based culture data website that rates companies’ workplace cultures. According to Comparably, the companies on their annual Best Company Cultures list received the highest ratings by employees who provided anonymous feedback on a variety of workplace culture questions ranging from work environment and compensation to leadership.

In 2009, Sysco began working with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to assess and improve the sustainability of its seafood supply chain. Through this collaboration, Sysco committed in 2011 to source its top 10 Portico® brand (Sysco’s own seafood brand) frozen and further-processed wild-caught seafood species from fisheries that were either certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard, in full assessment for MSC certification or engaged in a comprehensive Fishery Improvement Project (FIP), by 2015.

Continuing its alliance with WWF, in 2016, Sysco committed to further improve the sustainability of its seafood procurement through 2020, incorporating additional elements to guide its seafood procurement practices and standards.

Business News Indonesia magazine recently presented PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) with three corporate responsibility awards for 2018. The three awards are:

Top Leader on Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment
Top Corporate Social Responsibility in the Mining sector
Top Corporate Social Responsibility Infrastructure Program