By Wayne Visser

Part 8 of 13 in Wayne Visser's Age of Responsibility Blog Series for 3BL Media.

Is bigger always better or can we still say ‘small is beautiful’, as the pioneering economist E.F. Schumacher argued way back in 1973? Certainly, the ‘muesli-eating, sandal-wearing’ New Age approach to small-is-beautiful has been rather more of an advert for ‘small is...

Whether or not you filled out your NCAA basketball tournement brackets, you have a chance to fill out an even more important bracket for another competition of talented college students. This bracket features 16 student Commitments to Action that will be presented at the fifth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), which will be held at George Washington University in Washington D.C., March 30-April 1. President Bill Clinton and Jon Stewart will announce the winner on March 31....

Recently, I interviewed Ben Thornley of InSight and author of a new study on impact investing, which demonstrates that institutional investors, such as pension funds and endowments that invest for social and environmental outcomes are also earning a competitive rate of financial return. Launched a few weeks ago in New York by InSight at Pacific Community Ventures and the Initiative for Responsible Investment...

The concept of 'The Butterfly Effect' explains that even small actions can have far reaching and unintended consequences. This presents a unique problem for businesses operating in a global context because any business working across cultures must face the fact that -- no matter how they conduct their business -- they are going to have some impacts that will cause some stakeholder to question their actions.

To be sure, global standards such as...

By Dr Wayne Visser

Part 6 of 13 in Wayne Visser's Age of Responsibility Blog Series for 3BL Media.

By May 2008, it was clear to me that the evolutionary concept of Web 2.0 held many lessons for CSR, and I began to develop my thinking around CSR 2.0. It quickly became clear, however, that a metaphor can only take you so far. What was needed was a set of principles against...

In a recent interview with American rap icon Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, we discussed his evolving philanthropic efforts, bridging business with social responsibility, and what’s next on his radar.

Rahim Kanani: What was the moment upon which you decided to become active in the philanthropic space?

50 Cent: Once I achieved success in 2003 with my first album, Get Rich or Die Trying, I quickly realized how I could use my success to make a difference. Shortly after, I launched the G Unity Foundation...

Green is the new black. In recent years being “green” has become more popular than ever before. With the old stigmas about green-mindedness vanquished, the citizens of the world have embraced sustainable technologies and environmentally sound innovations. As a result businesses are starting to take notice, and many are scrambling to “green up” their practices and improve their appearance and marketing techniques. In fact, according to a resource for top online doctoral programs, an increasing number of universities are even offering MBAs...

In case you hadn't noticed, the majority of online content and conversation in the Corporate Social Responsibility space originates in the good old US of A. Maybe that is no surprise as population size alone provides robust reasoning in addition to a more communicative culture, than many more of my reserved UK based compatriots.

In an effort to redress the balance, this is the first of a series of weekly blogs offering a focus on CSR related activity from the European side of the Atlantic, where we stumble into two immediate hurdles. We need to clarify what we mean by CSR,...

By Dr Wayne Visser

Part 3 of 13 in Wayne Visser's Age of Responsibility Blog Series for 3BL Media.

Give a man a fish and he will eat today. Teach a man to fish and he will eat tomorrow – or until his nets break. Invest in a man’s fishing business and he will feed himself and others for a long time to come. This is what it...

The most important thing I’ve learned over the last year is that social change has real business value. While corporations that are seen to be “responsible” benefit in many ways including improving reputation, attracting employees, and increasing market share, the real value goes to corporations that understand their social purpose and profit from making social change.

“We talk about the penetration of new markets that are profitable, we talk about saving money through energy efficiency and conserving resources, we talk about the markets for new products and services that...