Monthly Features/MHCi Blogs

Articles have been either written, or commissioned by MHCi. Many have been published elsewhere after appearing here first.

The articles are grouped under the following headings below:

• How Does CSR help Business
• Emerging Markets, International Development and CSR
• Making Money with and CSR
• Employment and Jobs through CSR
• Governance,The Law and CSR
• Key Issues in CSR
• Measurement and CSR
• Small & Medium Enterprises and CSR
• Sport and CSR
• Sustainable Tourism and CSR

See also our list of free publications available on the web, plus a review of The Planetary Bargain in MHCi Corporate Social Responsibility Publications

Business and CSR

How does CSR relate to the key business issues of the day?  Read here about the business case for CSR, what to do when you only have 5 minutes with the CEO, the mess of standards…..

86. Weapons of mass description by Michael Hopkins and Adrian Payne. With three big elephants in the CSR room (GRI, ISO26000 and IIRC), are we in danger of asking too much of companies and institutions?  Will the demand for bigger and bigger standards lead to increased reluctance to incorporate CSR?  There is a danger, and we argue here, for more limited accountability so that we may encourage more to become socially responsible without increasing unnecessary baggage…read more here.
87. CSR update for 2012 – where is CSR going in 2012? 5 trends January 2012 by Michael Hopkins, Martin Summers and Adrian Payne.  Reproduced in csrwire……What trends and themes in the corporate, social, political and economic spheres will dominate 2012? Will social media emerge as a useful tool in activating shareholders?
88. CSR Definition. April 2011by Michael Hopkins….look, there is NO definitive definition, but have a look here so that we can use something reasonable and move on to IMPLEMENTATION!!
89. CSR Update for 2011 January 2011 by Michael & Ivor Hopkins…… Six key questions were posed to our audience such as ‘What did CSR mean for companies in the UK/Europe/USA/emerging markets in 2010?’……
90. CSR update for 2010 – where is CSR going in 2010?February 2010 by Ivor Hopkins, Michael Hopkins & Martin Summers….This series repeats every year, have a look at what we thought in 2010 and measure our forecast against what happened….
91. How could Strategic CSR have helped Dubai World and then Dubai from collapsing?December 2009 by Michael Hopkins…. Strategic CSR is more than philanthropy…look at our efforts to convince Dubai World, a recent near disaster, to adopt a more powerful strategic CSR model for their business …..
92. Strategic CSR and Competitive AdvantageOctober 2009 by Michael Hopkins…A heady mix of greed, overconfidence and the use of poor business models that showed up flawed strategies caused the global financial collapse of one year ago.   Is the merry go round of greed, overconfidence and flawed strategies about to spin again?  There is another way to look at strategy……..
93. The DEARTH of CSRApril 2009, by Michael Hopkins….sustainability, citizenship, business and society, ethical business – have stuck long enough to focus minds.  CSR is not dead, simply there is a ‘DEARTH of CSR’!…..
94. Recession: CSR is still good for business!December 2008, by Michael Hopkins
95. CSR in turbulent times – Now needed more than ever beforeOctober 2008, by Michael Hopkins, Julian Roche and Ivor Hopkins
96. CSR update: where are we and where are we going in 2008? January 2008, by Michael Hopkins
97. The Power of CSRMarch 2007, by Michael Hopkins
98. Summary of First World Report on CSRSeptember, 2001, by Michael Hopkins
99. Heavy Mettle – Heroes in CSRJanuary 2006, by Ivor Hopkins
100. The Business Case for CSRMay 2004, by Adrian Henriques
101. Company’s should abandon Philanthropy and concentrate on CSRApril 2004, by Michael Hopkins
102. CSR and Global Business Principles or Standards: What a mess!September 2002, by Michael Hopkins
103. CSR: 5 Minutes with the CEOApril 2002, by Michael Hopkins
104. New Directions for CSR: Can CSR enhance a companies’ intellectual capital? January 2002,by Michael Hopkins
105. Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility March 2001, by Michael Hopkins
106. Is Corporate Social Responsibility the Same as Corporate Sustainability?December 2000, by Michael Hopkins
107. Corporate Social Responsibility – The Big PictureJuly 2000, by Michael Hopkins
108. Can CSR burn up a companies’ bottom line – The J-Curve. 2000 by Michael Hopkins

Development and CSR

What is the link from ideas of corporate social responsibility and sustainability to development in emerging markets?  Read here articles by the MHCi team that have been widely published across the world.

89. India – the New CSR Rules: Help or Hindrance to CSR in India? June 2014.  Michael Hopkins updates the article below and reflects upon whether the new India rules on CSR whereby large companies give 2% of profits to “CSR projects’ is likely to promote or hinder India’s pursuit of worldwide CSR acceptanace…read more.
90. India: The New CSR Law: Michael Hopkins looks at the new India CSR Law and reflects on its future..India: The New CSR Law…
91. Social Responsibility, Somalia, Kenya and Terrorism: Michael Hopkins uses the tools of CSR to examine the consequences of the Kenya Westgate incident with suggestions on how to prevent in the future. Oct 2013
92. Business continues even in regions of conflict.  But what does corporate social responsibility really mean under conflict conditions? How can business not make the situation worse and how far can private enterprise go in actively building peace? Read more on CSR and Conflict May 2012, by Michael Hopkins
93. Tahrir (Liberation) Square and National Social Responsibility IndexFebruary 2011, by Michael Hopkins
94. Sustainability (CSR) and PopulationDecember 2010, by Michael Hopkins

Corporations have embraced the call of ‘sustainability’.  But, there is still a wide spread feeling that POPULATION is the problem – from poverty to climate change to lack of food to congestion to pollution, perhaps even the current recession?  Concerns with population growth running up against limited resources (food supplies at the time) started as long ago as Thomas Malthus some 210 years ago. Yet, we were wrong then, and we are still making the same poor assumptions despite vastly improved data since the earlier time…..read more here.

76. Is China’s Investment In Africa Socially Responsible? October 2010, by Jawahir Adam…who looks at China, while IN China, and argues that China’s CSR in Africa could be developed more since it may, otherwise, lead to an unwelcome reaction from the African people themselves thereby rapidly increasing Chinese costs and risks of operations.
77. PART IV: The Fortune to be gained by CSR: CSR, MDGs and the UN Global Compact September 2010, by Michael Hopkins
78. National Social Responsibility and Humanitarian DevelopmentSeptember 2008, by Jawahir Adam and Michael Hopkins
79. CSR and the Arms TradeOctober 2007, by Michael Hopkins
80. Which Global Catastrophe? CSR and Development cont’d…June 2007, by Michael Hopkins
81. Sustainable Development: From Words to ActionApril 2007, by Michael Hopkins
82. CSR Update at beginning 2007: Where are we and where are we going?January 2007, by Michael Hopkins

What is the role of CSR in the social and economic development of emerging market countries? In the following there are three articles looking at this. The first looks at Prahalad’s celebrated work on business and development in the Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.  In Part I, Michael Hopkins describes how he found Prahalad’s ideas wanting because of the lack of attention to all stakeholders (particularly the demand side stakeholders).  In Part II is explored whether the notion of CSR could be a better concept with which to engage corporations in economic development. Part III looks at what corporations could do in the development arena and provides a rapid impact methodology. In Part IV, above, Michael looked at how the UN has been promoting business involvement in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and the UN Global Compact.

49. The Fortune to be Gained by CSR and a Rapid Impact Methodology For Corporations Engaged in Emerging Market Development: Part IIISeptember 2005, by Michael Hopkins
50. The Fortune to be Gained by CSR and Corporations in Emerging Market Development: Part IIJune 2005, by Michael Hopkins
51. The Fortune to be Gained by CSR and The Bottom of The Pyramid: Part IMarch 2005, by Michael Hopkins
52. Business, CSR and the TsunamiJanuary 2005, by Michael Hopkins
53. The social responsibility of Nation StatesJune 2002, by Michael Hopkins
54. Transnational Corporations, CSR and Third World Development,March, 2002, by Dharam Ghai
55. CSR, poverty and terrorOctober, 2001, by Michael Hopkins
56. Singapore: Corporate, Social and Responsible but no CSROctober, 2000, Julian Roche

Finance and CSR

84. Socially Responsible Investment or CSR? May 2012 by Julian Roche

Within the ‘CSR world’ it is almost taken as axiomatic that there is no contradiction between Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).  The vision is this.  Investors will act responsibly looking at responsible and impact investment to make their money count for a better world as well as just obtain a financial return.  Meanwhile enlightened companies will recognise that an increasing number of investors will look at not just their raw financial numbers but also their CSR engagement and scores, and act to improve their CSR performance to attract more investment and lower their cost of capital.

63. Sovereign Wealth Funds and CSRJuly 2008, by Julian Roche
64. Corporate Social Responsibility and FinanceJanuary 2004, by Julian Roche
65. CSR in Recessionary TimesFebruary, 2002, by Michael Hopkins
66. CSR Investment – the next ‘dot.com’ boom?November, 2001, by Michael Hopkins
67. Problems with FTSE4goodJune, 2001, by Michael Hopkins
68. Corporate Social Responsibility: A Dialogue with the Financial Times May 2001, by Michael Hopkins
69. Does CSR burn up your bottom line?August 2000, by Michael Hopkins

Key Issues in CSR

81. Occupy with Responsibility not only Wall Street October 2011, by Michael Hopkins a version of this appeared in CSRwire on October 19 2011.

Michael argues that we need responsible Governments that regulate Wall Street and the like, but also one that increases spending to stimulate growth when times are hard.  In fact we need both Corporate and Public Responsibility to create the sorts of Sustainable Development we would all like to see across the whole planet.

65. CSR And the Property Market – Urgent Changes RequiredJuly 2009, by Julian Roche
66. Has the Greening of CSR Gone Too Far?November 2007, by Michael Hopkins
67. Kate Moss: A Model for CSR?October 2005, by Ivor Hopkins
68. CSR: From responsibility to opportunityFebruary 2005, by Jem Bendell
69. Irritated by CSR September 2004, by Michael Hopkins
70. Six Key Issues on CSRFebruary 2003, by Michael Hopkins
71. CSR: An Exit StrategyNovember 2003, by Michael Hopkins
72. CSR: Hate Exxon Love Shell – Justified?August 2003
73. CSR: An Evolving View of the Field May 2003, by Al Straughan
74. Sex, CSR and the FutureApril 2003, by Michael Hopkins
75. Is CSR just a trendy fad?December 2002, by Ivor Hopkins…Are you a Sceptic or a Convert – do you see CSR as an expensive waste of time, a trendy option or a serious business activity?
76. CSR: Is it worth it?November 2002, by Michael Hopkins …Curiously, the sceptics seem to present the case in favour of CSR as well, if not better, than the CSR proponents…..

Labour Issues and CSR

82. Corporations and Jobs (reproduced in csrwire in Jan 2012)
    

There is much talk about creating jobs today as unemployment inexorably stays high around the world.  Two issues immediately follow from such a statement.  First, what do we mean by unemployment and second, why do we need jobs?  Many people would say that I am splitting hairs and people need jobs of almost any kind.  But, before I move to the main examination of this article which is can we expect corporations to resolve the issue of jobs, I cannot proceed without a quick digression on the two questions posed.See: Corporations and Jobs By Michael Hopkins January 2012

27. CSR and Labour IssuesJanuary 2003, by Michael Hopkins
28. Socially Responsible DownsizingOctober 2002, by George Starcher

Governance, The Law and CSR

71. Alcohol and Prohibition: What Role for CSR? December 2009 by Ivor Hopkins
72. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and CSRFebruary 2008, by Julian Roche
73. CSR, Reputation and GovernanceSeptember 2006, by Katherine Howard, Graham Young, Ivor Hopkins and Michael Hopkins
74. CSR and Sarbanes OxleyApril 2005, by Prof. John Tepper-Marlin
75. Let’s Make CEOs Accountable for CSROctober 2004, by Michael Hopkins
76. CSR and Legislation: Legislate or Not?July, 2002, by Michael Hopkins
77. What is Relation between Corporate Governance and CSR?January, 2001, by Michael Hopkins
78. Corporate manslaughterJune 2000, by John Rosthorn

Measurement and CSR

5. How to measure what is meant by CSR?November, 2000, by Michael Hopkins
6. Measurement and Progress of Corporate Social ResponsibilityMarch 2004, by Michael Hopkins
7. Is the British Royal Family Socially Responsible?December 2005, by Michael Hopkins
8. CSR measurement: An example from BrazilApril, 2001, by Adele Queiroz

SMEs and CSR

36. Corporate Social Responsibility and SMEs RevisitedFebruary 2004, by Ivor Hopkins
37. Corporate Social Responsibility in Small and Medium Sized BusinessesFebruary, 2001, by Ivor Hopkins

Sport and CSR

31. Does CSR have a Role in Sport?July 2003, by Ivor Hopkins
32. CSR and the Beautiful GameOctober 2003, by Michael Hopkins
33. CSR and Sport: The World Soccer Cup and CSRMay 2002, by Michael Hopkins

Sustainable Tourism and CSR

42. Sustainable Tourism: Happy Holidays Forever – Responsibility on the MoveNovember, 2004, by Ivor Hopkins