Category Archives: What’s Next for CR

Investing in American Jobs

Last week, the White House convened a group of American business leaders for its “Insourcing American Jobs” forum. I was honored to attend the forum with Hal Sirkin of the Boston Consulting Group who is one of our clients here at APCO. Hal’s study, “Made in the USA, Again,” was a big part of the forum. President Obama highlighted the study in his opening remarks and used it to jump start the forum’s discussion.
Posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 By SharedPurpose
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Universities Need to Protect Their Brands, too

Athletic conference realignments altering cherished rivalries within college sports. Alleged acts of pedophilia by coaching staff against children in their care. Compliance violations and a range of sometimes controversial penalties assessed against member schools. This is the context for which the NCAA and several of its marquee institutions enter into the previously hallowed football bowl season. Lack of preparation and poor decision-making have resulted in several senior administrators becoming a part of the anticipated December unemployment statistics instead of leading their schools or departments. This will indeed be a winter of unprecedented criminal investigations, litigation and adverse media coverage. As daily stories regarding the aspects of these events have unfolded on our TV screens and social media, several friends and journalists have called to ask how or if any of this could have been possibly prevented. Of course, no one can fully prevent horrendous judgment committed by individuals within an institution if a person is intent on engaging in morally reprehensible or criminal acts. However, more than ever before, boards of directors of corporations and university trustees are asking their senior executives to ensure that their institutions have a fresh crisis plan and that all the requisite stakeholders in the enterprise are equipped to operationalize it when the inevitable mayhem visits their doorstep.
Posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2011 By Tara Greco
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Corporate brands must add value to society

In my previous posts, I made the case that corporate branding is out of step with the reality of the market. Why, when given the ability of companies to adapt quickly to technological change, would corporate brands be out of step? To some degree, I think companies have been forced to adapt their operations and product marketing to technology because it has hit them over the head like a sledgehammer. The market quickly makes winners and losers, but the corporate brand doesn't cry out in the same way. It is harder to diagnose the harm a brand suffers from being left behind, making it less likely to get attention. There is, however, very tangible science available that documents the value of the corporate brand and its ability to predict things like sales, customer and employee loyalty, and even market capitalization.
Posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 By SharedPurpose
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World AIDS Day 2011: Prevention as the New Great Hope

Today marks another World AIDS Day. APCO’s Linda Distlerath has been working in this field for decades and shares her thoughts on how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go. Having worked in the HIV/AIDS field for more than 20 years, I find myself each December 1 – World AIDS Day – reflecting on how far we have come in tackling the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and contemplating what the future will bring. This past year marked the 30th anniversary of the first reports from U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of unusual cases of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in gay men, both later recognized as opportunistic infections associated with HIV infection and diagnostic of full-blown AIDS. Hence, 1981 is seen as the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in terms of public attention to a frightening and previously unknown infectious threat. Over the next 15 years, much effort was focused on the scientific, clinical and epidemiological aspects of HIV infection and AIDS with significant investment by the U.S. government through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the CDC among other government agencies, along with the research-based pharmaceutical industry. But 1996, the 15-year mark of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, was a watershed year for science, the industry and people living with HIV/AIDS, at least in the United States, Europe and other health resource-rich regions. In that year, the notion of the “triple-combination cocktail” of antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV infection – taking viral load to undetectable levels for prolonged periods – came to life, and indeed brought life back to those ravaged by AIDS.
Posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2011 By Tara Greco
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New Year’s Resolutions on Human Trafficking

I take New Year’s resolutions seriously, which is why I am hard at work on my 2012 resolutions now. As I think about changes I’ll make in 2012, I wonder what resolutions we’ll see from business leaders as the new year begins. In particular, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act takes effect on January 1 and will require business leaders to communicate what they are doing to address slavery and human trafficking. Many do not realize that this is still a 21st-century problem. However, through violence, threats and coercion, victims are forced to work in, among other things, the sex trade, domestic labor, factories, hotels and agriculture. According to the U.S. Department of State, there are an estimated 600,000-800,000 men, women and children trafficked across international borders each year. Of these, approximately 80 percent are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are children. California has been reported to be one of the top four destination states for trafficking victims in the United States.
Posted on Monday, November 28th, 2011 By Leela Stake
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Blog Action Day 2011 – What’s on the Menu?

Happy Blog Action Day 2011, SP readers! Coincidentally, today is also World Food Day. So what better topic for Blog Action Day than food. Take a look around the internet today and you’ll see thousands of posts related to food. Surely you can pick up a few recipe tips, but today bloggers are using their platforms to talk about some of the biggest food-related issues of our day: sustainable agriculture, food insecurity, nutrition, obesity, food safety, and dozens of other subjects.
Posted on Sunday, October 16th, 2011 By Andrea Shatzman
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Adding Value in Urbanization

Every so often, I’m reminded that we’re living in the future. One such “wow” moment was last week, when I attended the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center’s Global Corporate Citizenship Conference. The conference kicked off with a panel on “Issues and Opportunities in Urban Development,” discussing the future of our planet’s cities in the face of a new wave of urbanization. The 20th century saw a global shift toward urbanization – a trend which has only increased in the new century. My colleague Kitty Potter wrote recently that the global population has doubled in just 50 years – and more and more are leaving rural and suburban regions in favor of cities.
Posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 By Andrea Shatzman
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Volunteers are Getting LinkedIn

Earlier this month there was another symbolic moment that volunteerism and service is becoming more and more central to professional life. And no, this is not another post about how Millennials are leading the way. This month it’s LinkedIn. Now when you’re filling out your resume on LinkedIn, amidst your positions, publications, and awards, there’s now a special section you can insert information on your volunteer experience and the causes you care about.
Posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 By Andrea Shatzman
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Job Creation Just One Focus for CGI 2011

“Jobs, jobs, jobs.” That was the message President William J. Clinton took to the airwaves with on Sunday morning to preview the agenda of the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting which kicks-off on Tuesday. Yet again, CGI has attracted a stellar line-up of participants, who will spend the next three days formulating plans to address global unemployment, putting forward ideas to drive more sustainable consumption and continuing to focus on unleashing the potential of girls and women in places where they remain excluded or marginalized.
Posted on Monday, September 19th, 2011 By James Robinson
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Corporate Philanthropy = R&D

I was just in NYC and it was a quick-turnaround trip, so unfortunately, I didn’t have time to shop. When I head back to the Big Apple in a few weeks, I’m going to carve out some time for a side trip to SoHo to check out this new concept from Nordstrom: Treasure&Bond. Why am I sharing this tidbit with Shared Purpose readers?
Posted on Friday, September 2nd, 2011 By Tara Greco
Also posted in Cause Marketing, Philanthropy, What's Next for CR | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment