CSR Minute: GE Partners with China; Boston College Corporate Citizenship Advice

Corporate Social Responsible News: GE Partners with China; BOS College Center for Corporate Citizenship on Web Advice

McKesson Releases Corporate Citizenship Report and Announces McKesson Foundation Focus on Chronic Disease Management | 3BL Media

McKesson Corporation, the nation’s oldest and largest healthcare services and IT company, today announced the release of its 2008-2009 Corporate Citizenship Report and launched the McKesson Foundation’s new strategic focus on chronic disease management. Designed to minimize paper and energy usage, the Company’s new online-only interactive report tells McKesson’s corporate citizenship story through the voices of McKesson employees and stakeholders. McKesson’s Corporate Citizenship Report is available at www.mckesson.com/citizenshipreport.

McKesson’s 2008-2009 Corporate Citizenship Report
McKesson’s 2008-2009 Corporate Citizenship Report highlights the Company’s high levels of employee engagement, commitment to environmental sustainability, culture of diversity and inclusion, and industry leading efforts to improve the safety, quality, and cost of healthcare. Corporate social responsibility principles are embedded within McKesson’s mission and focused goal of helping its customers improve patients’ lives. For example, in the last year nearly half of McKesson’s 32,000 employees participated in the Company’s annual Community Days volunteer event. At hundreds of sites worldwide McKesson Community Days volunteers created more than 16,000 care packages for hospitalized veterans at VA medical centers.

McKesson’s environmental sustainability journey, while still in its initial stages, has already yielded rewards for the planet and the Company, including a better understanding of McKesson’s greenhouse gas emissions, cost savings and employee participation. In 2008 McKesson established an executive-level Environmental Council and then launched a network of 12 employee-led Environmental Councils at McKesson sites around the world. After only eight months, McKesson Environmental Councils were responsible for projects that not only reduced the Company’s environmental impact but also resulted in nearly $100,000 in cost savings. In August McKesson also unveiled it’s first LEED-certified pharmaceutical distribution center located in the Chicago, Ill. area.

“At McKesson our belief is that a commitment to good corporate citizenship is a fundamental part of creating sustained value for both society and the company,” said Carrie Varoquiers, vice president of corporate citizenship and president of the McKesson Foundation. “McKesson’s corporate citizenship work complements the Company’s goal of helping our customers improve patients’ lives.”

Information within McKesson’s 2008-2009 Corporate Citizenship Report is framed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 Guidelines, internationally recognized sustainability and social responsibility reporting standards. McKesson self-declares this Report to GRI application level C. A full list of GRI indicators and McKesson’s reporting on these indicators is available in the Corporate Citizenship Report’s GRI Index. McKesson publishes its Corporate Citizenship Report biennially and released its last report in fall 2007.

McKesson Foundation Strategic Focus on Chronic Disease Management
In conjunction with the Company’s Corporate Citizenship Report release, the McKesson Foundation announced a new strategy to focus on chronic disease management. By combining the Foundation’s cash donations with McKesson Corporation’s deep institutional health care services and IT expertise, the program seeks to further the social impact that can be achieved. The Foundation’s near-term commitment is to fund innovative diabetes management projects.

During this challenging economic environment the Foundation has also expanded its matching gift program for employees and opened it up to all eligible 501(c)(3) organizations. For more information about the McKesson Foundation visit www.mckesson.com/foundation.

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Economic Crisis Demonstrates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is here to Stay

Economic Crisis Demonstrates Corporate Citizenship and CSR are here to Stay

For years there has been an ongoing discussion about how corporate social responsibility would – or not – stand up to a deep recession. The debate is no longer academic and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship has data that shows CSR – or corporate citizenship as we call it – is clearly here to stay. If anything as our biennial State of Corporate Citizenship survey, of 800 senior executives shows the recession has deepened the integration corporate citizenship into the core of business strategy and operation. (54%) of executives surveyed said corporate citizenship was more important during a recession

The State of Corporate Citizenship in the United States 2009 made possible with a grant from the Hitachi Foundation is the 4th biannual survey of Senior Executives conducted by the Center for Corporate Citizenship executives leaders and is the only research of its kind to provide a comprehensive overview of executives of small, medium, and large-sized U.S. businesses perceptions and actions on corporate citizenship.

Highlights of the survey, include:

* Despite upheaval in the economy, a majority of U.S. companies are not making major changes in their corporate citizenship practices. Of those who made changes 38% reduced philanthropy/giving, 27% increased layoffs, and 19% reduced R&D for sustainable products.

* Reputation was cited by 70% as a driver for corporate citizenship, tied for the top spot with “it fits our company traditions and values.”

* Most U.S. senior executives believe business should be more involved than it is today in addressing major public issues including health care, product safety, education, and climate change. Surveyed in June, just as the national debate on health care began to intensify, some 65 percent said business should increase its involvement in this issue.

* Large companies significantly increased their investments and involvement in citizenship activities, but were more likely to impose layoffs. Small firms stayed committed to their emphasis on treating employees well by minimizing layoffs. But they significantly decreased attention to other aspects of citizenship.

While corporate citizenship is clearly gaining traction as a business imperative the 2009 survey points to new challenges particularly as business seeks to rebuild public trust through self regulation and engage in public policy making. The current crisis has expanded the “lens” by which the public judge companies corporate citizenship performance. With critical failures in corporate governance and management accountability in the financial sector the spotlight is once again focused on central pillar of Corporate Citizenship, governance, and the responsibility of corporate directors and senior management to ensure accountability of the firm to both its shareholders and society. It brings back into focus that corporate citizenship is, in the end, about the total impact of the company on society and not simply a set of corporate citizenship programs be they community involvement programs or green products and services. Going forward companies will need to ensure they have embedded corporate citizenship principles and policies across all domains of the firm from governance, to operations to products and services if they are to be viewed as credible when they talk about self regulation and participation in public policy making on critical social and environmental issues.

We would like to know how are findings relate to the experience of your company in this economic downturn. Take a look at our survey (PDF) found here and let’s see how the opinions of these 756 executives compare to what you are experiencing. Would you agree that corporate citizenship is more important during a recession?

To add your thoughts to the discussion…click here. via 3blmedia.com