Corporations Should Focus On Being ‘Good,’ Not ‘Less Bad’

May 8, 2007

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In an essay written by George Carpenter and Peter White, both executives for P&G at the time of the article’s February 2004 publication in Corporate Environmental Strategy: International Journal for Sustainable Business, the authors say that, when it comes to corporate social responsibility, corporations have been viewed as primarily “the problem,” Motely Fool reports (via SustainablLifeMedia).

Because of this, the mindset of corporate social responsibility initiatives is to find ways to be ”less bad.” This approach sends a negative message and doesn’t support a strong, sustainable business model.

According to Carpenter and White, ”When you focus only on being ‘less bad,’ by definition you can never be ‘good.’”

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Reader Comments

What Virgin Air does for the Airline Industry, we can do for the Road Construction Industry, How do we apply for a Grant? We are a very small Company in our eleventh year serving the Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Industry, and need some financial help to accomplish a huge mission

John Byrne | May 10th, 2007

What’s with the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ dichotomy? It’s a fluid landscape. I think it’s exactly that black or white attitude that inhibits companies from making any moves for sustainability!

Kate | March 16th, 2009

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