What the Early Days of the Cable Industry Reveal About Silicon Valley
John Malone, the man behind the bid to merge Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable, made his name in an upstart business that resembles the tech landscape today.
One Retailer's Unusual Message: 'Don't Buy So Much Stuff'
As part of its business strategy, Patagonia has for years been imploring potential customers to purchase fewer things.
Selling the Desert's Water-Conservation Lessons to the Rest of the World
The Israeli company Netafim has developed an irrigation system that can grow plants with much less water, which has proven to be a good line of business amid increasing drought.
Toward a Corporate World Where Sustainability Is an Expectation, Not a Goal
Paradoxically, the companies that are the most socially responsible may be the ones that are the least conspicuous about their social responsibility.
Beyond the Chief Sustainability Officer
Companies are full of roles—big and small—that should be charged with thinking about the environmental and human costs of doing business.
Whose Job Is It to Prevent Worker Abuse Abroad?
Supply-chain managers are central to making sure a company doesn’t exploit its employees in factories around the world or pollute the environment. Yet their task is increasingly Sisyphean in today’s economy.
CEOs Aren't as Powerful as Most People Think
There’s a saying that managing is like standing in a cemetery: lots of people under you, but no one is listening.
To Do Good in the World, Get a Better HR Department
Human resources is often thought of as an endless source of bureaucratic hassles, but finding the right people is the beginning of getting any company on a path of positive impact.
The Power of Sustainability-First Design
For many companies, social responsibility seems to come as an afterthought. But if product developers are onboard, it can become the core of a business.
Corporate Lawyers Can Be More Than Naysayers-in-Chief
In-house counsel can get a bad rap, but with a little creativity, they can enable their companies to do right by workers and the environment.
What Do Chief Sustainability Officers Actually Do?
More and more companies have a senior executive in charge of sustainability, but that doesn't make those companies automatically green.
Who Can Push for Change Within a Company?
Corporate structures can be mystifying, and sometimes it's hard to tell who on the inside has actual power.
Why Corporations Fail to Do the Right Thing
Six reasons why international business remains dangerous to workers and the environment, even when its leaders genuinely want to do better