The 14 Worst Corporations - Page 2 - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Nad Adam · 07-25-2006, 08:14 AM

As a business student I recently attended a seminar by a guy who's in charge of ethics at one of Swedens larger investment firms. He had a few points about how corporate social responsibility was a big sales point when trying to sell shares in investment funds to the general public. These funds are called ethical funds in Sweden and they aren't supposed to invest in companies which are into weapons, alcohol, drugs, gambling etc but also that the companies had to pay minimum wages even if no such laws were in existance where they had their operations.

He made a point out of that these things where what the general Swedish public considered to be ethical actions and acceptable buisinesses but he also talked about how for example in southern europe (which is more catholic) the ethical funds weren't allowed to invest in contraception manufacturing companies because of different ethical standards.

Also he argued against that weapons were nececarily unethical since they are necesary to keep people and nations safe and that the minimum wages could keep companies out of really poor countries and in that way limiting their populations work choices to even worse paying jobs and prostitution etc.

roachboy · 07-28-2006, 09:53 AM

pan: i dont understand your response.

the csr audit stuff gives a pretty good image of what corporations are actually doing--they audits are built around sustainability criteria, so the breakdowns in reporting are interesting too in that the represent translation trouble or transparency breakdowns. there are many. of course, the image you get is kinda funny, not really what it claims to be, but they are interesting anyway.
and they are in a handy alphabetical list.
if you look at a site like corporate watch, the information is confusing in its organization. same with multinational monitor.
if you dont try to get information about what corporations are actually doing, where do you take a politics about corporate activity from?
if this is a matter of one's general attitude about corporations, then fine--but that's really not terribly interesting past the "i like em" or "i dont like em" stage.

pan6467 · 07-28-2006, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roachboy

pan: i dont understand your response.

the csr audit stuff gives a pretty good image of what corporations are actually doing--they audits are built around sustainability criteria, so the breakdowns in reporting are interesting too in that the represent translation trouble or transparency breakdowns. there are many. of course, the image you get is kinda funny, not really what it claims to be, but they are interesting anyway.
and they are in a handy alphabetical list.
if you look at a site like corporate watch, the information is confusing in its organization. same with multinational monitor.
if you dont try to get information about what corporations are actually doing, where do you take a politics about corporate activity from?
if this is a matter of one's general attitude about corporations, then fine--but that's really not terribly interesting past the "i like em" or "i dont like em" stage.

No, your links were great and showed your argument very well.

I suppose I should have seperated more.

The last statement I made was to stand alone and show why I had previously asked for more detail.

I also felt that previous posts showed all the bad companies but there had to be good ones or at least alternatives so that if I didn't like a companies policies I may shop with one who has a policy i find more acceptable.

07-28-2006, 09:53 AM	#42 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	pan: i dont understand your response. the csr audit stuff gives a pretty good image of what corporations are actually doing--they audits are built around sustainability criteria, so the breakdowns in reporting are interesting too in that the represent translation trouble or transparency breakdowns. there are many. of course, the image you get is kinda funny, not really what it claims to be, but they are interesting anyway. and they are in a handy alphabetical list. if you look at a site like corporate watch, the information is confusing in its organization. same with multinational monitor. if you dont try to get information about what corporations are actually doing, where do you take a politics about corporate activity from? if this is a matter of one's general attitude about corporations, then fine--but that's really not terribly interesting past the "i like em" or "i dont like em" stage. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite

07-25-2006, 08:14 AM	#41 (permalink)
Nad Adam Psycho Location: Sweden	As a business student I recently attended a seminar by a guy who's in charge of ethics at one of Swedens larger investment firms. He had a few points about how corporate social responsibility was a big sales point when trying to sell shares in investment funds to the general public. These funds are called ethical funds in Sweden and they aren't supposed to invest in companies which are into weapons, alcohol, drugs, gambling etc but also that the companies had to pay minimum wages even if no such laws were in existance where they had their operations. He made a point out of that these things where what the general Swedish public considered to be ethical actions and acceptable buisinesses but he also talked about how for example in southern europe (which is more catholic) the ethical funds weren't allowed to invest in contraception manufacturing companies because of different ethical standards. Also he argued against that weapons were nececarily unethical since they are necesary to keep people and nations safe and that the minimum wages could keep companies out of really poor countries and in that way limiting their populations work choices to even worse paying jobs and prostitution etc.