Corporate Knights

How can companies be so deaf?  Why is it so difficult for them to listen to thier customers? Do they not know that our unhappiness is not good for thier business? Do they not get that partical truths and obfuscation are not good for business?

We may be witnessing the dawn of The Age of Loyalty.  Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company has written a full-page letter to Americans published in the New York Times.  He calls on Americans to work with him to restore the American dream, to “set in motion an upward spiral of confidence”, and to pledge together to “put citizenship ahead of partisanship”.  While Schultz’ primary objective is to demand that Washington get over its petulant, dysfunctional behavior, the deeper objective is to say to America that we need to be loyal to each other, and to the dream of individual and collective improvement.
 

We believe that corporations are motivated only by profit maximization, and can’t possibly be genuinely concerned about social and environmental actions. Can a company, even when genuine, convince us of their authenticity?

Nordstrom has created retail therapy 2.0. : you can go shopping and make the world a better place. This may be the perfect combination – self-interest that improves the world.

It's time to ask ourselves what we stand for: what is right, or what is pretty?

McDonald is trying to atone.  In their new full-page ad-statement, McDonalds is committing to reducing caloric content, salt content, getting rid of trans fats in the fries - and making Happy Meals healthier.
But why?

The news in the world is that the News of the World is no more.  The story isn’t just that the newspaper in question has shut down operations. What we are really talking about here has much greater implications for us all. 

I think motorcycle riding is the perfect liberation from capitalism. As surprising as that sounds, I’ll give you three reasons.