Month of February , 2007

What could be the largest private equity deal in history includes a pledge to clean up the company’s environmental policies.

On Sunday, Feb. 25, a private equity consortium announced a $45 billion bid for Texas utility company TXU Corp. Included in the proposed buyout are plans to increase environmental measures, abandon the building of eight of 11 new coal plants, and cut TXU’s carbon-dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

While some companies are rewarded for their philanthropic work, others are forced to scale back.

GlaxoSmithKline, Salesforce.com and the National Academy Foundation were honored for their philanthropic initiatives by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) during the Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy Awards luncheon Monday, Feb. 26, in New York City. On the same day, Fannie Mae announced it would be shutting down its foundation. 

The newest book on the corporate responsibility revolution.

“World Inc.” is a manifesto for the corporate responsibility revolution. The book’s heroes are “social response capitalists,” examples of which include leaders at GE, Toyota, HP, S&P, Whirlpool, Tom’s of Maine, Innovest and Suncor. Spurred on by the swiftness of new global market news and the severity of social changes including climate change, energy price hikes and leadership crises, Piasecki makes this sort of corporate responsibility heroism nothing short of the new capitalist imperative.

The surprising corporate responsibility impact of private equity

Last week’s big sustainability business headline was that Texas’ largest utility, TXU, was pursuing a heavy lobbying program to get 11 new dirty coal-fired plants approved before the Bush administration leaves office in 2008. The news generated a firestorm among sustainability and environmental activists, lawmakers and concerned citizens.

Starbucks CEO’s highly caffeinated brand of brand defense

This past week, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz fired off a memo to employees saying that the brand was being “watered down” by such things as automatic espresso makers and cookie-cutter store designs. Schultz’s perception is that in growing from 1,100 stores in 1997 to more than 13,100 today, the company’s coffee-house mystique has been commoditized.

Climbing the list and the corporate ladder.

When CRO magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2007 issue hits the streets this week, I guarantee one result: 100 companies will be very happy, and another 1,000 will not. For the past seven years, this has always rung true.