Starbucks is looking for a Global Responsibility Manager, based in Seattle. (and don’t forget the global communications associate opening at EBBF)

Description:
Design and implement sustainable specialty coffee/cacao programs at the country of origin. Establish programs, policies, goals, and strategic relationships for sustainable agriculture initiatives, and ensure compliance with internal and third party standards and certifications (including ISO 9000/14001 standards and fair trade and organic certifications). Support the brand strategy for communication of ethical sourcing and oversee key external relationships with business and NGO partners. Provide subject matter expertise on CSR implications of business issues.

Qualifications
1) Master’s Degree in Agribusiness or Agricultural Engineering, or the foreign degree equivalent,
2) Three years of direct experience in sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, or global sourcing, including specific experience with specialty coffee/cacao production, fair trade or organic certification, managing programs to address global responsibility across internal and external stakeholder groups, and ISO 9000 or 14001 standards.

LOCATION OF EMPLOYMENT:            40 hours/week; in Seattle, WA.

For more information check this specific opening at Starbucks’ career site

February 7th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Trustworthiness is important…

According to a recent opinion poll conducted by the World Economic Forum on Facebook, over two-thirds of the 130,000 respondants believe the current economic crisis is also a crisis of ethics and values.

This might be old news to many, but what is interesting is the degree to which this idea is spreading–around the world, across the political spectrum and among those of diverse financial standing. The New York Times reports the comments of the chairman of the British bank HSBC at the WEF´s recent meeting in Davos: “We’re in a better place than we were then [last year]” although “there has been a huge breakdown in trust.” And Cheng Siwei, a former Chinese politician and a co-chairman of the International Finance Forum, a Beijing-based think tank: “Between Chinese people and American and Western people, we lack mutual understanding,” The only way to “keep this relationship stable,” he said, is “to build mutual trust.”

This echoes EBBF’s concerns More »

February 4th, 2010 | Tags: ethics and values crisis, trust in business, trustworthiness, world economic forum trust and ethics | Category: News | Leave a comment

“… an understanding is growing that it is profitable to be honest, socially responsible, and focused on improving the satisfaction of all stakeholders, not only the owners.”

“We have no illusions about a rapid change of culture and values … This will take decades and even centuries – but we are optimistic about the direction in which the world is going.”

These are excerpts from a recent interview with Riaz Rafat and Elham Afnan which appeared in the latest Inspire e-magazine. In the interview this economist and English language expert couple answer follow-up questions to “An EBBF Perspective on the Global Economic and Financial Crisis”, an article they recently co-authored, and in which they tackle the causes of the present financial crisis, and explore long-term solutions from a perspective grounded in values and spiritual principle.

Here for the full interview.

February 1st, 2010 | Tags: EBBF perspective on financial crisis, Elham Afnan, ethics and financial crisis, Riaz Rafat | Category: Inspire | Leave a comment

EBBF member Davide Dabbicco requested help thinking through a comprehensive plan to green his company, and members have already begun to give their two cents. Below find Davide’s original request and a few highlights from an EBBF-sponsored discussion on Linkedin.

***

Davide:
I work in an advertising and PR company in Bari, Italy and want to start to “green my company” reducing any negative environmental impact. I want to make sure we don’t leave this at a level of a mere marketing exercise but I rather want to see a deep improvement in every one of our daily behaviours and actions and a few important overall changes in the way we operate.

As a result of our first brainstorming I listed:

• very strict recycling policy (paper, plastic, printer toner, batteries etc etc)
• review our choice of suppliers and try to select those who are as close to our office as possible, ideally 0 km away
• develop projects that, in their production phase, only use eco-friendly materials (not PVC, which is a pollutant, but, for example, a FSC-certified kind of paper, printing with vegetable ink, etc) More »

January 28th, 2010 | Tags: brainstorming greening ideas, green my company | Category: 101 ways to make a difference, SOS EBBF | Leave a comment

Interested in engaging a global audience around socially responsible business? Don’t miss out on this opportunity to work for EBBF, that appeared in the last edition of INSPIRE, EBBF’s e-magazine.

EBBF has opened a new position for a Global Communications Associate volunteer/intern, who alongside EBBF’s Communications Director will implement a global communications strategy to share EBBF ideas with world media.

Click here to read more about this opportunity and to apply, and to access other meaningful job offers from around the world.

January 26th, 2010 | Tags: global communications associate, job offer ebbf | Category: Job offers | Leave a comment

Brookton's Market, a Community Store in Rural New York

Two meaningful quotes to start off your work week:

“The sole purpose of business is service. The sole purpose of advertising is explaining the service which business renders.” Leo Burnett

“Profit is not the legitimate purpose of business. The legitimate purpose of business is to provide a product or service that people need and do it so well that it’s profitable.” James Rouse

(And don’t miss a similarly smart quote in the latest edition of Inspire magazine.)

Not to discount the insight in these words, but it is a bit puzzling and sobering to know that Leo Burnett was the advertiser who created the Marlboro Man, whereas James Rouse was a pioneer developer of malls. While one needn’t question the motive or intent behind their life’s work, but whether these businesses are of service is certainly quite debatable.

Words, of course, come easier than deeds, so what we’d really like to know is: Where are those companies that are a living reflection of the spirit of the words above? Is it the company you’re in?

(One example I know of this kind of company is the community store pictured on the left. Brookton’s Market tries to sell local products—e.g. grass-fed beef from a farm down the road—provide healthy food and snacks, and create a place where the small town’s community can meet. Check out their website and their story here.)

January 24th, 2010 | Tags: brookton's market, purpose beyond profit, purpose of advertising, Purpose of business | Category: 101 ways to make a difference, Inspire | Leave a comment

Click on the image below to enjoy the latest edition of EBBF’s e-magazine INSPIRE
Stories, ideas, values, opportunities for action and meaningful job offers for you, from EBBF members.

January 21st, 2010 | Tags: augusto lopez claros, innovation, Inspire, Janne Lemettinen, meaningful jobs, mirjami malleus, remake, roxann stafford, sustainability | Category: Inspire | Leave a comment

Looking for the words to explain why socially-responsible companies make good business sense?  In Marcello Palazzi and George Starcher’s article on “Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Success”, the authors present a clear overview of the concept and background of CSR, and argue that business leaders who adopt its principles gain a competitive edge in the aggressive markets of the 21st century. Here’s an excerpt from this EBBF publication:

In Western Europe, Japan, and North America, an increasing number of companies are finding that it makes good business sense to fully integrate the interests and needs of customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and our planet—as well as to those of shareholders—into corporate strategies. Over the long term, this approach can generate more profits and growth. More »

January 20th, 2010 | Category: Books and Resources | Leave a comment

Just came across an interesting story featured in the latest edition of Positive News UK which highlights the effectiveness of using Internet social networking sites to promote positive change.

“Be That Change”, a ‘not-for-profit social enterprise’, championed a campaign on Twitter in November to get the British Prime Minister to show his commitment to the future of humanity by attending the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change.

The ‘Get the PM to the UN’ campaign used a unique word (called a hashtag, in this case ‘#pm2un’) to help consolidate the Tweets on the topic, and simplify ways of showing support for the campaign. Here is how the article describes the speed at which change happened:

At 9am on the first day, ‘#pm2un’ meant nothing. By 9pm the same day, it returned 51,000 Google search results. More »

January 18th, 2010 | Tags: Be That Change, Internet Activism, making change happen | Category: 101 ways to make a difference, Inspire | Leave a comment