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BBC Business Learning video training pack, 50 mins, £495. www.businesslearning.com
Despite the rather ominous warning on the packaging that this BBC video is not intended ‘for entertainment purposes’, it proves to be an interesting treatment of some of the main corporate responsibility issues, and as an entry-level primer for general staff would be a handy tool for any CSR manager trying to introduce the subject to employees in the company at large. Business schools would also profit from having a copy in their library – if they can afford it.
Starting with some of the best-known reputational stumbles of recent years – Brent Spar, the Exxon Valdez spillage, Nike’s sweatshops – it then looks at how other companies, all of whom have been measured against the UK-based Good Corporation standard, are faring on their treatment of employees, the environment, communities and customers.
Among the video’s strengths is its shadowing of the likeable and lucid Good Corporation director Leo Martin, seen riding round in taxis and winning bets on dog races as he goes to verify companies against the standard his organization set up four years ago.
It’s a format that gives the video coherence and a central theme, but also rather leaves the viewer with the impression that Good Corporation’s methods are the only ones in town. Some more examples of businesses making progress outside that extended family would have added credibility, as would a more critical approach to how some of them are performing.
While, for instance, there is much talk of the gaming company Ladbrokes’ laudible work-life balance initiatives, some pertinent observations by Martin about its relatively low pay levels are not adequately answered in interviews with the company itself. It would have been good to hear someone at the company suggest this is at least an issue it would like to address. Is this what consultants mean when they say that getting CSR right is a ‘long journey’?
That said, the overall package – which includes an admirably jargon-free set of support notes – is a sound introduction to the essentials. And regardless of the health warning on the wrapper, it even manages to be quite entertaining.
Despite the rather ominous warning on the packaging that this BBC video is not intended ‘for entertainment purposes’, it proves to be an interesting treatment of some of the main corporate responsibility issues, and as an entry-level primer for general staff would be a handy tool for any CSR manager trying to introduce the subject to employees in the company at large. Business schools would also profit from having a copy in their library – if they can afford it.
Starting with some of the best-known reputational stumbles of recent years – Brent Spar, the Exxon Valdez spillage, Nike’s sweatshops – it then looks at how other companies, all of whom have been measured against the UK-based Good Corporation standard, are faring on their treatment of employees, the environment, communities and customers.
Among the video’s strengths is its shadowing of the likeable and lucid Good Corporation director Leo Martin, seen riding round in taxis and winning bets on dog races as he goes to verify companies against the standard his organization set up four years ago.
It’s a format that gives the video coherence and a central theme, but also rather leaves the viewer with the impression that Good Corporation’s methods are the only ones in town. Some more examples of businesses making progress outside that extended family would have added credibility, as would a more critical approach to how some of them are performing.
While, for instance, there is much talk of the gaming company Ladbrokes’ laudible work-life balance initiatives, some pertinent observations by Martin about its relatively low pay levels are not adequately answered in interviews with the company itself. It would have been good to hear someone at the company suggest this is at least an issue it would like to address. Is this what consultants mean when they say that getting CSR right is a ‘long journey’?
That said, the overall package – which includes an admirably jargon-free set of support notes – is a sound introduction to the essentials. And regardless of the health warning on the wrapper, it even manages to be quite entertaining.
Peter Mason
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