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One of the high-profile movers behind the early growth of corporate responsibility in the UK has died aged 87.
Hector Laing, later Lord Laing of Dunphail, was an influential figure in the foundation and rapid growth of Business in the Community (Bitc), which he chaired from 1987 to 1991.
In 1986 he co-founded Bitc’s Per Cent Club, whose corporate members commit to investing at least one per cent of profits in the community. Laing was also chairman of the ground-breaking meeting of business leaders in South Carolina, US, which produced the International Business Leaders’ Forum.
Laing, whose grandfather invented the digestive biscuit, was managing director of the family firm, United Biscuits.
Although he was a one-time treasurer of the Conservative Party he disapproved of many of the 1980s corporate trends, maintaining that ‘the business sector has a responsibility to give to society’.
Bitc’s president Prince Charles said Laing was ‘the man who began all this business of CSR … at a time when not very many people wanted to know’.
Hector Laing, later Lord Laing of Dunphail, was an influential figure in the foundation and rapid growth of Business in the Community (Bitc), which he chaired from 1987 to 1991.
In 1986 he co-founded Bitc’s Per Cent Club, whose corporate members commit to investing at least one per cent of profits in the community. Laing was also chairman of the ground-breaking meeting of business leaders in South Carolina, US, which produced the International Business Leaders’ Forum.
Laing, whose grandfather invented the digestive biscuit, was managing director of the family firm, United Biscuits.
Although he was a one-time treasurer of the Conservative Party he disapproved of many of the 1980s corporate trends, maintaining that ‘the business sector has a responsibility to give to society’.
Bitc’s president Prince Charles said Laing was ‘the man who began all this business of CSR … at a time when not very many people wanted to know’.
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