Human Impact + Profit

Fast Company has an article this month on the "human side of investing" with the HIP (Human Impact + Profit) Scorecard. It's a way to look at more than just the financial results (especially just the short-term results) of a company at the impact the company makes to society. There are a number of links supporting the article - one lists 21 companies "driving profit through impact".

Another link explains the HIP Scorecard in more depth and has another link to a window showing how the 21 companies compare to each other in terms of HIP revenue and HIP practices.

There are other links on this topic as well, including one link to a quiz for companies to roughly determine their HIP score.

Q&A with C.K. Prahalad

Thanks again to Fast Company for this - some questions posed to C.K. Prahalad. I first heard about Prahalad because a couple of pieces he co-wrote for the Harvard Business Review were required reading in my Strategy class last semester. Then I had the pleasure to see him speak at the Fuqua School of Business in Durham last semester, as well, at a talk hosted by their Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) . Prahalad is the author of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, which essentially says that companies could boost their business while helping to alleviate poverty by making the 5 billion or so people who live in poverty a part of their target market. At the talk I saw him give, he gave examples of companies already doing this - most examples given were companies outside of the U.S. In this Q&A, he does say that companies such as Procter & Gamble and Unilever and a little outfit called Microsoft are dabbling at the bottom of the pyramid.

Prahalad's thesis certainly is an interesting one - the Q&A here is a good, quick read.

And be warned - I'll be posting more from Fast Company in the next few days. Great stuff.

Sixth Annual Fast Company 50

Lists have always appealed to me - they obviously appeal to many people, which is why there are so many out there. Fast Company has one in their March issue that is relevant for this blog - their "50 profit-driven solutions for what ails the planet". You can see the list and read about the companies, organizations, the one person on the list, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the one location on the list, Kalamazoo, Michigan, by clicking on the link.

Fast Company - February 2007 Issue

I've posted articles before from Fast Company, but I wanted to make a special mention of this magazine. I used to be a subscriber back when it began in 1999 or 2000 (or sometime around then). I let my subscription lapse and, honestly, don't recall what I thought about it then. It now serves as a valuable read for me every month - the articles tend to be short to appeal to our society's decreasing attention span, but full of information.

What also draws me to Fast Company is that, while it's a 'mainstream' business magazine, it is ahead of its time in terms of including issues of corporate social responsibility that other business magazines often do not include.

This month's issue starts with Mark Vamos, the editor, in addition to his summary of what is in the issue, stating:

"One of this magazine's central themes is that business can be a profound force for good. That applies to us, too. I'm proud to announce that, beginning with this issue, we are printing Fast Company on 80% post-consumer recycled paper."

A good start to the issue, but it has content that I think is worth posting on this blog. Since it is the current month's issue, you'll have to check back in a few weeks. I will note what this issue contains (and, if I recall, will post some links to these articles when they are available):

• One man's hope to bring the fair-trade concepts used for guaranteeing fair wages for coffee, tea and chocolate growers, among others, to increase the pay diamond diggers in Sierra Leone. Martin Rapaport hopes the fair-trade diamonds will start shipping in the next few months.
• Socially responsible investing (SRI) - in this case, the focus is on the publicly-traded companies that manufacture solar materials or systems.
• The redesign of L.A.'s public transit system
• Adding jobs in Iraq to help the local population and decrease Iraq's reliance on foreign aid. It also notes the hope of microfinance eventually 'taking root' and spreading in Basra.
• How Aspen Skiing Co. is trying to deal with global warming. The article mainly deals with their director of environmental affairs, Auden Schendler, and how one degree of warmth can make or break their business any year. Basically, during the beginning of the snow season when they are making their own snow, if it's one degree too warm, they lose a great deal of business. The article deals with some of the steps they are taking to try to bring awareness to their clientele.
• The magazine ends with a reprint of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's email to the team members of Whole Foods announcing that he was forgoing a salary (actually his salary is now $1).

I do not have any stake in Fast Company - I simply recommend it highly to those interested in a good business magazine.