Archive for June/2006

Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE’s Social Impact Management

TED (Technology Entertainment Design) “Hosts some of the world’s most fascinating people: Trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses”, an annual event which gathers world renown speakers and thinkers has opened their discussions at Ted Talks. Speakers such as Al Gore, former Vice-president of the US, Sir Ken Robinson, Majora Carter and Tony Robbins can now be seen and heard there. To attend one of their gatherings you have to come up with $4,400 plus travelling expenses, not to consider the previous year registration. In their own words “ If you have a curious soul and an open mind, we think you’ll be hooked…”
What others think and say about TED
TED 2007 “Icons. Geniuses. Mavericks”

Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE’s Social Impact Management
“We actually have within our ability, because of the power of technology and because of the phenomenal wealth that exists in the world, an opportunity that is remarkable and that, I think, is a great danger to not take. And that opportunity is to end extreme poverty in our time.” Jeffrey Sachs.
Recenlty written by on an article from Yale economic review, he is described by them as “at once a scientist and a preacher in the field of economics. One of the most recognizable and important academics today”.

Former candidate to the 2006 commitment to development award, he has been a forceful advocate for Africa, having teamed up with politicians, scholars and world leaders alike. Through his book on “The End of Poverty” , he assures that with the right policies, mass destitution of 1.1 billion extremely poor people can be eradicated by 2020. He has however had strong opposition regarding his views from economists such as William Easterly from NYU.

Director of The Earth Institute, He has recently spoken together with Mark Malloch Brown, George Kell and several others at the State of the Planet 2006. You can see the entire event here and make your own judgement as of how to reduce poverty and enhance development.
Download each audio file here.
Jeffrey Sachs podcast on Sustainable Development.

Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE’s Social Impact Management

Latin America should carry out microeconomic reforms to clear the path for more poor people to join the middle class, instead of locking itself in a debate over fiscal discipline and social spending, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said today. This conversation has just taken place during the Building Opportunity for the Majority conference.
“If you put yourself in a position of having yesterday’s debate, that is fiscal responsibility versus more social spending, you’re going to wind up with disappointment because you won’t reduce inequality either way,” he said. “And you don’t want to just appropriate the assets of the state, or the assets of the wealthy. What you want to do is to empower poor people to create wealth and become middle class”.
According to the former president, microeconomic reforms are a process that can only be done by trial and error and requires a long-term commitment from governments and international institutions to create the right conditions for poor entrepreneurs to prosper. Among the needed reforms he mentioned identity registration, legal recognition of property rights, elimination of bureaucratic barriers to entrepreneurship and enforcement of contracts.
According to Clinton, Hernando de Soto, president of the Lima, Peru-based Instituto Libertad y Democracia, has championed such reforms. The former will be on June 26th at Oviedo, Spain, on the 1st European-Ibero American Congress on Corporate Responsibility.
Get full access to Clinton’s conference review.

Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE’s Social Impact Management

The Financial Times has just issued an excellent report on Responsible Business which looks at the following themes:
● Fair trade: The problems consumers have with the label
● Marketing: Why Coca-Cola is going to every effort to inform customers about its range of products
● Guest column: Steve Waygood, a director at Insight Investment and adviser to the UN on its Principles for Responsible Investment
● Blueprint: The initiative that could turn into a revolution for the investment industry
I recommend paying a visit to those themes you find most interesting. As always, FT makes an interesting assessment in these issues.
Climate change as consumers turn green
Fair trade products: Confusion reigns over labelling
Supplier diversity: Deeper well secures supplies
Business In The Community Awards 2006 shortlist
Marketing: Investors adapt to consumer trends
Procurement policy: More than just price and quality
Steve Waygood: A challenge for the industry
UN Global Compact: Blueprint for 21st century
Deloitte & Touche: A lesson in teaching
Danone UK: Healthy workers, healthy company

Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE’s Social Impact Management

Belu is our newest example of a Social Enterprise, which handles the triple bottom line by being a profitable business which offers a differentiated and competitive product, while caring for the environment and for the developing world.
Based in the UK, Belu has developed a biodegradable bottle which is made from a 100% renewable resource – corn – which can be commercially composted back to soil in 12 weeks (roughly a million years faster than traditional plastics). On the Social part, the company has been conceived with the goal of financing clean-water projects around the world, thus donating ALL of their profits to projects with WaterAid in India and Africa.
Learn more about Belu.

Max Oliva, Associate Director of IE’s Social Impact Management

The Inter-American Development Bank has an initiative called Building Opportunity for the Majority which focuses on the Bottom of the Pyramid, seeing the people who live in this region as what they really are —consumers, producers, partners, creators of wealth.
”In recent years, countries throughout the region have made significant advances in nurturing democracy, macro-economic stability, and legal and regulatory reform. Yet some 360 million people –70 percent of the region’s population– live on less than $300 a month, measured in purchasing power parity dollars. The benefits of growth need to reach the majority if the region is to progress on a stable and sustainable path.”
With Building Opportunity for the Majority, the IDB will make this challenge a focal point for its financing, and a new organizing principle for many of its activities. A Technology Fair, as well as an interactive tool which helps you Map the Majority and which explores the degrees of inclusion and the living conditions of different segments of the population are also part of their initiative.
They conference (June 11-13, 2006) will discuss reforms, partnerships and practices that are already addressing the BOP issue and transforming the region. Some speakers include Nicholas Negroponte, Carlos Slim, Bill Clinton and Hector Ureta. Hernando de Soto, from Liberty and Democracy Institute in Peru and who is taking part on the 1st European-Iberoamerican congress on Corporate Responsibility (June 26-27, 2006) will also be there.

Centro PwC – IE de Responsabilidad Corporativa y AEDME-Círculo de Responsabilidad Social
Fecha: 19.06.06
Horario : 18:30 h
Lugar: Maria de Molina 11, Madrid. Aula Magna del Instituto de Empresa
La nueva tendencia de las empresas de ser más responsables desde el punto de vista social y medioambiental, ha producido un acercamiento hacia los expertos de estos temas: las ONG. Antaño las relaciones entre estos dos agentes no han sido fáciles, y hoy están pasando por un proceso de aprendizaje muy interesante para ambas partes.
En esta jornada se trata de exponer las experiencias de tres partenariados que pueden ilustrar este proceso y enseñar algunas “buenas prácticas” que hayan desarrollado en su experiencia de contactos.
Partneriados:
• BBVA y Economistas sin Fronteras
- Jose Ángel Moreno; Director del Departamento de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa del BBVA
- Marta de la Cuesta; Vicepresidenta del Observatorio de RSC y Vicerrectora de la UNED
• DKV e Intermón-Oxfam
- David Camps, Coordinador del Área de Captación e Imagen de Intermón-Oxfam
- Miguel García Lamigueiro, Director de Comunicación de DKV
• France Telecom-España y Fundación Síndrome de Down de Madrid
- Manuel Gimeno, Director General de la Fundación France Telecom – España
- Ponente por confirmar
Temas incluidos en las presentaciones:
• Quién inició el contacto
• Qué criterios utilizó para seleccionar a su “socio”
• Cómo se desarrollaron los primeros contactos de acercamiento
• Qué objetivos perseguía la empresa – o la ONG – con el partenariado
• Qué actividades conjuntas desarrollan actualmente
• Qué sistema organizativo utilizan para mantener el vínculo y alcanzar los objetivos
• Qué ha sido lo más difícil
• Qué ha sido lo más valioso de la relación
En las presentaciones participarán los dos ponentes de cada partenariado, relatando sus puntos de vista sobre el proceso.
Para acudir al evento, sin costo alguno, es necesario enviar un mail de confirmación a max.oliva@ie.edu. Cupo Limitado.

Con motivo de la presentación de la II edición del Programa Superior de Dirección en Responsabilidad Corporativa, tendrá lugar la conferencia sobre “El nuevo código de gobierno corporativo y su implicación para la empresa española” y en la que intervendrán D. Aldo Olcese, Presidente de la Fundación de estudios financieros y Miembro del grupo especial de Gobierno Corporativo del Gobierno Español, así como D. Juan Alfaro, Director del Programa Superior de Dirección en Responsabilidad Corporativa del Instituto de Empresa y Secretario General del Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad.
La celebración tendrá lugar el día 8 de junio a las 19,30h en el Instituto de Empresa Calle Serrano, 105.
Para mayor información y confirmación de plaza, contactar con Lydia Caro al Tel: 91 745 03 21/ 91 745 09 06 o por email: Lydia.Caro@ie.edu
Accede al Programa Superior de Dirección en responsabilidad Corporativa.