Knowledge Centre

Google fined record €50m by French data protection watchdog

Alex Hern, The Guardian, Monday 21st January 2019, 21 January 2019 The French data protection watchdog has fined Google a record €50m for failing to provide users with transparent and understandable information on its data use policies. It marks the first time a company has been fined under new terms laid out in the European general data protection regulation (GDPR). The maximum fine for large companies under the...

corporate reputation

Sustainability reporting: a best practice

The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, Fall Issue 2018, 17 January 2019 The reporting process and the resulting report has become essential for strategic decision-making, enabling stronger long-term planning, stakeholder relations, and data-driven insights. And as disclosure becomes more popular, reports become more sophisticated (and useful). According to the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship’s State of...

csr corporate responsibility

Goldman boss apologises for 1MDB scandal

BBC News, Wednesday 16th January 2019, 16 January 2019 The new boss of Goldman Sachs has apologised to Malaysia for the role an ex-partner played in the corruption scandal at one of the country’s wealth funds. CEO David Solomon also distanced the bank from the scheme, which saw billions of dollars embezzled from the state development fund, 1MDB. Goldman had helped raise money for the fund, and Mr...

corporate reputation

Gillette faces backlash and boycott over ‘#MeToo advert’

Michael Baggs, BBC News, Tuesday 15th January 2019, 15 January 2019

A Gillette advertisement which references bullying, the #MeToo movement and toxic masculinity has split opnion online. The company’s short film plays on their famous slogan ‘the best a man can get’, replacing it with ‘the best men can be’. And while some have praised the message of the advert, others have declared they will boycott the razor...

socio political environment corporate narrative

Tech workers unite to fight forced arbitration

Nitasha Tiku, Wired, Monday 14th January 2019, 14 January 2019

In November 2018, a walkout of 20,000 Google employees made headlines. But the changes it led to fell short of the organisers’ demands, and now some activists inside Google have broadened the fight. On Tuesday January 15 (US time), the group called Googlers for Ending Forced Arbitration will launch a social media campaign about mandatory...

stakeholder community relations

Why the Google walkout was a watershed moment in tech

Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times, Wednesday November 7 2018, 07 November 2018 At 11 a.m. local time last Thursday, more than 20,000 employees walked out to protest the company’s history of protecting executives accused of sexual harassment. For two years, regulators, lawmakers, academics and the media have pushed Silicon Valley to alter its ways. But outsiders have few points of leverage in tech. Protests by workers are an...

socio political environment reputation

Patagonia’s billionaire founder to give away the millions his company saved from Trump’s tax cuts to save the planet

Angel Au-Yeung, Forbes, Thursday November 29 2018, 07 November 2018 Patagonia has announced it has an extra $10 million in profits due to to President Trump’s tax cuts last year, which lowered corporate tax in the US to 21% from 35%. Instead of investing the additional dollars back into its business, Patagonia said it would give $10 million to grassroot groups fighting climate change, including organizations that...

socio political environment

Phillip Morris accused of hypocrisy over anti-smoking ad

BBC News, Monday October 22 2018, 22 October 2018 Phillip Morris, one of the world’s largest tobacco firms, has been accused of hypocrisy over its new ad campaign that urges smokers to quit. The firm, which makes Marlboro cigarettes, said the move was “an important next step” in its aim to “ultimately stop selling cigarettes. But Cancer Research accused the firm of “staggering hypocrisy”,...

corporate reputation

Google stays above the fray in Corporate Responsibility RepTrak

Vicky Valet, Forbes, Friday October 11 2018, 11 October 2018 Much of the global business community – including big tech companies – has been in damage control this past year. And while Apple and Facebook have seen their brands tarnished, Google appears to have stayed above the fray. “Google is still viewed as an employer of choice. It’s an aspirational, ‘do no evil’ kind of company,” says Stephen...

corporate responsibility

Google+ shutting down after users' data is exposed

Dave Lee, BBC News, Tuesday October 9 2018, 09 October 2018 Google+ will shut down much of its social network Google + following a data breach. It said a bug in its software meant that information users believed to be private had been accessible by third parties. Google said up to 500,000 users had been affected, and the Wall Street Journal reported that the company knew about the issue in March but did...

corporate reputation