Virtual Vantage Points » Corporate Responsibility

Applying Moneyball Logic to Managing a Corporate Volunteer Program

Tara Greco — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:35:19 +0000

Spring training is right around the corner, so I thought it would be appropriate to dig into an analogy thrown out by Taproot’s Aaron Hurst at the 2011 BSR conference in San Francisco.

Aaron compared the recent innovations in corporate volunteer practices to Moneyball. If you’ve read the book or seen the movie, you know the story: Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane revolutionized MLB roster management by employing a new approach to analyzing a player’s value. The “data nerds” have created a system that is more efficient and less risky, leading to improved performance for a franchise on the field and the balance sheet.… Read more »

Universities Need to Protect Their Brands, too

Virtual Vantage Points — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:02:42 +0000

Athletic conference realignments altering cherished rivalries within college sports. Alleged acts of pedophilia by coaching staff against children in their care. Compliance violations and a range of sometimes controversial penalties assessed against member schools. This is the context for which the NCAA and several of its marquee institutions enter into the previously hallowed football bowl season. Lack of preparation and poor decision-making have resulted in several senior administrators becoming a part of the anticipated December unemployment statistics instead of leading their schools or departments. This will indeed be a winter of unprecedented criminal investigations, litigation and adverse media coverage.

As daily stories regarding the aspects of these events have unfolded on our TV screens and social media, several friends and journalists have called to ask how or if any of this could have been possibly prevented. Of course, no one can fully prevent horrendous judgment committed by individuals within an institution if a person is intent on engaging in morally reprehensible or criminal acts. However, more than ever before, boards of directors of corporations and university trustees are asking their senior executives to ensure that their institutions have a fresh crisis plan and that all the requisite stakeholders in the enterprise are equipped to operationalize it when the inevitable mayhem visits their doorstep.… Read more »

Corporate brands must add value to society

Virtual Vantage Points — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:12:44 +0000

In my previous posts, I made the case that corporate branding is out of step with the reality of the market. Why, when given the ability of companies to adapt quickly to technological change, would corporate brands be out of step?

To some degree, I think companies have been forced to adapt their operations and product marketing to technology because it has hit them over the head like a sledgehammer. The market quickly makes winners and losers, but the corporate brand doesn’t cry out in the same way. It is harder to diagnose the harm a brand suffers from being left behind, making it less likely to get attention.

There is, however, very tangible science available that documents the value of the corporate brand and its ability to predict things like sales, customer and employee loyalty, and even market capitalization.… Read more »

The Fall of the News of the World has Political Ramifications too

Adrian McMenamin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:35:52 +0000

As in every other western democracy, the internet has been wreaking havoc in the press in Britain. But there is no doubt that the papers are still extremely important in shaping and leading opinion in the United Kingdom and that has been reflected in sustained efforts by party leaders to be close to editors and proprietors of the major newspaper groups.
… Read more »

The World May be Ending, but Murdoch Still Stands to Gain

David King — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:29:46 +0000

The News of the World, the largest-selling English language newspaper in the world, is to close its doors after 168 years. Not because of lagging sales, or loss of readers or even the inexorable march of Twitter. The flagship of Rupert Murdoch’s News International empire is being shut down because alleged bad behavior in the news room has made the paper a very big liability in a very high-stakes game of media brinkmanship. In the dog-eat-dog world of tabloid journalism, the ‘big story’ is everything and the NOTW – no stranger to controversy – was the ‘big dog’ when it came to landing those stories. Tabloids have long been attacked for lapses in moral and ethical judgment, but the NOTW raised the bar in 2006 when the paper’s royal correspondent was prosecuted and jailed for hacking the mobile phones of ‘persons of interest’ to the paper. But outrage soon subsided and normal service was resumed.… Read more »

Diversity and Inclusion: How Do We Encourage Diverse Talent to “Stick”?

Nelson Fernandez — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:19:19 +0000

Recently, a colleague called my attention to an eye-opening report by the Alliance for Board Diversity (ABD). Entitled “Missing Pieces: Women and Minorities on Fortune 500 Boards,” the report shows that corporate boards are still vastly underrepresented by African Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders and Hispanics, who together make up 33.7 percent of the total 2010 U.S. population. Given the arguments made in favor of diverse boards and diverse organizations – and their contribution to innovation, global collaboration and optimal risk management — I couldn’t help looking at my own industry and asking why diversity continues to be a vexing challenge for us as well. If diversity and inclusion provide real value to our business, then why does it continue to be so elusive?… Read more »