CCBYZ – 7.03 The NAKED Corporation: How the Age of Transparency… Part 3 [Audiobook] (w/commentary)

Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast this is season seven episode three and we continue on to chapter three of the naked Corporation how the age of transparency will revolutionize business the authors of this joint Don Tapscott and David Tico it’s published in 2002 by Free Press

And me your host Alex will continue the chapter 3 titled the open Enterprise a little subheading here says what is good question mark let’s get down to business just a quick disclaimer yes I will be providing commentary intermittently but I’ll try to stay on pace so as to not

Break up the text too much but if I if I hear something funny I’ll point it out if I see some [ __ ] I will also point that out so for smart firms transparency is a corporate value reflecting the corporate culture in General yet transparency brings other corporate values as Market

Forces require firms to rethink what they stand for and how they behave toward their various stakeholders transparency and corporate values have a chicken and egg relationship if words were drops of water the literature on values and ethics would be an ocean for Millennia philosophers and clerics have struggled with the question

What is quote good this book is about how transparency changes corporate values and becomes a corporate value itself an ethical compass for navigating the stormy seas of the future but how do we Define quote good behavior no entrepreneur has made a bigger imprint on the U.S Retail Landscape than

Sam Walton founder of the merchandising juggernauts Walmart stores Inc what started in 1962 as a small store in the rural backwaters of Bentonville Arkansas has grown to be the world’s largest retailer with 2002 sales of 245 billion dollars Walmart’s U.S operation includes more than 2870 discount stores Supercenters and

Neighborhood markets and more than 520 Sam’s Clubs internationally the company operates about 1275 units Walmart’s employs over 1.3 million Associates worldwide it makes a big economic contribution but is Walmart a quote good company the company has certainly delivered value to shareholders it is one of the

Most valuable firms in the world it has also brought low-cost consumer goods to communities across the United States many admire Walmart’s success and good works in 2001 its employees raised and contributed 196 million dollars to support communities and local non-profit organizations in 2002 Walmart received the Ron Brown

Award the highest presidential award for employee relations and Community initiatives in 2003 The Firm was number one on fortunes quotes most admired company in the United States list Walmart’s extraordinary success has been the subject of many studies but an essay in the Journal of retailing perhaps captures it best there’s a block quote

Block quote here says Walmart has grown in the U.S market because it connects itself symbolically to I don’t know why it’s an English accent or some kind of shitty accent but that’s that’s just me that’s me reading it because it connects itself symbolically to the dominant ideologies of American

Life through imagery of frugality family religion neighborhood community and patriotism Walmart locates itself centrally on Main Street of a nostalgic Hometown these symbolic connections not only positively dispose Shoppers to Walmart but also quote decouple Walmarts from unfavorable outcomes of its success these consequences include retailers being forced out of business small town

Stop Walmart’s campaign these are quote stop Walmart’s campaigns accusations of predatory pricing and allegations about products being sourced from overseas Sweatshop suppliers and that’s the end of the block quote right there as one newspaper noted Sam Walton was quote the folksy Tycoon with the Killer Instinct damn that sounds pretty bold pretty

Brash the folksy Tycoon folksy folksy Tycoon that means he’s uh he’s a people person I guess down to earth I guess but with a Killer Instinct meaning a snake I don’t know we’ll find out the company has assiduously promoted a small town aw shucks veneer despite Steamroller merchandising tactics that

Crush one competitor after another rather than sprinkle stores across the country more or less at random the company methodically saturates each region with stores before moving on to the next much like an Army on the move this is it it’s corporate War this is the basis of

What the podcast of what the entire podcast is this is the theme the overarching theme of business is that business is always personal and that business is war you’re born into it whether or not you yourself are Incorporated if you can hear this podcast you are

At War it’s a corporate War it could be quiet it can be cold or it could be loud it can be hot right but the sooner you come to terms with the fact that every day is a struggle every day is a Hustle and that you are entry level forever

Regardless of the social strata you were born into regardless of the social strata you manage to climb up to you are entry level and just as easily could be demoted funny enough by someone who’s not even your supervisor like uh corporate Cowboys right it says here

Oh that’s a quote it’s a quote we would go as far as we could from a warehouse and put in a store then we would fill in the map of that territory state by state county seat by county seat and so we had saturated the markets according to area

Explained Sam Walton then on to the next oh what a Savage he’s like a general he’s like he’s methodical man moves his troops in a methodical Manner and nobody’s really shooting him down it’s not really a hot War for people right I mean he might employ some unsavory characters and use some

Unsavory tactics and strategies right as far as with his own uh employees and competitors but it doesn’t really look like anybody’s standing up to him it doesn’t really look like anybody’s putting a dent in his wallet or his operation if you will rural poverty was caused at least in

Part by the fact that consumer goods were dramatically more expensive in Rural America than in urban America Sam Walton recognized this as a business opportunity says Red Hat co-founder Bob Young quote arguably the most successful program to alleviate rural poverty since the second world war has not been some government

Welfare program or a government agricultural subsidy program the most successful program has been the free market at work in the form of Walmart’s rapid expansion serving the rural customers demand for better service and lower prices Walmart believed so strongly in this opportunity that for the first 40 Years

Of its rapid expansion Walmart served small and mid-sized rural markets exclusively depending on your perspective and self-interest the arrival of Walmart in your community can be invigorating or devastating Walmart creates lots of jobs in its stores it has close to 1 million employees in the United States alone critics insist however that any

Community Walmart moves into suffers a net loss of jobs because of the bankruptcies that ensue among local shopkeepers they say Walmart has gutted the main streets of towns across the United States as for those who end up working for the company it strives to keep as many as possible on a part-time

Basis to avoid paying benefits the company is stridently anti-union and has crushed organizing campaigns wherever they have occurred yet for consumers the retail giant provides rock bottom prices often Walmart’s retail price is lower than what small Merchants pay wholesale and if you’re a supplier a Walmart deal can potentially guarantee a

Market for Life assuming you can survive the grueling price reductions and operational integration the company demands that’s like ruling with an iron fist inside of a velvet glove man these [ __ ] know how to put in work Walmart illustrates the challenge of defining what is quote good or ethical

In business today how should we evaluate the company’s Behavior and the values that underlie this business laws and jurisprudence don’t help us much Walmart claims to be a law-abiding corporate Citizen and then in parentheses it says though some accuses of forcing employees to work overtime without pay assuming Walmart’s claim is true abiding

By the letter of the law is a necessary but insufficient condition insufficient condition for a company to be quote good yeah just because you follow the law doesn’t mean you were a good person you could follow mandates guidelines recommendations requirements following all of that [ __ ] like as we’ve seen

In the past couple of years here in the early 2020s following that [ __ ] does not qualify you to be good right it doesn’t it doesn’t unqualifially make you a good person you’re just following the lead coloring within the lines now as far as uh uh the accusations that Walmart forces its

Employees to work overtime without pay Sam Walton really isn’t dictating that though Sam Walton knows what its policies and procedures are and if Sam Walton attends meetings right that touch on the productivity that touch on the metrics of the company overall than Sam Walton knows Sam Walton knows that he’s got [ __ ]

Working for them under duress under duress and that is a legal term whether or not they want to admit it they don’t [ __ ] have to they know that’s the point and the longer Folks at the bottom put up with it the longer the [ __ ] will continue

So what do you do what can you do other than take the reins in your hand and become a corporate cowboy you need to arm yourself with the with knowledge right or you know something similar something physical religions have long established concepts of Good and Evil continuing some thinkers propose

Religious morality as a basis for business morality John dalacosta explains how a cross-cultural comparison of the world’s religions yield a surprisingly common sets of moral standards suitable for governing Commerce law and Society religious Norms he says enable societies to function and develop The Ten Commandments for example set a

Number of basic rules for human interaction in addition to such Commandments as Thou shalt not lie or kill common religious Norms include the golden rule in parentheses treat thy neighbor as thyself that’s funny I thought it was going to go with the business Golden Rule the one with the gold makes the rules

[ __ ] all right consider me however even though Sam Walton was a religious man it’s impossible to evaluate the company according to such lofty principles Walmart must behave in a way consistent with the values of the communities within it within which it operates as a community boycotts could be devastating if it’s relationships with

Business partners become predatory Walmarts will have greater difficulty building networked businesses if the company treads in the gray areas of the law it will attract the attention of governments maybe causing new legislation to control unacceptable Behavior if working and environmental conditions in its suppliers manufacturing facilities in the

Developing world do not meet the rising International civil Foundation it could face a Nike style trust crisis yeah for more information on this Nike style trust crisis and what is a civil Foundation go listen to chapter two that’s season seven episode two go listen to that get a little bit of a

Context a background on what makes up the Civil Foundation especially the international civil Foundation and uh what happened to Nike right what happened to Nike continuing if Walmart terminates its philanthropic initiatives it may lose media and public supports in turn causing its grief with other stakeholders Walmart’s Behavior

Increasingly needs to correspond to the value systems of stakeholders if it is to have continued success collectively these value systems constitute the ethical Foundation of society variation oops oops nope I [ __ ] that one up various various stakeholder markets Define what is good and markets are becoming more demanding holding

Companies to higher standards consider how Corporate values and the definition of acceptable behavior have evolved a decade or two ago Executives routinely took their families out for dinner and submitted the bill as a business expense they would accept court side tickets from suppliers to take their family to a

Basketball game quote if I did that today I’d be shot says Ron Ricci vice presidents of positioning for Cisco Systems quote and if I did it and kept it a secret I’d be found out too there are systems in place here to ensure transparency and honesty people assume

You need to be open and truthful next subheading next subtitle says rethinking corporate responsibility because of the crisis of trust the hundred-year-old debate on corporate responsibility has never been more intense more than ever the debate is characterized by emotion vagueness and confusion there are three dominant perspectives regarding the firm’s relationship to society

The debt to society View the shareholder value View and the do well by doing good viewing We Believe A New Perspective is needed the debt to society view that that hold on a new We Believe A New Perspective is needed what did I [ __ ] that up we

Believe a new A New Perspective is needed the debt to society view oh they haven’t introduced it I thought they were going to list it next the debt to society view holds that firms should be good because they owe it to society corporations receive Charters and special Protections in particular the

Benefits of limited liability from society in exchange they have responsibilities to make contributions beyond the letter of the law I’m in this boat [ __ ] got a debt to society especially when you incorporate for the sake of business if you’re out to turn a profit you ought to turn back around and reinvest that

Profit into the community from which you extracted it from why because it creates more profit I mean how do you expect to extract all of the value and give none of it back you’re going to be left with a dead community and sure you can move

On to the next one but it but you move on to the next one and continue this this pattern this process you gain a reputation and then you bump into [ __ ] who are immovable objects right you you think you become prideful you become arrogant you become braggadocious right

You are emboldened by the fact that you haven’t been stopped and you think you are this Unstoppable Force and then you hire a corporate Cowboy that you didn’t know was one at the very bottom of your [ __ ] ranks at entry level and they tear your whole [ __ ] up

All right some who hold this perspective regard corporate initiatives in the area of social responsibility as motivated by self-interest tainted at best and Sinister at worst they decry quote the Strategic thrust of corporate philanthropy and the quote hidden motives behind corporate citizenship initiatives ex yeah if you want to be a

Corporate citizen if you are a citizen then you have Civic duties dog and if you can’t vote then those duties appear in other ways such as minding the fact you know paying attention to the fact taking care of the fact that you received this Charter back in the day when the government

Chartered when the government of people of the People by the people for the people when they chartered a corporation it’s because this Corporation was going to produce a good some kind of product some kind of service that the government itself could not so that’s necessarily the government using its power

Using its will to create service and goods for the people right so how are you how is the government how are we We the People the Royal we going to allow corporations to just [ __ ] us blind and not and not get their comeuppance you feel me all right

This view oh oh hold on Extreme activists in this Camp view business ethics as an oxymoron I don’t view it as an oxymoron it’s again it’s a [ __ ] duty it’s an obligation right up there it says right up there with scented deodorant jumbo shrimp and a new one accounting principles

This view holds that corporation’s drive this view holds that corporations driven by the profit motive are pretty much incapable of self-initiated ethical Behavior capitalism is greed capitalists cannot be counted on to behave well they need to be regulated protested against and forced to act in the interest of society

I mean I think it comes back to education you can’t you can’t force anybody to do anything because the moment you think you are regulating a behavior you’re gonna You’re Gonna Catch externality somewhere else those symptoms will pop up somewhere else why else why else is Walmart still facing accusations and accusations in

2023 we’re in the year 2023 now this book was written in 2002 and those accusations and allegations go back it says something like 40 [ __ ] years Go Back 40 years and it’s been 20 years since this book has been written dog you mean to tell me that the entire time

Walmart has existed they’ve been doing dirt it’s not it’s not impossible it’s not unimaginable and it’s not uh I mean I wouldn’t put it past them when you think you can hold somebody back they come up with the new scheme it’s like cops and robbers all over again

You have to develop a mutual understanding some type of understanding and that starts through education if not if not by educating the quotes owners and the quote capitalists then educating the workers educating the labor force education I I mean I’m low-key anti-union myself why because it’s just another form of

Corporate that’s all it’s just another hierarchy where the [ __ ] continues to roll downhill and not a lot of movement happens not a lot of how do I say progress manifests there’s not a lot of uh Good Deeds there’s not enough Good Deeds that come out of unions let’s put it that way

You pay all the union dues that you want it doesn’t mean that you’re going to get what you need you have to go out and get that [ __ ] yourself as a corporate cowboy continuing one leading exponent of this point of view is the international Forum on globalization [ __ ] globalization

Sorry I’ll stop it and what it claims to be the quotes definitive documents for the anti-corporate globalization movement The Forum suggests that’s the concept of voluntary quotes corporate responsibility says here which we essentially defend in this book is naive at best in quotes institutions that habitually lie to their shareholders and treat

Obeying the law as a cost benefits calculation may also lie about their compliance to voluntary corporate codes with the complicity of their auditors yeah you’ve never heard of paying off Auditors you’ve never heard of of doctoring reports you’ve never heard of cooking books The Forum is skeptical of government and

Forced standards of corporate conduct because they do not change the nature of the corporation itself and they leave governments saddled with the burden of attempting to enforce the law on institutions that are able to spend millions of dollars on lawyers lobbyists and politicians to weaken the rules and thwart enforcement action

The Forum yeah I mean let’s just put it this way I think I’ve mentioned this before in past episodes go back and listen if you would like but I worked in an industry in a service industry that produced food right it was a quick service a quick service food industry and

This was on the West Coast California and given the demographic the type of food right given the type of food the style of food and the demographic of the population a large number of significant percentage of our Workforce was undocumented now I’m not making any claims but let’s

Just say that Regulators those folks who would uh conduct raids I don’t know if you know those folks that conduct raids and Deport people those folks got paid off all right Forum The Forum supports continue I’m just considering here the Forum supports various restrictions on big companies like revoking corporate charters and

Criminalizing all political contributions but it wants more a fundamental restructuring away from the domination of global corporations and toward more democratic and socially and ecologically sustainable Enterprises this entails reversing the trend of globe spanning corporate concentration toward and block quote here towards smaller businesses capable of functioning as human scale Commodities

Of interest in which people know each other are dedicated to a common purpose and share rewards more equitably they must be owned by people who have a direct involvement in the operation workers Community Representatives suppliers rather than by distance investors who buy and sell without personal engagements other than profits

Growth and balance figure sheets all businesses must be transparent and accountable to all stakeholders in the community now as much as I like that block quote this is a side comment as much as I like that block quote it sounds too idealistic it sounds too I’m not saying

It’s impossible right it sounds too idealistic because it sounds too Rosy if that makes any sense it’s too Rosie two [ __ ] Rosie and two Marxist all right it was too veiled I don’t know if too many people would get it but yeah it sounds too [ __ ] Marxist in the sense

That a [ __ ] can’t happen that [ __ ] can’t happen without Education First why because if you just try to flip the script on corporations in today’s day and age to move from capitalism to something social in that sense right to something more Marxist it this [ __ ] goes Haywire socialism almost always

Actually always now that I think about it has led to severe forms of starvation and death go look it up go look it up notwithstanding the self-admitted giant issues of this prescription for a return to almost pre-industrial age local economics there’s quotes here who would provide the food who would Finance Research into

New medicines who would Finance retirements the debt to society view it says the debts to society view has some Merit it is true that corporations are creatures of the state presumed to be incorporated for the benefits of the public see I wasn’t lying right I wasn’t lying

They are creatures of the state the fact that it says here that they’re presumed means that they’re not today but even today even today [ __ ] just like to play dumb [ __ ] like to act blind [ __ ] like because you’re born into a system you ought to believe

That this is the way it always has been and always shall be [ __ ] all of that you have to re-understand re-educate re-learn what it is you think you know about corporate and the corporate world order into which you’ve been born into as a corporate Cowboy as a [ __ ] corporate Cowboy some of you

[ __ ] are just sleeping are just you got caught lacking you you got caught sleeping now you’re in now you’re in some student that’s not even got a mortgage you know you failed to negotiate your salary and you’re bitching and crying every day how you got mouths to feed and you’re living

Check the check hand to mouth or some [ __ ] right I’m not I’m not outright [ __ ] on everybody I empathize I sympathize but only to a degree only to a degree it is true that corporations are creatures of the states presumed to be incorporated for the benefit of the public Society provides them benefits

Like limited liability and the right to make a profit many people legitimately question what firms give back relative to what they receive and demand of society former U.S Secretary of Labor Robert Reich asks why corporations uh why corporations should have been allowed to spend 100 million dollars on

Lobbying give 350 free trips to members of Congress and spend 50 million dollars on Advertising all to defeat President Bill Clinton’s 1993-94 efforts to provide health insurance to the 40 million Americans who lack it where’s the public benefit there just what does the corporation owe Society anyway

Whether or not one agrees with any particular complaint against corporations the core insights to the debt Society view is that at the end of the day Society retains the rights to regulate the firm and this is how it should be The Firm like any citizen or other

Entity is subject to society’s laws yet laws cannot make the men cannot make men or firms good laws cannot make men or firms good get that through your [ __ ] school laws cannot make men or women right cannot make [ __ ] or firms good they can only Define a low common

Denominator of acceptable behavior and it’s only defined they can’t even enforce that’s what you have law enforcement for right they can’t even [ __ ] enforce it they just like pointed out like hey that would probably work or hey that would probably be good and even then it’s just probably because

There’s a lot of laws and mandates today there’s a lot of guidances today about I don’t know some [ __ ] you got to get in your arm that is that they claim to be or that they might it might be good and effective safe and effective and and it might not right

The shareholder value view the next one the shareholder value view holds that sends the job of the Enterprise is to create value for shareholders it’s inappropriate for companies to take on the presumed costs associated with being good firms according to this view contribute to society by creating useful products and services creating jobs

Paying taxes and generating wealth for shareholders this obviates the need for ethical considerations outside the requirements of the law essentially this is saying that so long as they turn over a profit for the shareholder the shareholders probably don’t give a [ __ ] what the corporation does outside of the bounds of the law

Which if we’re talking about outside of the bounds of the law this could just be outside of the bounds of U.S law so they could be overseas gunning down villages to go work on banana plantations get it they could be outside hiring Hitmen to Gun Down entire Villages who

Don’t want to become slaves and work on banana plantations get it like chicken banana and yet if if the US doesn’t see it if the U.S if you if the US doesn’t catch one of it or if it isn’t against U.S law nobody gives a [ __ ] right

Firms it says according to this view contribute to society continuing the purpose the purpose of the corporation according to this view is to make money not to give it away as railroad King William Vanderbilt said in 18 1882 1882 the public be damned this [ __ ] said I’m working for my

Stockholders sounds like a [ __ ] he said I don’t take any stock in this working for anybody’s good but our own railroads are not run on sentiment but on business principles and to pay or as Robert C goes weather Robert T gosweta former CEO of Coca-Cola stated businesses are created to meet

Economic needs when they try to try when they try when they try to become all things to all people they fail they have one job to generate a fair return for our owners it says here in quotes for our owners and we must remain focused on our core Duty creating value over time

Economist well just a quick comment I got a comment man for a comment there’s a go look at IBM go look at [ __ ] 3M go look at uh a lot of like older older corpse a lot of older blue shift corpse I mean Vanderbilt is an exception

Right because again if you read this he sounds like a [ __ ] he sounds like he’s like he’s tied sounds like he’s got a [ __ ] caller like they got this [ __ ] on a collar and Leash and they only got him working and he can’t think for him he cannot he cannot think

For himself because he has majority shareholders it sounds like the [ __ ] lost the his own majority holding his own his own majority interest in his company and he’s just [ __ ] controlled he had now he has to turn a profit otherwise what they’re going to dangle his kids

Out of a [ __ ] building or something it happens it happens you know um but go look at IBM go look at uh some of these other companies that create actually create communities that will build and develop whole ass subdivisions for their Workforce now I’m not saying that that’s family

But that’s [ __ ] borderline family right and I know a lot of family who when they grow up they want to like buy houses down the street from each other live close and next to each other when it when a company does this I’m telling you it looks like you’re preparing for

War you’ve got your troops all in one place you’ve got them all prepared you can have them well fed well supplied well kept well hydrated right all of that for the next day for the next work day for the next mission for the next objective the next Milestone that’s War that’s War

Economist Milton Friedman the Cleary list the the clearest the clearest and most widely quoted proponents of this view is a lightning rod for vitriol from the debt to society camp there’s a block quote here that says what does it mean to say that the corporate executive has a social

Responsibility in his capacity as a businessman if this statement is not pure rhetoric it must mean that he is to act in some way that is not in the best interest of his shareholders for example that he is to refrain from increasing the price of a product in order to

Contribute to the social objective of preventing inflation hold on hold on I gotta cut this [ __ ] short real quick you mean to tell me that corporations creating inflation no way it’s almost as if Government creates inflation right and corporate creates inflation continuing even though even though the

Price increase will be in the best interest of the corporation or that he is to make expenditures on reducing pollution beyond the amount that it is in the best interest of the corporation or that it is required by law in order to contribute to the social objective of improving the environment

In each of these cases the corporate executive would be spending someone else’s money for the general social interest dog you spend somebody else’s money to Market all your [ __ ] to the public you spend somebody else’s money to make money right so why wouldn’t you spend somebody else’s money to Garner the type

Of reputation that creates you more money I don’t know it’s like they don’t believe in investment they only believe in sacrifice and and then at the very end they believe in panic at the very very end these [ __ ] start believing in God that’s funny that’s that’s always cracked me up

Logical conclusion I mean when they’re at the end of a gun right The Logical conclusion it says of the shareholder value view is that if it’s legal to dump pollutants and carcinogens into a into a river and it will improve the bottom line then it’s the right thing to do

If child slavery is legal in the Ivory Coast then it is fine for a chocolate manufacturer to buy cocoa beans picked by child slaves even if it is a global firm with headquarters in a country that Outlaws child labor and slavery that’s the US everything or not laughs

If it’s legal to advertise smoking in China then do it where it’s legal to cause harm than as the international form on globalization says all such decisions are cost benefit calculations now you see now you see why corporations spend the kind of money overseas that

They do now you now you know why hit squads exist now you know why any now you know why any organization is backed by violence now you know why the government has a perceived Monopoly on the [ __ ] they like to believe they have a monopoly on violence but I mean

It’s only because they have backers it’s only because they have sponsors it’s only because they have [ __ ] who are throwing down dollars and rolling the dice on government now for the time being the dice is loaded but loaded dice don’t always mean you win the do well by doing good perspective

The third perspective the doing well by doing good perspective seeks to sidestep the moral debate and argue the business case for corporate citizenship good and quotes your good behavior is good for the bottom line I mean [ __ ] I believe that this is often and increasingly true but not always

The Body Shop I mean I I think when it says not always it’s because to me it’s because your business plan was not feasible right if uh if your business plan includes carcinogens and then you have to expend money cleaning up carcinogens and all of a sudden you’re

Like taking a [ __ ] loss you’re like I’m not this business isn’t becoming profitable and you start bitching and crying it’s because you were dealing with carcinogens to begin with and then I don’t I don’t get how this isn’t how this isn’t logical to some [ __ ] but apparently you know it’s not common

Sense it’s not always common sense it’s not always logic intact it’s not always logic and tact with corporate sometimes [ __ ] move on reaction Move On Emotion they get blinded by desire they get blinded by the money and you know the [ __ ] just goes to their head they

Get lost in the sauce it happens good behavior is good for the bottom line that says this is often and increasingly true but not always The Body Shop evidenced strong values and socially responsible behavior but for other reasons face problems in the marketplace companies must address all

The basics and align their values based strategies with their overall business strategies the idea that how what what the f where the [ __ ] it just introduces here The Body Shop it introduces us to the body shop it doesn’t give us any [ __ ] context that’s some [ __ ]

It says here but for other reasons face problems in the marketplace okay but then okay cool but don’t give us the reasons then [ __ ] hey the idea that companies do well by doing good is receiving a lot of attention these days but the past also provides evidence for the opposite view that what

Some describe as irresponsible Behavior produces a healthy return many companies have done well sometimes for a long time by being bad having brutal labor practices there’s some beam under Al Dunlop engaging in monopolistic practices there’s IBM there’s a t and Microsoft neglecting environmental concerns there’s Exxon exploiting developing countries there’s Nestle

Overpaying Executives and this person says you name it [ __ ] they’re all over they’re all overpaying Executives and to some extent that’s true selling products that routinely and predictably kill their own customers uh that’s the tobacco industry these are also examples of how inappropriate behavior can get companies

Into trouble but what of the practices that haven’t been banned or shamed out of existence consider the many activities that arguably are harmful but for which there are few sanctions auto companies selling gas guzzling SUVs corporate tax planning that shifts head offices offshores food companies that failed to divulge information such as

The presence of genetically modified products oil companies that pay politicians to fight environmental Accords and pharmaceutical companies that bribe doctors with free samples and vacations no way for pharmaceutical companies bribe doctors these activities are all legal while many aboard such practices the stakeholder consensus that such behaviors Must Be Stopped has not

Reached the Tipping Point customers still buy SUVs offshore tax Havens have just recently become an issue corporate political contributions remain part of the American way and drug companies continue to enjoy their commercial Freedom and a side note here and limited liability as as evidenced through the most recent schedule of immunizations or

I guess gene therapy now it’s called right whatever the [ __ ] conversely good citizenship can harm a firm consider a power company that burns coal to generate electricity pollutants from the process create what economists call a negative externality a cost in this case to society that may not be

Borne by the company and therefore not reflected in its prices a company that chooses to voluntarily absorb the costs of such negative externalities can place itself at a competitive disadvantage funny huh but that’s only competitive disadvantage funny huh how we’re taught as youngsters as young people as young drones in institutional education in

The industrial education complex we’re trained like drones to work from Bell to Bell right to clean up after ourselves and yet these [ __ ] yet corporate wants to not clean up after itself because what it takes too much time takes too much energy takes so much effort takes too much money laughs

Give me a [ __ ] break I was born into a [ __ ] [ __ ] I was born into a war I’m cleaning up after every [ __ ] body and it’s fun continuing conversely good citizenship good citizenship can harm a firm then why the [ __ ] having my citizens right I mean we kick out and Deport and

Keep [ __ ] from coming in if we don’t think they’ll be good citizens and yet corporations can just run amok right consider a power company that burns coal to generate electricity I’ve already read that I already read this paragraph I’m just reading it again I guess for the [ __ ] catharsis another obstacle continuing another

Obstacle different stakeholders have competing interests shareholders customers and employees could all be harmed if a power company were the only one in this industry to raise its prices to pay the incremental costs of global warming that results from its coal burning hydro plants yet wearing their hats as

Citizens these same people face the cost of environmental degradation such as increased health problems various stakeholder groups may have different perspectives on what is quote good because when when outcomes are not always possible firms need to sort out the trade-offs in such situations governments may

Choose to step in to impose rules and a Level Playing Field if all power companies must raise rates to convert away from coal or to pay for reforestation then it simply becomes part of doing business taxes on automobile air conditioners and gas guzzlers are weak examples of such actions but government’s action doesn’t

Always level the playing field it may also create winners and losers consider the debates over the Kyoto Accord pollution from factories and cars creates a negative externality that’s global warming supposedly supposedly government agreements like the Kyoto Accord require companies to internalize some of these costs by investing in emission reduction

Oil companies may suffer because of reduced use of carbon fuels the rationale is that the burden of such costs should be placed at the point of origin in order to protect the welfare of society it costs Society less to reduce the use of carbon fuels than to deal with the

Consequences of global warming cleaning up after the fact is difficult may be impossible so the burden is placed on corporations the world will benefit in the long term from Kyoto but some companies including their employees and shareholders will lose while a cash-rich company like shell may be able to afford a 20-year

Transition plan to sustainable fuels some small oil companies will go out of business there are many such companies across the oral industry for them survival takes precedence over good behavior I think I think for Shell too shelter’s got more money so they might last longer but it doesn’t mean that

They’re on on their good behavior it doesn’t mean that they’re on good behavior I mean I mean okay maybe this book is trying to give an objective view of things and I’m just [ __ ] I’m just [ __ ] on both sides so that’s me operating as a corporate

Cowboy being a realist being a cynic you know optimistic at times also because I know this [ __ ] is always I know this [ __ ] is always on the way up every day above ground is a good day right so this [ __ ] is always on the way up in fact not many Business Leaders think

Of good behavior as a strategic imperative it means it’s not a priority it says here when 700 U.S Executives were asked what drives their social involvement or citizenship initiatives few mentioned business strategy 12 customer attraction and retention three percent or meeting public expectations one percent the vast majority said they

Are driven by non-competitive and therefore optional factors like improving Society company Traditions or their personal values employees customers shareholders and others see you when you’re sleeping and they know when you’re awake they know you’ve they know if you’ve been bad or good so you better be good and it

Doesn’t finish here for goodness sake or corporate Cowboys or come visit your [ __ ] ass and kneecap you of course firms can be harmed by engaging in activities or practices that are inconsistent with the values of relevant stakeholders as the cases of nestle Tycho and Worldcom show but in the past

Punishment rather than being Swift was often glacial you know why as a side note you know why punishment has been glacial because the government moves [ __ ] slow that’s who’s regulating that’s who’s enforcing you want punishment to be fast you need to grow and learn to become a corporate cowboy with the [ __ ]

Quickness and get to work today a competitor or protagonist can seize on every action a firm makes is that not us are we not protagonists warts are tough to hide says George Carpenter Proctor and Proctor sorry Proctor Procter and Gamble’s director of sustainable development the hard data on

Doing well by doing good may not be there yet but it is clear that companies can do very badly by being bad avoid doing bad it’s increasingly not good enough evidence is mounting that a company can distinguish itself in the marketplace through ethical values and behavior building trust with all

Stakeholders and achieving competitive Advantage as a result the next little subheading here toward A New Perspective extreme holders of the first two views the debt to society and the shareholder value may seem diametrically opposed but they actually defend the same logic if a corporation behaves ethically it can

Only be for altruistic or ethical reasons such choices invariably entail costs so when companies invest in responsible behavior there is always a Nets loss for shareholders it’s not net loss but you know economists will spin facts differently for different audiences whatever both views have the same conception of the impact of corporate social

Responsibility on the bottom line it’s a sacrifice the only difference is in their conclusions the debt to society folks say it should be forced on corporations by the state the shareholder value Camp say it is intolerable both fail to understand that in a transparent World firms must increasingly address trade-offs among

The interests of many different stakeholders stakeholders other than shareholders are gaining power and that means that firms must take them into account if they are to do well Market forces are requiring companies to change their values and their behavior toward all stakeholders evidence is mounting that there is a relationship between

Corporate values and profits a positive one as for doing well by doing good often this perspective while a step forward tends to trivialize the emerging relationship between corporate values and corporate success it implies that if companies invest in philanthropy corporate citizenship or corporate social initiatives that there will be

Payoffs for example philanthropy is viewed as a marketing investment or a way to create meaning for employees while these points may be true and philanthropy is certainly a good thing something more important is happening being a good company doesn’t just deliver benefits increasingly it is a requirement for success

A new architecture for the firm is emerging which requires a rock solid foundation of ethical corporate values values not in the old motherhood sense of the term as inscribed in the dusty corporate value statements rather values embedded in the corporate DNA get the [ __ ] you know they trying to

Humanize corporations so bad out here made them legal persons and all that with citizens united now they want to have corporate DNA get the corporations are made by groups of individuals groups of people is this the group of individuals who’ve selected to have a hierarchy and they work towards a common

Purpose sometimes it’s [ __ ] each other over they must be values that are deeply held within corporate culture that shape products Services Core Business Operations brand image reputation relationships and everyday personal interactions and that drive everything a firm does and how it operates why when the corporation is naked shared values

Are the precondition for establishing trust and sustainable business performance a force as we shall see that is the sign the scene Quan known of the new business environment and the networked Corporation this is not to say that markets are sufficient to achieve social justice in society a view held by so-called Market

Fundamentalists the private sector is not competent to address social goals such as the reader risk the redistribution of wealth the private sector it says the private sector is not competent to address social goals such as the redistribution of wealth I think I’m not I mean hey I don’t want to

Comment on that because the government sector is definitely not competent to address the redistribution of wealth nor does it have the right to do so companies May engage in philanthropy but Society has not given them the right to collectively address broader issues of social justice they may behave well

Toward various stakeholders as a matter of economic necessity but clearly markets are insufficient capitalists societies use the power of the states for setting and achieving social goals firms are not agents of democracy and therefore they lack the representative governance and accountability mechanisms that governments have to set social priorities citizens may elect

Governments to enact their preferred social priorities but they don’t elect Boards of directors the next sub title the next subheading here the open Enterprise A New Perspective is needed that goes beyond the three discussed so far s need to build trusting relationships to thrive and transparency is changing Trust

A new model of the firm is emerging the open Enterprise that must be that last perspective the open Enterprise perspective open Enterprises are actively transparent while carefully managing their critical competitive information and security they understand that transparency is a corporate value that must be connected to principles of honesty accountability and consideration

To sustain trust they Embrace networked business models and understand that relationships reciprocal engagements with customers employees Partners shareholders and the public are critical to success their goal is to create value for all stakeholders applying collaborative processes to resolve the trade-offs among competing interests of stakeholders as we shall explain open

Enterprises will enjoy better financial performance than traditional firms which lacking trust and sustainable business strategies Fall by the wayside Capital Market transparency and accountability will give them better share performance they will tend to create better value for customers critical in a transparent world where the best rather than incumbents are more

Likely to prevail open Enterprises engage Partners in high transparency business webs to create products and services with lower costs and Market differentiation they treat knowledge workers as investors of intellectual capital and build a loyalty through openness they understand the liabilities of increased public scrutiny and the importance of societal trust

Observing the cost of externalities within the framework of a sound business strategy regardless of where on Earth they do business they operate with the highest standard of integrity and transparency building trust global stability and social justice our Research indicates these are the new instruments of wealth creation for a transparent networked world

The open Enterprise is Illustrated in figure 3.1 in a transparent World values enable the creation of trust trust strengthens relationships with all stakeholders in turn enabling networked business models and the creation of value competitive products and services for customers motivated and effective employees stable and supportive societies and good returns for

Shareholders we call this relationship between corporate values and stakeholder value the values value ladder that’s a good name each step is a requirement for the next failure to execute at each level in a transparent world can be fatal we step up the ladder in the balance of this chapter

And yeah next is figure 3.1 the values value ladder and I’ll describe it for you briefly essentially at the very bottom the very bottom uh oh sorry so on the left on the left hand side on the left-hand column there is transparency on the right there’s like the outcomes of of what transparency

Transforms right so on the right side there are shareholders there’s customers employees Partners communities and other shareholders so at the very bottom of the ladder there is transparency which changes business integrity and when business Integrity includes transparency there’s like an arrow there’s an arrow driving to business Integrity so transparency

Flows to business integrity and business Integrity consists with those is consistent with those of its shareholders so there’s an there’s another arrow that flows to the right over to the shareholders so transparency changes business Integrity business Integrity is consistent with those of its shareholders and then that creates one rung of the

Latter right now there’s an arrow flowing up and that arrow is labeled enable so one could venture to Guess that business Integrity enables trust right now transparency also works on Trust on the left hand side transparency with an arrow flowing to trust this arrow is labeled validates so transparency validates Trust

And there’s an arrow leading from trust to to the right hand side trust of the shareholders right so transparency validates the trust of shareholders now this trust rung has an arrow leading up also and it says strengthen that next piece is relationships trust strengthens relationships and transparency works on it too right so

Transparency falling to the right flowing into relationships transparency informs relationships with shareholders the arrow leading out is with transparency informs relationships with shareholders now that’s rung three there’s an arrow leading up to rung four and that’s produce it’s labeled produce so relationships produce value is the last rung value

And transparency on the right hand oh sorry on the left hand side transparency on the left hand side flows into valued it evidences it says evidence is transparency evidence is value for shareholders transparency evidences value for shareholders essentially it it validates it validates that value it proves itself valuable valuable for its shareholders

Little subheading says step one corporate values we focus on four values that form the basis of trust honesty accountability consideration and transparency together constitute what we call the new business integrity and the foundation of the open Enterprise let’s examine each of these honesty is not just an ethical issue it

Has become an economic one to establish trusting relationships with employees Partners customers shareholders and the public firms need to be open fairly disclosing information they must be truthful accurate and complete in Communications they must not mislead or be perceived to mislead in everything from motivating employees negotiating with Partners publishing product

Information disclosing financial information or explaining the environmental impacts of a new Factory companies are expected to tell the truth as we described in chapter one it go look go listen to part one part one of the um make it Corporation that’s season seven episode one as we described in

Chapter one in the networked world people and organizations have unprecedented access to information and the ability to verify authenticate and evaluate what companies say today Legions of skeptical analysis skeptical analysts analysis the [ __ ] out of here today Legions of skeptical analysts bold Regulators empowered interest groups doubting web Surfers and hardened

Journalists scrutinize any corporate statement or assertion want to know the compensation of a CEO check out the company’s 10q or 10K filings or just type it the CEO’s name into Google once to know about the accuracy of an ad on eBay check the eBay feedback forum and

See to see that 4 000 other people say about the seller thank you looking for dirt on a company or want to receive regular rumor alerts about a competitor try fuckedcompany.com [ __ ] company.com shell can claim it’s green till the cows come home but if it isn’t those who care will find out

The next subheading here accountability to establish Trust firms must make clear commitments to distinct stakeholders and abide by them do what they say they will do and they must demonstrate with clear communication preferably with the verification stamp of the stakeholders themselves or independent outside experts that they have met their commitments

In the past accountability was often an undesirable State of Affairs invoking liabilities testing and scrutiny better to keep your head low stay under the radar and avoid making promises in the transparent world where every stakeholder has radar accountability becomes a requirement for trust in fact

For those who embrace it as a value it is a powerful force for business success people learn from history past experience establishes past experience establishes regularity and reliability the networked economy has a new kind of memory network computing creates a global brain whose capacity to remember expands exponentially as information transactions and

Communication turns into bits firms and their stakeholders generate vast databases of business history there is a searchable record of all kinds of information that was previously regulated previously relegated sorry there is a searchable record of all kinds of information that was previously relegated to the ash can of History

Ashcan really not the ashtray or the trash bin Ash can gotcha detailed information who said what what was Pro detailed information about who said what what was promised what was done and what was transacted is available at the speed of light no more shoving things under the table the table is glass

I like that I like that analogy I like that metaphor most large firms subscribe to Nexus that means your potential Partners can quickly pull up a complete clipping file of every article published about you former or disgruntled employees can start a website to collect grievances grievances your internal memos may be published at

Internal memos.com negative publicity might be gathered at corpwatch.com your record is inescapable yeah folks are starting to redress their own grievances they’re recognizing that the government and corporates are in bed together right so they’re taking the Grievances their uh complaints and addressing them themselves redressing them themselves abiding by commitments is clearly

Insufficient to establish trust during the 1990s boom many companies consistently produce quarterly results identical to analysis to analyst analysts why do I keep messing that up identical to analyst expectations but many use Financial Engineering in quotes Financial engineering that’s just that’s his doctoring doctoring reports and [ __ ] Financial engineering and other fancy

Footwork to achieve such consistency Revelations about this destroyed trust and stock prices cratered when shareholders held companies accountable this instance underscores the importance of honesty in maintaining trust and also points to the third element of trust ready ready here’s a subheading here consideration of others trusts sorry I messed up that’s a betting

Consideration of others interests others interests which I suppose is also others Trust how much how much they value how much they value their relationship right I mean they got a self-interest also and so they’ll trust their relationship I wasn’t that far off but yeah completely misread that

From our experience a critical pillar of trust is the belief that a company shows regard for the interests desires or feelings of others one term to describe this is benevolence sometimes benevolence has a Master Slave connotation as we may think that only someone in a position of power or superiority can be benevolent

But any party can operate with benevolence or Good Will toward one another of course when a company shows Goodwill through philanthropic Endeavors it can enhance trusting relationships told you you see told ya but it continues Good Will is relevant to all stakeholders firms increase employee loyalty when employees believe that

Their company will be loyal to them right trust is reciprocal that’s that’s obvious enough that they will not be discarded once the going gets a bit rough or at least that the company will truly consider their interests and downsize only as a last resort and then only with a fair and Equitable severance

Despite the availability of price-cutting Internet marketplaces many firms choose to stick with existing suppliers to protect their suppliers viability and the Integrity of the supply chain in doing so they build trusting relationships and effective networked businesses on the other side in countless cases companies do the right thing for customers though it

Hurts short-term earnings or earnings short-term earnings when extraction companies like Rio Tinto and shell refuse to pay bribes in countries where bribery is the norm they sometimes lose opportunities to less scrupulous competitors however they have determined that bribery is harmful to the Societies in which it is practiced

And decided that they have an obligation to behave with consideration for the long-term interests of citizens of these countries this is sometimes a difficult decision but one that can pay off over the long run oh yeah I mean that that’s just the claim that they’re not bribing anybody right you

Don’t actually know that Baxter considering Baxter advised customers to discontinue used use of his dialysis machines and stop sales of them when it learned that they might be linked to Patient deaths it did not wait for further investigation that you know go back to your W Baxter right of course

Avoiding litigation was part of its motivation but the speed and completeness of the decision causing it a significant loss in Revenue suggests a deeper business integrity was an operation it suggested right it suggested but of course you don’t want to get sued for for your machines killing people I get it I understand

The next subheading transparency clearly trust depends on transparency I like that play on words sometimes trust is given implicitly a baby trusts her mother but even a baby’s jeans guide her to seek evidence of maternal Behavior trust depends on transparency and transparency depends on trust indeed as people learn to collaborate

Well over time transparency and Trust reinforce each other generating a virtuous cycle we began this book with the question what is Fidelity hiding yeah go listen to chapter one chapter one about Fidelity and like the the recession the crash and just the general distrust that was created in uh in the early 2000s

The question what are they hiding encapsulates the relationship between transparency and trust it implies that if company Executives hold Secrets they do so for a nefarious reason and therefore they they are undeserving of trust stakeholders know that the fewer Secrets companies keep the more likely they will

Be trusted you are less likely to trust the firm that withholds information pertinence to your interests firms cannot be transparent unless they are trustworthy as openness will harm them firms that are trustworthy should be transparent because openness helps stakeholders validate their integrity in an increasingly transparent World active openness is becoming Central to

Building trust between stakeholders and the firm to coin a phrase corporations should undress undress for Success corporations should get naked that that was me just commentating corporations should undress for success uh yeah I kind of like that that phrase It’s a good phrase I think it has many many different meanings undressed for

Success corporations should undress for success step two the second subtitle here the next subtitle step two Trust how do open Enterprises create trust and what role do values play trust is hard to Define because it is so fundamental but you can usually tell when it’s warranted we seek it for robust Mark for

Robust workplaces and regrets its Frailty in our community local and global in our increasingly transparent networked business World Companies need it like never before just to stay alive when trust Falls firms fail three centuries before Christ Aristotle’s rhetoric argued that ethos the trust in the speaker by a listener

Depended on the perception of three characteristics correctness of opinions character that’s the reliability the competence and honesty and Good Will that’s benevolent intentions toward the listener over two Millennia later the great philosopher’s words provide a sound basis for our thinking trust is the expectations trust is the expectation that others

Will be honest accountable considerate and open historically when people or organizations have trusted a corporation they have expected it will tell them the truth abide by its commitments and do the right thing behave fairly with Good Will and take their interest into account today transparency profoundly affects these three values

It is also a value itself in the new business environment transparency is critical to building Trust in many ways transparency is the most important corporate value because it forces firms to embrace the other values required by various stakeholder markets indeed as a U.S Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said quote sunlight is

The best disinfectant I would agree I agree to it agree transparency forces trustworthy Behavior if you’re open you are less likely to have something to hide we are already we have already discussed how transparency is and important new value that creates trust transparency also affects the process whereby trust is generated trust

Is established through four practices presence of shared norms and values reciprocity validation and transference the transparent environment changes each of these accelerating the speed at which trust can be strengthened or weakened Consolidated or destroyed here’s the first one a right a shared norms and values shared Norms among parties supports trust Norms

Can range from interpersonal practices to formal law sets out by authorities to formal laws set out by authorities as in the case of rules governing expense accounts or regulations regarding the reporting of financial results Norms often reflect deeply held values as in the essential Western belief that people should be left alone

If they aren’t hurting anyone in a transparent world the values that underpin Norms become ever more important the business world is much more complex than even a generation ago transactions have grown exponentially communication has exploded and fragmented as dozens of emails replace a meeting or enable previously impossible

Collaboration on a global basis we communicate with a broader range of individuals markets are Global bringing a clash of local cultures to the table firms assemble and disassemble ad hoc Partnerships overnight firms assemble and disassemble ad hoc Partnerships overnight I like that where elaborate contracts are unfeasible in this environment it is

Not possible to anticipate the permutations and combinations of choices people need to make through formal rules alone rather the most effective organizations and Partnerships are those based on commonly shared values trust drops transaction interaction and partnering costs autonomous individuals and groups are able to conduct business on a platform of shared values

In the transparent World values are also evidenced more easily consider the tale of Colton A specialized mineral used in electronics equipment proceeds from coal 10 mining are alleged to finance Civil Wars and brutal regimes in Rwanda and Uganda to mine Colton Rebels have overrun the Congo’s national parks

Clearing out large chunks of the area’s Lush forests and killing endangered elephants and gorillas for food yesterday no mobile phone manufacturer would dream of trumpeting its Colton policy or the values that underpin it in its sales literature a recent Dialogue on a consumer action website went as follows quote my wife

And I have two kids in school and daycare we regularly waste time and money and gasoline that could have been saved if we owned cell phones and we want to buy cell phones we know we should be boycotting companies that use Congolese Colton but which brands are they are there companies which have

Renounced using Congolese Colton a reader quickly responded by citing a story on the U.S national public radio website he explained that every telephone uses Colten so the trick is finding one that doesn’t use African Colton I think your best bet would be Motorola that’s the answer right most

Brochures tout battery life the pricing instant messaging internet access or MP3 capabilities but this consumer doesn’t care about all that he wants to know if his purchase is fueling a Civil War and he can find out the next stop heading B reciprocity trusting relationships in gender reciprocal obligations this can occur in

A specific situation say the sale of an item on eBay the trust each party has for the other is enhanced through the transaction or every positive performance review an employee receives contributes to the sense of reciprocal obligation to perform a job well for the company reciprocity can take time to develop

Where there may be a relationship that at any given time may be unrequited but overtime is repaid and balanced again this contributes to the development of long-term obligations between people transparency is requiring firms to behave in a reciprocal rather than an authoritarian manner Proctor and Gamble Senior Management may have hand down a

Game plan to its employees alternatively it may engage employees in a collaborative process to determine work plans and commitments in doing so it creates reciprocal obligations modern management theory is Rich with evidence that the latter approach works best in terms of employee motivation comprehension of work plans developments

And the quality of work products shell could have sought to impose its decision to build a plant in Angola on the population it decided to adopt a different approach where it engaged the local governments and communities generating more confidence that they would benefit from the project yeah that’s true if your employee has

Some say in work plans in the direction a company not the ultimate Direction but in methods I guess methodologies for completing for achieving objectives of a company if employees have some say in it you can rest assured that you you might come upon uh Innovation efficiency but that takes

Time it takes time and it takes dedication it takes somebody caring and giving a [ __ ] to interview the lower rungs in an organization to interview those that are entry-level at least those that are beneath you because everybody’s entry level forever and that’s That’s the basis of this podcast

Everyone is entry level forever anyone can be quote unquote let go tomorrow C that’s the next subheading C validation visibility into the operations and behavior of firms enables individuals to authenticate and validate corporate statements and claims and even to evaluate the values of products and services honesty reliability and

Consideration must be verifiable and increasingly verified that’s why Auditors exist and why their integrity is so important validation can be provided by an independent Authority for a specific topic you may trust the American Medical Association to certify doctors oops they have to certify doctors to practice medicine

Should you trust the safety claims of automaker Kia check out www.crashtest.com or a dozen other independent evaluators on the net validation can also be achieved through investigation patients having laser eye surgery are vulnerable today they can choose whom to trust and reduce their vulnerability by doing an online

Investigation of suppliers in the area checking for failure rates and patient satisfaction many local magazines publish annual quote Best doctors in town articles or you can try bestdoctors.com to see if your doctor has any State Medical Board disciplinary actions in their record or to find a physician whose patients recommend them

You’re considering moving to a new neighborhood and you want to know if the local school is a good one check out the massive online database of all U.S schools provided by standard and Poor’s performance evaluation services slice and dice the data asking for all the schools in the geographical area

That have certain characteristics quote we are in the transparency business says performance evaluation Services President Bill Cox that’s good that’s good I like that I like data D the next subheading D transference the networked economy accelerates the process whereby trust or mistrust transfers from one party to another if

You trust a doctor and your friend trusts you your friend May plus May play your friend May Place her medical care in the hands of your doctor right because trust transfers trust can also be transferred indirectly into a diffuse population relatively large networks like eBay a religious group or a political party

Greenpeace or the National Rifle Association may contain generalized trust or Social Capital without close personal contact among all members mistrust can spread through a stakeholder group like a prairie fire however for some inexplicable reason bad news seems to travel faster and generalize further than good news the evidence to support this observation is

Growing Intel learned how mistrust can be transferred in a transparent business environment back in 1994 a rumor spread on the net like a form of reverse viral marketing alleging that the Pentium chip was having trouble doing floating Point calculations trust in the Pentium brand evaporated and Pentium joke databases began to proliferate

Here’s one what’s the what’s the difference between a nine-year-old and a Pentium chip a nine-year-old can do long division [Laughter] Intel [ __ ] I’m a [ __ ] [ __ ] nerd yo what can I say which had not yet figured out the rules of a transparent World responded with advertising and press releases this

Merely inflamed and accelerated the transference of mistrust already underway Intel didn’t know at the time that maintaining customer trust is very different when knowledgeable stakeholders can sift through information and perform their own validation facts are quickly checked loss of credibility can be instantaneous Second Chances are rare and hard to affect

Grandstand plays had better be perfect playing one audience against another is easy to detect not not so much not so much that one there playing one audience against another is easy to detect it’s not that easy to detect I mean look at the [ __ ] jab right look at the

Guidelines and mandates that got dropped on us in the early 2020s [ __ ] were not detecting [ __ ] not reading any of the graphs or any of the charts finding what buckets quote unquote like well in parentheses like the flu what buckets disappeared and what buckets just suddenly appeared like the one

That’s been tracked this whole [ __ ] time and how many deaths were supposedly tabulated at the very beginning but now that everybody’s got the [ __ ] therapy right they ain’t tracking deaths anymore that’s weird playing one audience against another is easy to detect and misinformation or rumors need to be tackled head-on yeah I

Agree with that last piece it needs to be tackled head on but you know we’re talking about the governments and if not the governments we’re talking about corporate corporates with corporate interests they’re not even personal they’re not even human interest anymore they’re corporate interests ultimately Intel had to stop production

Of the Chip and write down 470 million dollars damn they just [ __ ] they just wrote that off huh yet with attentive relationship building the Pentium brand stormed back and most people forgot the incident trust as the express as expressed in the Pentium brand image trust as the Pentium Express

And the brand image was here today gone tomorrow and Back Again not the next day but after months of painstaking work Nike is another example after suffering considerably for its labor standards in the 1980s and early 1990s Nike has become a leader in advancing the interests of workers in

Poor countries this includes policies that require their contractors to prohibit child labor and pay employees at least the minimum wage or the prevailing industry wage whichever is higher but old mistrusts die hard and Nike has had a terrible time shaking the image that’s weird a terrible time has

Had a temp since since 2002 really because in 2023 there’s memes there’s memes still floating around of Maggie of Nike firing child labor of Nike firing child workers because they’re not vaxxed yeah oh the irony blind trust continues blind trust is disappearing visibility means that validation of trust is a

Click away as is the power to transfer or destroy trust to establish and maintain trust businesses today need to engage with various classes of stakeholders to find commonly held Norms generate reciprocal obligations provide good value and behave appropriately three here’s the next subheading step three relationships

The Next Step Up the values value ladder is business relationships as individuals and organizations gain increased access to information and visibility into the operations of firms new kinds of relationships become possible and even necessary within the corporation new kinds of relationships are possible among employees and between employees

And the firm knowledge work demands unstructured collaboration in the past all important relationships were internal to the organization companies talked about quote relationships or quote Partnerships with customers and suppliers but these terms were typically euphemisms for a game of winner take all poker yeah technically that’s a relationship

Right even conflict is technically a relationship it’s a sour it’s a harsh it’s a negative relationship right but business is war and business is personal it’s a personal relationship Supply chains more often than not were adversarial similarly companies sold products and services to customers described as creating customer relationships

But car companies for example didn’t have a relationship with their customers in any significant sense of the term automakers did market research to understand customers they did Mass advertising to establish Brands they sold and serviced vehicles but few customers would describe this as a relationship the only important

Relationships existed inside of the firm there were reporting relationships dotted line relationships the project teams whose members collaborated with one another such relationships were often carefully defined you were part of the human resource with roles responsibilities reward systems and the like great practitioners such as Alfred Sloan who took GM to prominence

Developed entire theories of management based on this Paradigm but now the transparent business environment renders the vertically integrated Corporation obsolete a superior form of wealth creation has arisen the business web Because the Internet slashes the cost of sharing knowledge collaborating and meshing business processes among corporations companies can now focus on their core

Competencies and partner or Outsource to do the rest in Industry after industry B webs are proving more Supple Innovative cost efficient and profitable rather than their traditional vertically integrated competitors yo that last sentence sounded like low-key sexually and innuenduous innuenduous B webs are proving more Supple really and then it says they’re um

They’re proving more Supple than their traditionally vertically integrated competitors so like I don’t know they’re making B webs out to be like Supple and voluptuous right they’re making naked corporations to be Supple and voluptuous and not dicks you feel me not vertically integrated that’s funny

During I mean what can I say um I’m a [ __ ] nerd during the early enthusiasm of B2B software companies many pundits assumed that partner promiscuity based on lowest price was the new model that all business flows to the lowest bidder cheaper widgets of mouse click away would win the day but price isn’t

Everything it often makes more sense to work closely with selected suppliers Dell computer for example could split its business for components among many suppliers in order to keep them all on their toes instead it gives its business to a small group of suppliers in which it has the most confidence they work

Closely to produce the best components and the best computers through the net Dell gives real-time scorecards to all its suppliers that prove both feedback on their that provide both feedback on their performance and customer data for a component manufacturer this relationship is extremely valuable even if the sales to Dell earn low margins

The information allows the manufacturer to alter its product mix and manage inventories strategically moreover customers become part of the business web as they interact with services and even co-creates value with companies for the first time companies can forge two-way interactive personalized relationships with all customers on a mass scale while the

Virtue of deep relationships was always self-evident in theory in reality it wasn’t practical but now the ubiquitous cheap and interactive net coupled with enormous low-cost databases enables producers to develop a meaningful direct relationship with each customer sellers and buyers have ongoing dialogue establishing trust through reciprocity Doug just real quick that paragraph

Right there tells me tells me that the government could work through an app right I mean maybe we need blockchain for this or something that cement Trust but the fact that the government isn’t using is not utilizing this type of information for its citizens to the benefit to promote to develop

To empower its citizens tells me all I need to know right [Laughter] tells me everything I need to know about the government incorporate which is why I know the government is a shitty shittily run Corporation that’s all it’s like a non-profit almost it’s not even a non-profit it’s just a

Shittily run corporation that taxes people yeah it’s just a tax they don’t even sell anything they provide minimal value and they charge exorbitant and you don’t even feel it because it’s all what it’s just going towards the national debt you don’t even feel it Oaks don’t even

Feel it folks don’t recognize it but the government is a corporation this is Corporate War I’m telling you this concept seems to have been lost to the music industry which Okay so we’re just going with the superficial [ __ ] huh the music industry this concept seems to have been lost to

The music industry which has embraced the pick a fight style of customer relations the industry has fought many of the major technological innovations that made music more accessible and engaged customers in the distribution of music from cassette tape machines to MP3 companies that earned consumers gratitude for bringing them the Beatles

And Simon and Garfunkel are now widely loathed as the enemy transparency is enabling new kinds of relationships with shareholders as well the days when the industrial relations departments simply issued press releases answered the phone and mastered the spin in annual reports or disappearing nah nah dog spin is still there spin is

Still in Partnerships and other relationships become the foundation of wealth creation the stronger they are the more likely firms can create value and succeed the next sub heading here is step four value the final step in the latter is value the Integrity the new Integrity as we Define it honesty accountability

Consideration of stakeholders interest and transparency is more than just a matter of values increasingly the new Integrity is becoming a foundation of value creation competitive strategy indeed of competitive advantage a term commonly used to sum up what it means for a business to be quote good to show genuine long-term consideration for

All that stakeholders is sustainability yeah hell yeah I agree with that sustainability I mean why not reinvest right I’ve been I’ve been harping on it this chapter and the previous episodes the previous chapters that reinvesting your profits and creating sustainability instead of soaking and sucking up resources and then bouncing

Out to the next area and soaking up and sucking up their resources next right it appears less parasitic let’s just put it that way oh continuing a widely accepted Definition of sustainability is quote meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs

That’s pretty concise yeah this is not just about healthy ecosystems or contented communities sustainability is also about engineering great businesses that will be there for the Long Haul to the benefits of their customers employees business partners and shareholders here’s a quick overview a successful strategy has three basic parts two of

Which are familiar to consistently outperform its competition a company can either grow faster what we call sustainable growth or manage costs better sustainable efficiency the part has to do with the company’s very ability to exist we call it sustainable foundations and then in parentheses it has here

Figure 3.2 which I’ll describe to you here in a little bit we put the word sustainable at the front of these three terms not merely to make a rhetorical point it says sustainable firm economics are very much in demand as company directors officers and institutional shareholders increasingly focused on long-term performance rather

Than quick hit often misleading quarterly results a parenthetical note as with any general approach to building a business strategy not all competitive drivers apply equally to all companies or to all situations sometimes only one or two drivers will apply sometimes all good every good strategy is unique and specific

So here’s figure 3.2 I’ll describe it for you briefly it’s a large I guess it’s a chart it’s a large box it’s like a scale right and has boxes across going across now these boxes have a gradient to them because the book isn’t black and white has a shade ingredient to them if

There’s the lighter it says you’re a sustainable foundations right the sustainable foundations are at the top and at the bottom it’s a darker color for some reason it’s sustainable efficiency now I haven’t read through this so I don’t know what the correlation between the color and the position of uh these labels are

Right so you got sustainable foundations the lightest color at the top sustainable growth in the middle it’s a gray color and then sustainable efficiency which is a darker color at the bottom the sustainable foundations include peace order and good governance the license to operate and access to Capital sustainable growth in the middle

Contains Best in Class capabilities employees partners value innovation and brand reputation and Customer Loyalty sustainable efficiency at the bottom contains risk reduction process improvements lower transaction costs process efficiencies quality management that’s eco efficiency codes and standards and minimizing regulation and litigation uh yeah just right off the top of my

Head I don’t see a relationship between the position of these three and their color so if you can make that out kudos to you the next subheading I’m just continuing the next subheading is foundational foundational sustainable foundations I was about to say foundational substations sustainable foundations any company’s existence depends on three

Foundation stones companies may take these for granted when doing everyday planning many even ignore these issues when strategizing for the long term they do so at their peril one peace order and good governance oh it’s gonna go through them sustainable foundations yeah it’s going to go through those that we listed maybe there

Isn’t maybe there is an order to them number one peace order and good governance the first driver is the overall social political and legal environments including peace political stability free markets property rights rule of law absence of bribery and so on clearly we are in a period when peace

Order and good governance are at Great risk really 2002 you don’t say because 2023 this [ __ ] looks wild the wild west never [ __ ] left that’s why the podcast is called corporate Cowboys and it says continuing in few companies perform sustainably well in the midst of War terrorism corruption and political

Chaos many of these problems are exacerbated by the great inequalities hardships and grievances real or perceived that’s yeah perceived like victimhood victimization that separate richer and poorer countries when the actions of dominant governments like the United States this list is added list it lists it as an example

When the actions of dominance governance I’m [ __ ] this one up when the actions of dominant governments like the United States and Global agencies like the IMF are blamed for Local Economic downturns EG Argentina or Worse EG War Western corporations take a hit corporations face the reality that their very agencies

That the very agencies yeah corporations face the reality that the very agencies that have represented their interests and promoted their world of view May indirectly spark boycotts or economic implosions competitive Advantage comes from knowing when and how the winds of peace order and good governance are changing and acting accordingly being

First out of a country when it’s risky and first in when it’s safe it also comes from being there to enhance good governance so that when the opportunities arise knowledge and relationships already exist in such a manner BP entered the Russian oil industry on a large scale in February 2003. BP British Petroleum

Really no way because in 2023 Russia is like no go right now all right continuing subheading number two license to operate companies now face forces that for all practical purposes challenge their very right to exist or at least the right to do business in a particular Market this

Is a trust factor that affects both individual businesses and groups of businesses for example several companies from a specific country or in a particular industry McDonald’s has faced this in both the United States and Europe for many years and by early 2003 such challenges became a competitive disadvantage in 2003 the

Company reported its first ever quarterly loss McDonald’s uh yeah McDonald’s is a consummate marketing company it has excelled in linking philanthropy and Community involvement to its brand but this challenge cannot be turned around by marketing and Good Deeds alone critics question the company’s core product fatty food from allegedly mistreated

Cows and challenge its existence as an embodiment of the homogenizing forces of globalization more broadly globalization faces a crisis of legitimacy engagement with local stakeholders genuine localization is one way to address this problem Global corporations that lay down deep local routes by hiring locally from the executive level on and embrace local

Partnerships with suppliers and communities of stakeholders are in the best position to gain a sustainable license to operate subheading number three access to Capital in 2002 irresponsible Behavior by Executives and corporate boards devastated the capital markets and destroyed shareholder confidence regaining trust will require sustained improvements in corporate governance Behavior transparency and accountability

Healthy investor relationships are a two-way street where firms engage directly with shareholders especially large institutions like mutual and Pension funds that tend to invest for the long term open Enterprises avoid spin in shareholder briefings press releases and annual reports and increasingly deliver easy to follow factual information instead of the often misleading and

One-dimensional quarterly Financial guidance open Enterprises provide a more meaningful sort of guidance clear explanations of past performance current challenges strategies and plans one results of the 2002 governance crisis was that institutional investors particularly pension labor and social funds gained leverage as we describe in chapter eight we haven’t read that yet

So stay tuned folks we haven’t read chapter eight yet that’ll I’m assuming be season seven episode eight but you know we’re at episode three right now so relax take it easy enjoy the ride as we describe in chapter 8 they will also increasingly Place broader social and environmental issues on the shareholder

Agenda companies that address such issues will be advantaged in gaining and maintaining access to shareholder capital thank you next subheading sustainable growth so I’m assuming that this is like the next uh the next subheading and then whatever numbers continue after that will be a little subcategories of this subheading so sustainable growth

The three top-line competitive drivers stand out or three Top Line competitive drivers stand out first Best in Class capabilities including leadership employees and business partners to strategic Innovation and three brand reputation and customer loyalty for any veteran business planner these concepts are old hat yet all three are

Changing thanks to the new integrity and focus on sustainability honesty consideration of stakeholders interests accountability and transparency these are vital to attracting retaining and ensuring consistent performance from the key resources that firms require in an increasingly interdependent world as companies Focus ever more narrowly on what they do best they need suppliers

Distributors and employees who take shared responsibility for delivering value to the End customer for taking initiative in maximizing efficiencies and for being flexible when market conditions change For Better or For Worse such Best in Class capabilities are hard to find but when found they become critical to a company’s success

Among firms trust drops transaction costs and enables the free flow of information required for business web performance where transactions provide opportunities for misrepresentation non-compliance or fraud Mutual trust reduces the Contracting costs associated with formal agreements this social capital provides an effective enforcement mechanism that is far cheaper than elaborate contracts

Extensive extensive tracking systems and litigation free flow of information in a trusting atmosphere also dramatically improves the productivity and performance of inter-enterprise inter Enterprise yeah like inside the Enterprise inter-enterprise collaborative business processes that means that means intercommunication inside of organizations that means cross communication inside of organizations being able to communicate across

Departments across divisions to create uh to seamlessly create Innovation Innovative new new Innovative processes new and Innovative processes continuing considering as we describe in chapter four that’s the next chapter employees are easier to recruit more productive and more likely to stick around in companies that are actively transparent and accountable to their

Staff the Investment Bank UBS Warburg describes how its support of the Regeneration of London’s East End tangibly enhances its recruitment retention and development of top employees on the flip side a veteran Nike employee had this to say about the impact of the Sweatshop charges that this company has faced

Quote it comes up at every dinner party and when it doesn’t it’s like the elephant in the corner of the room it goes from you have the coolest job to hmm I’m not so sure within firms uh clo end quote end quote within firms trust strengthens capability employees have unprecedented

Access to information about their company because new models of work demand it work systems in traditional firms were hierarchical and relationships were based on control and Authority today’s Smart Companies design collaborative systems where teamwork harnesses the power of human capital more effectively companies replace the bonds of traditional hierarchy with

Bonds of trust embodied in shared values clear Rules of Engagement and quality business processes trust builds motivation security and loyalty it reduces inhibitions and defenses essential for Creative for creative thinking and collaboration so it reduces inhibitions and defenses essential for creative thinking and collaboration I’m gonna I’m gonna comment on that and say

Yes that’s true I think it puts uh it doesn’t immediately charge people and put them on the defensive if you trust somebody you’re more open you’re more open to good ideas where if you are not trusting or trustworthy you’re more closed off to even good ideas continuing without trusting

Relationships no company can ever hope to achieve high performance capability is of little value however if a firm and its partners are pointed in the wrong direction this is where strategic Innovation comes in in their 2002 book walking the talk the chairman of Anova holding Stefan Schmidt Heine

Dupont that’s Charles Halliday Jr and shell that’s Philip Watts describe how strategic Innovation arises from the new Integrity it’s a block quote so here goes the relatively straightforward concept of eco-efficiency has already encouraged some companies to make radical ships from maximizing sales to selling no thing at all and being cleaner and more

Profitable in the process instead of selling things they sell services or they lease things or both companies that Once Sold auto paint to car companies now sell the service of painting cars so where once they improve the bottom line by maximizing cans of paint sold they now improve the bottom line by

Minimizing the use of paint per car as a brand reputation that’s the end of the quote there as a brand reputation and Customer Loyalty as for brand reputation and Customer Loyalty British Telecom that’s BT asked a good question does a shopper really stop and think about corporate responsibility before making any one of

Thousands of buying decisions per year it’s Market Research indicates that a large and growing number of consumers claim they consider Corporate social responsibility CSR in their buying decisions yet BT notes quote it’s only in a relatively small number of these cases EG buying organic produce that the consumer actually makes a conscious

Consideration of the suppliers environmental social and ethical performance but our model shows that a company’s reputation has a significant influence over customer satisfaction ratings and given that CSR is a component of reputation this would suggest that there could be an important subconscious CSR element to purchasing decisions if BT

Were to cease all its CSR activities I.E cease treating employees with respect ignore environmental issues no longer emphasize the need to act with Integrity ceasing non-profitable services and canceling all community activities then our customer satisfaction rating would drop by 10 percent that’s the end quote a difference of this magnitude is often

The difference between markets leadership and also ran status no single initiative will necessarily change customer perceptions of a company yet the aggregate matters enormously companies can be liked they can be perceived neutrally or they can be actively disliked a company may not realize it is sliding from one category

To another until it is too late for a quick fix the next subheading here sustainable cost control the typical management decision about competitive cost control is about cycle times business processes Supply chains and so on as we shall discuss momentarily sustainability strategies related to eco-efficiency and other dimensions can

Make a big contribution to such traditional areas of performance but we begin with a more stirring cost driver risk increasingly corporate officers and directors sometimes with the encouragement of institutional investors recognize that they must pay more attention to risk they must identify and control a broad portfolio

Of risks how they try to reduce or eliminate risks or they can set aside contingency funds or buy insurance policies to offset them some risks once identified can be eliminated in cost neutral or profitable ways others impose costs sometimes big costs corporations face a wide and growing variety of

Potential threats from new Integrity issues such as customer abandonments legal fees and Scandal costs or even executive crime or civil unrest in some countries Hill and Nobleton CEO Paul Taff or Tafe argues that the risk of a trust crisis entails far greater costs than firms recognized

Quote the cost is not just limited to share price hits there’s often a deep emotional cost for example after the breadth Spar that’s the North Sea oil rig Fiasco shell had trouble recruiting on campus it previously was one of the top employers by choice sorry it was it was previously one of

The top employers of Choice by graduates Brent Sparr was an environmental issue but it played out as a risk to Shell’s reputation true environmental risks may not be stakeholder driven and therefore risk may be overlooked managers who treat environmental damage as only a reputation issue or an externality to be

Dumped on society ignore at their Peril how Mother Nature bites back such self-delusion is a dangerous form of opacity opacity opacity concerns about the real costs of global warming and climate for example are moving from the NGO barricades to corporate boardrooms one statement of the issues is sponsored by two of the

World’s largest reinsurance companies that’s Swiss reinsurance and Munich reinsurance and companies such as Abby National Allianz Insurance Credit Suisse group that’s cffb ing Merrill Lynch Rabobank Robbo bank and USB I’m sorry U UBS UBS I left that Robo back their report argues that evidence of change is all around us in 2003

Hurricanes and tropical storms were projected to increase by about 25 percent over 2002. the warmest years on record were 2002 and 1998. if Trends persist whether related natural disasters will soon create 150 billion dollars in annual losses versus 10 billion during 1990s two-thirds will not be insured sample impacts by industry are

And there’s a list here so I’ll number them off the first droughts induced crop damage is Raising food costs in 2003 bakeries in the United States faced the highest flower prices in over 70 years Australian farm output fell by 12.5 percent during the three months to September 2002.

And Prices rose 1.4 percent number two weather dependence tourist destinations like ski resorts beach resorts and the Great Barrier Reef faced the risk of declining popularity number three in late 2002 electricity prices increased in parts of the U.S West as water shortages Cuts Hydro power generation number four fires threaten

The forestry sector in 2002 over 70 000 fires burned down 7.1 million acres in North America nearly double the 10-year average in 2002 hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico caused 700 million dollars in Damages and curtailed oil and gas production one three-day shutdown alone led to Industrial losses of some 2 billion dollars

The report argues and that’s the end of the list the report argues that in addition to the damage that climate change that climate change can do to their companies directors and officers in carbon intensive Industries face the risk of negligence lawsuits from shareholders employees or communities mitigating environmental risks can add

Another dimension to sustainable cost control and they list a couple of points here point one BP claims Net’s presence value savings higher than 650 million dollars over three years from reducing fuel and gas venting and flaring number two European semiconductor manufacturer St microelectronics reports a two-year payback on its energy

Conservation programs with energy cost Savings of over one billion dollars between 1994 and 2010 and then third IBM conservatively estimates a two to one return on its environmental investments in the five years since it began tracking its program in 2001 the net benefit was one point sorry was 140 140 million dollars

That’s the end of the list several components of the business case for sustainable cost control relates to three kinds of process improvements transparency and accountability enhance trust and therefore reduce transaction costs also extensive information sharing both within and among companies in a business web leads to dramatic process efficiencies that’s quicker response

Times and lower inventories Procter and Gamble and Gillette predict that the next technological revolution in information sharing based on the radio frequency ID tag that’s RFID a wireless communicating electronic version of a barcode could lead to inventory reductions of 10 or more which would result in massive cost savings a third process

Factor has to do with quality management which is essentially about reducing costs by minimizing defects and waste Toyota the world leader in quality management has applied its quality protocols to energy and resource conservation simultaneously improving its Environmental Conservation processes and reducing the consumption of materials energy and effort result

Toyota is one of the most efficient and profitable companies in the car business another part of quality management is the use of codes and standards to prescribe how work should be done to measure and report on outcomes and to set Targets on Improvement historically such codes like ISO 9000

Focused narrowly on product and service quality codes of practice are now a big part of the new Integrity they include corporate values statements codes of Social and environmental conduct and increasingly sophisticated accountability toolkits for tracking and Reporting on environmental and social performance typically introduced initially to drive quote good behavior

Such codes and standards quickly take on double duty as new dimensions of a company’s overall quality management Arsenal a last Dimension to cost control the icing on the cake is minimizing regulation and litigation when companies voluntarily take on the new integrity and a sustainability agenda and prove it through engagement accountability and

Transparency their governments are less likely to impose onerous and bureaucratic rules policing auditing and penalties in the United Kingdom for example a high percentage of firms voluntarily produce corporate responsibility reports so perhaps the government will not impose them through legislation as the French and Japanese governments have done and as we have

Already suggested fiduciaries will be less exposed to stakeholder lawsuits if they address the risks imposed by climate change chances are that you are some combination of shareholder customer partner employee and citizen in the following five chapters we look deep into how transparency changes the ways corporations behave toward you in each

Of the hats you wear just a final commentary I think that is that’s a good way to minimize regulation and litigation you want to mitigate any risk of uh of scrutiny of scrutiny and of of lawsuits right so you if you don’t want to litigate a lawsuit

You want to mitigate any risk of that happening and you could do that through transparency obviously you live well by doing good and you live long by doing right that’s the end of chapter three thank you very much for joining me and I’ll catch you next time on the

Corporate Cowboys podcast as we read The Naked Corporation how the age of transparency will revolutionize business thank you

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