This case introduces CEO activism, a phenomenon in which business leaders engage in political or social issues that do not relate directly to their companies. The case uses several examples to describe why business leaders are engaging in CEO activism, and the potential benefits and drawbacks: (1) how Angie's List's CEO responded to the state of Indiana passing a controversial religious freedom law; (2) how Duke Energy's CEO supported pending U.S. legislation addressing climate change, and (3) how Chobani Yogurt's CEO publicly supported refugees. Students are then provided with the situation faced by PayPal CEO Dan Schulman after North Carolina passed House Bill 2, which Schulman perceived as discriminatory against LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) individuals. Students are asked to consider whether Schulman should engage in CEO activism, and if so, how best to approach the situation. The (B) case provides an update on Schulman's decision.
Successful scaling of social impact by a social entrepreneurial organization is driven by its capabilities in seven areas, identified in this article by using the acronym SCALERS: Staffing, Communicating, Alliance-building, Lobbying, Earnings-generation, Replicating, and Stimulating market forces. The relative importance of each of these capabilities in driving scaling will depend on several situational contingencies, such as the labor needs of the organization or the public support attracted by its causes or programs. The article presents the logic, theory, and prior research that support the SCALERS model and cites examples of case experiences that are consistent with the model.
In some Third World factories, there is a literal wall of codes. Posted are dozens of codes of conduct as defined by dozens of customer, firm, and industry groups and a host of certifying organizations. The cost of this wall of codes is clear for managers: They must fill out streams of forms and host endless visits from compliance auditors. Less obviously, the wall of codes is costly for consumers and other stakeholders who care about the social performance of businesses. Not only must they pay the (passed on) costs of compliance, but with so many standards, they cannot always identify which standards and codes are valid measures of true social responsibility. Documents the proliferation of metrics and outlines some of the problems regarding reliability, validity, and comparability of existing codes. Examines two large sets of metrics: those used in the apparel industry and those created by socially responsible investment funds. Concludes with some practical suggestions to help reduce the burdens on managers and yield more reliable, valid, and comparable metrics.