Net Impact Soapbox

Sustainability: Transparent, Desirable, Invisible

2009-03-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

Sustainability can be an elusive concept. At the recent Capitalism Next Sustainable Design panel, Ted Howes, Sustainability Lead at Ideo, challenged us to bring 30 sustainability leaders into a room, ask them to define sustainability, and find less than 30 different definitions. But, one story that Mr. Howes told really resonated with me. One of the legendary success stories at Ideo, which I

Capitalism Next: Sustainable Capitalism in Emerging Economies

2008-11-16T23:41:00.000-08:00

On November 10th, as part of Capitalism Next, an innovative speaker series organized by the NetImpact Chapter at Haas in collaboration with the Sustainable Products and Solutions Initiative, three eminent practitioners shared with us how they were combining the power of business with the needs of consumers at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) to create sustained social impact.

Who is the BOP?

2008-11-13T00:06:00.000-08:00

I will share a few insights from my experiences working with enterprises in small communities in Africa and India, as well as the Capitalism Next Seminar held at Berkeley on Monday. Regardless of whether it is the public or the private sector who is providing services, it is important to distinguish which segment of the population we are truly targeting. The term “Base of the Pyramid” has gained

Announcing Partnership with Indian School of Business

2008-11-04T16:23:00.000-08:00

Announcing Partnership with Indian School of Business Net Impact Chapter We are thrilled to announce a new Sister Collaboration with the Net Impact Chapter of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. ISB is a top-ranked, research-driven business school with leading thinkers on social and environmental issues in emerging economies. The Net Impact Chapter in Hyderabad has been working since 1993

Product Red: More than Cause Marketing

2008-10-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

Tamsin Smith of Product Red came to our Social Enterprise class tonight. As you may have seen from all those Gap ads, Product Red partners with businesses like Gap, Apple, and American Express to produce and sell a line of products whose profits help fund health projects in Africa. I have to admit - I came in a little skeptical of Product Red, less from any facts that I had - which were few - and

Capitalism Next Seminar - Hunter Lovins Video

2008-10-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hey all, The video session of the first Capitalism Next session with Hunter Lovins is now online. Check it out:

2008-10-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

Several Net Impact Members attended last week's first ever Social Capital Markets Conference in San Francisco, put on by Good Capital and several other players in the social investing landscape. In addition, several of us blogged for the nextbillion blog. Here are links to the posts!Cindy Chen on Breaking SilosRoxanne Miller on New African CapitalChampa Gujjanuda on the Future of Fair

Capitalism Next: Hunter Lovins, A Second Perspective

2008-10-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to hear Hunter Lovins speak to a group of students from Haas and other UC Berkeley schools, including the schools of law, natural resources, and public policy. Lovins was the first speaker in a series of speakers, titled Capitalism Next, exploring how for-profit businesses can become truly sustainable. She proposes that because our world’s natural resources

Capitalism Next: Hunter Lovins

2008-10-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

As an undergraduate student I studied biology and environmental science at Oberlin College, where liberal environmentalists debated how to overtake the American capitalist system with a new "green" capitalism. We made models of the low-carbon economy and held Hunter Lovins' book "Natural Capitalism" as the bible for the future. However, after I left Oberlin, I was challenged to find pragmatic

Open Source as Social Enterprise

2008-10-09T00:06:00.000-07:00

In my Social Enterprise Class taught by Jim Schorr on Tuesday, we had a class on Technology in Social Enterprise which featured Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation. Most of you know Mozilla for producing Firefox and for using an "open source" model for developing its browser software. They were created in the 90s as a response to the monopoly that Microsoft's Internet Explorer had on

A Student's Perspective on... Student Perspectives

2008-10-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday, a group of second-year MBA students shared their experiences working in CSR-focused summer internships. Jo Mackness, the new Executive Director of Haas’ Center for Reponsible Business, provided her perspective as well.One interesting trend Jo mentioned is that CSR is becoming increasingly integrated at many companies: rather than having a “CSR Department”, employees are asked

International@Social Impact

2008-10-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

The continuum of social change is incomplete without an international perspective. Hence the Net Impact club organized a panel discussion of students to share their views and experiences of international development opportunities at Haas. The panel discussion reinforced my belief that problem solving at ground level is the emphasis of the international experience at Haas.The panelists discussed

US Poverty - It's Not as Hard to Solve as We Think

2008-10-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Just listened to this podcast from This American Life. It's takeaway: lifting kids out of poverty in the US is not as hard as we think. It's being done right now, in Harlem, by Geoffrey Canada. Search for the "Going Big" episode here. The deeper context for me here is something that Carla Javits of REDF said on Thursday during our Social Impact Week session on Financing Social Change: that folks

Corporate Sustainability: Still Cynical?

2008-10-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

So you’re interested in “doing well and doing good,” you want a job that’s financially rewarding, and you’d even like to work for a large company. But, the pragmatist in you realizes this is a tough combination to reconcile. Large, publicly-traded and sustainable? Is this possible, or a paradox? A group of second-year MBA students held an intimate roundtable last Wednesday to share their

Will Rosenzweig- Successful Entreprenuer, Investor, and Teacher - Returns to Haas

2008-10-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

I just listened to Will Rosenzweig speak at the kickoff event for Social Impact Week. Simply put, it was one of the most inspiring and insightful hours I have spent here at Haas. He started with a timeline of his remarkable career and titled it, “It takes 15 years to become an overnight success.” He talked of planting seeds and described how he serendipitously had a hand in the beginning of what

Social Impact Week @ Haas

2008-09-29T00:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Net Impact Soapbox! What is the Net Impact Club and what is the Soapbox? The Net Impact Club at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business is a leading chapter of the international Net Impact organization, which is a network of leaders who are changing the world through business. In addition to helping students pursue careers at the intersection of business and social change, the Net

Corporate Reputation: Does Being Ethical Matter?

2008-05-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

Companies spend huge amounts of money to be 'socially responsible.' Do consumers reward them for it? And how much?By REMI TRUDEL AND JUNE COTTEMay 12, 2008http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121018735490274425.htmlFor corporations, social responsibility has become a big business. Companies spend billions of dollars doing good works -- everything from boosting diversity in their ranks to developing

'Genocide' Olympics

2008-05-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

April 24, 2008www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11089786&fsrc=nwl When it comes to doing business in China, Sudan, and Myanmar, will constructive engagement work, or is divestment the answer? How can corporations operate in countries with corrupt government regimes and improve human rights? This Economist article suggests the trend among human rights circles is toward

Chastised by bloggers, Dell aims to cut down on waste

2008-05-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

May 9, 2008 www.grist.org/news/2008/05/09/dell/Never doubt that a small group of loud, critical bloggers can change Dell's packaging." Photos published on the internet during Earth Week of a tiny flash drive arriving to a customer in a giant box provoked enough outcry in the blogosphere that Dell is taking immediate steps to reduce packaging waste. The company has sent a directive requesting

Gin, Television, and Social Surplus

2008-05-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

www.worldchanging.com/archives/008009.htmlMay 7, 2008by Clay ShirkyI was recently reminded of some reading I did in college, way back in the last century, by a British historian arguing that the critical technology, for the early phase of the industrial revolution, was gin.The transformation from rural to urban life was so sudden, and so wrenching, that the only thing society could do to manage

boardnetUSA - revolutionizing the way nonprofit boards and new leaders find each other

2008-05-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

Want to serve on the board of a nonprofit organization? Check out this site:www.boardnetusa.org/public/home.aspboardnetUSA is a website that’s designed to be a marketplace where nonprofits looking to fill board seats can connect with individuals looking to serve on nonprofit boards.The site is designed to be a common technological platform for a national collaborative network of communities

Study find meat and dairy create more emissions than miles

2008-05-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

Do "food miles" matter? Studies should that it's the realy climate change impact of the food chain is in the energy it takes to produce the fertilizer and pesticides that make the grain that make your meat. Transporting food has a relatively minimal impact.By Rachel EhrenbergMay 1, 2008www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/31673/title/It%E2%80%9s_the_meat_not_the_miles Diet substance has a greater

Is the drive for sustainability killing creativity?

2008-05-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

www.bdonline.co.uk/story.aspsectioncode=427&storycode=3113145&c=2&encCode=00000000014c8df0May 9, 2008 Austin Williams, author of new book The Enemies of Progress, is convinced it is, but Pooran Desai of BioRegional Quintain has plenty of examples to back his counter-argument."Yes, sustainable design is killing creativity."Austin Williams, Author, The Enemies of ProgressThe commonplace assumption

Thoroughly Modern Do-Gooders

2008-05-09T18:04:00.000-07:00

March 21, 2008By DAVID BROOKSwww.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/opinion/21brooks.htmlFashions in goodness change, just like fashions in anything else, and these days some of the very noblest people have assumed the manners of the business world — even though they don’t aim for profit. They call themselves social entrepreneurs, and you can find them in the neediest places on earth.The people who fit into

Environmental Defense partners with private equity firm

2008-05-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

The Environmental Defense Fund has struck a first-of-its-kind "green portfolio" deal with gigantic private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. The partnership plans to develop tools to measure and improve the environmental performance of KKR'S U.S. companies, with metrics including energy efficiency, greenhouse-gas emissions, water consumption, and toxic waste.KKR has more than $185 billion in

New report from SustainAbility on the Social Intrapraneur

2008-05-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

New report from SustainAbility on the Social Intrapraneur (those who make change within big corporations). Great reading for anyone interested in CSR thinking about whether to try to make big change locally (nonprofit/social enterprise) or small change globally (CSR at a big for-profit).Download the report here:www.sustainability.com/insight/article.asp?id=1457.

Companies' "green" claims often misleading

2008-04-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

www.greenerchoices.comTuesday, April 22, 2008Are companies exploiting the "green" trend by touting supposed environmental benefits of products that aren't much greener than alternatives? Consumers can play a role in controling greenwashing and ensuring that sincere efforts to launch environmentally benefitical products and services aren't washed out in the greenwashing storm.These days--and

Desalting seawater may hold promise

2008-04-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

By Associated Press, April 24, 2008 www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-desalting-water,1,5069749.story There's probably a place for desalted seawater in meeting the nation's future water needs, but research is needed to reduce the costs and impact on the environment, the National Research Council says.In a report released Thursday, the NRC said that improving technology is making it more