CSR FINAL REVIEW

Greenwashing

misleading the public to believe that a company or other entity is doing more to protect the environment than it is

Carbon Offsetting

A firm’s reduction of its carbon footprint by paying for environmentally beneficial behavior by a third party

Carbon Neutral

when a firm’s net carbon emissions are zero

Carbon Insetting

A firm’s integration of sustainability practices directly into the supply chain to take responsibility for its carbon emissions

Greenwashing tricks

vague language, irrelevant claims, misleading numbers, rebranding, environmentally themed visuals

Associational Juxtaposition

Two images or ideas, placed in proximity to one another, in an effort to encourage audiences to associate the two images/ideas.

Legitimacy Theory

The organization has to justify its existence through legitimate economic and social actions that do not jeopardize the existence of the society in which it carries on, nor the environment.

Legitimacy

The perception that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions

Selective Disclosure

Firms pick and choose what they tell stakeholders about their environmental record/programs.

Decoupling

Firms claim to meet the expectations of stakeholders rather than more robust standards.

Attention Deflection

Intended to hide corrupt business practices. May include unfinished assessments, and vague statements.

Deceptive Manipulation

Claiming products and policies are environmentally friendly, when they are not.

Dubious Authorizations and Labels

Using outside parties to certify or label a corporation as environmentally friendly.

Insufficient public voluntary programs

Volunteering for public programs but not participating as fully as possible.

What is “washing”

used to describe how firms deflect attention from corrupt business practices

Sportswashing

Using sports to distract from human rights issues.

Fast Fashion

a large sector of the fashion industry whose business model relies on cheap and speedy production of low quality clothing, which gets pumped quickly through stores in order to meet the latest and newest trends

Trashion

A derivative of the term fast fashion, where a clothing designer “works only with fabric that would otherwise be thrown away” in existing production methods.

Slow Fashion

a movement that advocates for environmental and social justice in the fashion industry. Its defining point is that it zeroes in on the problem of overproduction and overconsumption

Shwopping

An exchange program by which customers trade in used clothing (to be donated) for vouchers that can be used to purchase new clothes.

Economic Value

The benefit (or harm) of a firm’s activities in terms of monetary metrics, as defined by each of its stakeholders.

Social Value

The benefit (or harm) of a firm’s activities in terms of nonmonetary metrics, as defined by each of the firm’s stakeholders.

Nudge

any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives

Thaler’s Three Principles of Nudging

1. All nudging should be transparent and never misleading.

2. It should be as easy as possible to opt out of the nudge.

3. There should be good reason to believe that the behavior being encouraged will improve the welfare of those being nudged.

Behavioral Economics

a field of study that combines the techniques, methods, and theories of psychology and economics to research, learn about, and explain the economic behavior of real people.

Mandates

Legal requirements or restrictions.

Incentives

Rewards for certain behaviors

Green Premium

People are usually willing to pay more for green products.

Green Marketing Myopia

occurs when companies overemphasize environmental benefits and neglect customer satisfaction. 

ESG

environmental, social, and governance metrics, often used in the investment world

SRI

Socially responsible investing. Investing in firms or projects that pursue ethical or values-based goals.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage

competencies, resources, or structural positioning that separates the firm from its competitors in the marketplace over the medium to long term.

Resource Perspective

An internal perspective of the firm that identifies its resources, capabilities, and core competencies as the main determinant of its sustainable competitive advantage (see Industry perspective).

Industry Perspective

An external perspective of the firm that identifies the structure of the environment in which the firm operates as the main determinant of its success.

Low Cost

A business strategy used by firms to distinguish their products from the products of other firms on the basis of more efficient operations.

Differentiation

A business strategy used by firms to distinguish their products from the products of other firms along a dimension that customers value and for which they are willing to pay a price premium.

Value

A perceived benefit for an individual or group, as defined by that individual or group.

ValueS

Standards of behaviors based on what we think is important in life.

Sustainable Value Creation

A business philosophy that emphasizes the creation of value across the firm’s broad set of stakeholders.

Clicktivism

slacktivism that happens entirely online—things like social media and online petitions.

Slacktivism

an informal way to describe the practice of supporting a political or social cause without expending much effort or getting truly involved in the cause.