by Dr. Dino Sossi

In this exercise, students were asked to write a corporate social responsibility (CSR) position paper for a company that they would like to work for and improve. After making their choice of company, they wrote a paper that advocates on behalf of an issue that they would like to either introduce to their company or that currently exists within their company, but they would like to refine and improve.

The responses below detail the issues that are important to them.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Chinook Salmon Sales

by Laurie Mollo

Laurie’s Introductory Note: “The plight of the Southern Resident Orca whales is something I have been concerned and passionate about since having lived briefly in the Pacific Northwest. Chinook salmon is their main food source and there is no reason we humans should feel compelled to continue eating salmon when we have many other food options. This issue has been going on for decades to no avail and is continually frustrating.” 

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “Many ecosystems are in a delicate balance. Encouraging companies to sustainably exploit their environments as Laurie advocates is incredibly important.”

December 1, 2022

Aimee Simpson

Senior Director of Advocacy & Product Sustainability

PCC Community Markets

3131 Elliot Avenue, Suite 500

Seattle, WA  98121

Re: Chinook Salmon Sales: Impact on Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW)

Dear Senior Director Simpson,

In alignment with PCC Community Markets’ annual Purposes Report and in support of our sustainability mission, I propose we re-suspend sales of Chinook salmon until further studies can determine the impact harvesting is having on our endangered population of Southern Resident Killer whose primary food source is Chinook.  

The March 2022 report, Product Sustainability Standard: Seafood - Chinook Salmon, explains our re-continuation of sales with newly imposed “sourcing standards.” However, Section 3 of the March 2022 Standards, Indicators, and Rating Guidelines for Chinook Salmon, written in conjunction with the Product Sustainability report, acknowledges these guidelines are “precautionary” and not guaranteed.

I propose we uphold our established record for ensuring quality standards and cease sales of Chinook indefinitely. I recommend raising awareness and providing financial support incentives through Point of Sale round ups while educating consumers about the plight of this endangered population of fish during customer transactions.

While the salmon industry exceeds a billion dollars in GDP annually and may support the local economy, it is not as imperative as protecting the remainder of our diminishing Chinook salmon and orca whale populations from the effects of overfishing for human consumption. We need to ensure a continued thriving ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest. As humans, we have several food sources while the whales do not. They need our voices to ensure their safety and survival.

Laurie Mollo

Sustainability Manager

PCC Community Markets

lmollo@pcc.com

Atlantic Health System Environmental Impact

by Branka Romih

Branka’s Introductory Note: “For my Corporate Social Responsibility position paper, I have chosen a topic that addresses the use of plastic and plastic straws in our hospital system cafeteria. Initially, our company introduced a program where every month they collected plastic bags, so for every 10 plastic bags that an employee brought could be exchanged for one cloth shopping bag. I welcome these environmentally friendly initiatives and I believe that each person could contribute a little bit to preserve our environment.”

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “Making even the most simple of environmental changes multiplied by a large workforce over a long period of time as Branka advocates for here can cumulatively make a huge impact.“

12/1/2022

Atlantic Health System (AHS) Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility

Atlantic Health System (AHS) as a healthcare provider is committed to the physical and mental well-being of our communities and team members.

We aim to positively contribute to the society and environment in which we work and live while making more environmentally friendly changes.

For example, in 2021, we eliminated the use of unnecessary plastic bags, plates, and cups in all our cafeterias across the system.

This year we are planning to take this program one step further. As of March 1, 2023, we will eliminate the use of plastic straws and will be replacing them with paper straws.  

By doing so, we will save nearly 300,000 plastic straws annually. Discarded straws often end up in trash or oceans and could harm wildlife as it often ends up tangled in the airways of fish, birds, and other animals.  

We hope that all team members will welcome this initiative as it is a low cost, easy to attain, environmentally friendly change.

Branka Romih

Director of Environmental Impact

Atlantic Health System (AHS)

973-500-2000

TikTok Content 

by Shonelle Williams

Shonelle’s Introductory Note: “I have seen TikTok viewed by my son. What is it about TikTok that has made it so popular and even addictive? I want to change the content of the app. ”

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “TikTok is a incredibly popular and compelling app that draws its wide user base in deeply. Figuring out a way to keep the platform’s content compelling, but not overly addictive, is an important issue across society, especially for vulnerable populations.“

11/29/2022

I would like to focus on the company TikTok. As many of you know, TikTok originated in China and was released to the public in September 2016. I do not subscribe to the app or have a TikTok account. I have only seen TikTok while surfing Instagram, but more recently I have seen TikTok viewed by my son. What is it about TikTok that has made it so popular and even addictive? I want to change the content of the app. In China, TikTok is called Douyin. The government runs this app. They can maximize the addictive effects and censor the content delivered to young people. In China, Douyin is geared towards the development of young people. Streaming will help them grow as responsible citizens. However, flip the coin, and the TikTok that is available here in the U.S. is different content. It shares things like pranks. So I would like to refine what is streamed from TikTok in the U.S. TikTok lists the following in their corporate social responsibility report (CSR), “Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy.”

As the Managing Director of TikTok, I am invested in the TikTok brand and look to uphold and implement new initiatives. This involves communication with the parent company in China, Douyin. CSR goals for TikTok would be to not sensor its content, but streamline it and make it more educational and a learning resource. There are so many apps and programs on the internet that influence people and have a positive measure. I would like to see more content added to TikTok that will do just that.

I would like to have a sub-committee at TikTok not to filter, but to make sure what we are putting out on our platform is what we want to see our young people doing. In the past, TikTok has streamed pranks. As a result, impressionable kids were going to schools and performing these pranks on their teachers. That reality is different from what we need. We need tools to help grow our young people.

I do not want to go as far as China did to censor. Instead, I want to ensure our valuable users are given a digital avenue to explore creativity. The first step is to put together a committee that can analyze the site and provide a comparison to what is being streamed in other areas. The committee would list the environmental, ethical, and economic impacts on what is happening to young people who utilize TikTok. Finally, I would like to make the effects of current content versus content more socially known in different parts of the world.

Sincerely,

Shonelle Williams

Managing Director of Public Relations

1274 Union Street

Brooklyn, NY, 11225

References:

Team, G. (2022, September 8). What are the main differences between Douyin vs Tiktok? Gab China. https://gab-china.com/what-are-the-main-differences-between-douyin-vs-tiktok/

Amazon’s Climate Pledge 

by Jennifer Claxton

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “As a company with an incredibly high market capitalization, Amazon not only has a large corporate footprint across the world, but also sets a tone for how other major companies conduct themselves. Through position papers like the one Jennifer writes, this can help push Amazon to make a strong effort on environmental issues, which can cascade across analogous multinational companies.”

December 3, 2022

Amazon’s Climate Pledge

Amazon Corporate Headquarters

410 Terry Ave N,

Seattle 98109

Amazon is a leading e-commerce business. It is also one of the most valuable companies in the world and a leader in market capitalization.

Environmental sustainability has become an increasingly important focus for Amazon in recent years. The company offers a level of convenience that allows shoppers to have items delivered within a two-day period. Although this is clearly convenient to our loyal customers, this service has also caused a magnitude of issues for the company in terms of the environment. From this, it is important that Amazon implements practices that ensure that the planet is protected.

In my role as Director for Amazon’s Climate Pledge, I want to enact practices that will continue making Amazon profitable while also contributing to environmentally sound corporate practices. A few issues that we hope to address include environmentally sustainable packaging, lowering carbon emissions, and a greater dependence on renewable energy. More specifically, the steps to a more sustainable Amazon also include:

1. Powering our facilities completely using renewable energy over the next ten years.

2. Minimizing packaging waste by using recyclable mailers.

3. Retrofitting all of our facilities and vehicles to ensure that they have the lowest carbon emissions possible.

We are confident that by following these steps, we will continue to ensure that Amazon benefits customers and stakeholders as well be an environmentally conscious organization.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Claxton

Director of Amazon’s Climate Pledge

jclaxton@amazonclimatepledge.com

555-555-5555

Amazon Sustainable Development Goals

by Manuel Gonzalez

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “As a multinational employer with a large global footprint, Manuel’s efforts to push Amazon toward achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is an admirable one.”

12-02-2022

Amazon Sustainable Development Goals

Amazon believes in and supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the face of the challenges posed by a global environmental situation that is becoming increasingly complex. We encourage our employees to consider incorporating sustainability into their daily work in a team effort. Amazon hopes that our new corporate social responsibility policies around sustainability can foster a fun and challenging work environment and foster teamwork within our company. We encourage our coworkers to keep learning and coming up with new ideas to lessen our environmental footprint.

In addition to internal environmental initiatives among our employees, we will offer the most cutting-edge and comprehensive semiconductor solutions, uphold a responsible business philosophy, work with partners both upstream and downstream to promote sustainable development and advance on social, environmental, and economic dimensions. Further, we are constantly working on improving the following corporate social responsibility objectives:

1) Avoiding and Managing Waste

The best way to reduce waste is to avoid creating it in the first place, through waste-prevention programs and optimized inventory management. Reuse is the next best option and is achieved by repairing, repurposing, and donating usable items—all actions for which we have developed programs to support. We also rely on recycling and composting to enable the recovery of raw materials. Finally, as a last resort, we seek to recover energy from any waste material that must be sent to landfill.

2) Carbon Footprint

Climate change is one of the world’s greatest crises. To address it, the public and private sectors need to act together. That is why Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach a net-zero carbon emissions by 2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement international treaty on climate change targets. Since we created the Pledge in 2019, more than 300 companies have joined Amazon in making this commitment.

Amazon sustainability efforts reflect a number of on-going initiatives, including:

●        Adopting a 100% renewable energy program by 2025

●        Ensuring 50% of all shipments reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030

●        Placing 100,000 electric delivery vehicles on the road by 2030

●        Implementing Frustration-Free Packaging (FFP) Programs that promote low waste, easy-to-open packaging, and 100% recyclable packing materials

3) Providing a Range of Employee Benefits

Finally, Amazon believes that a diverse, passionate workforce is key to a successful business. We are building a strong culture and making investments to attract and retain the talented employees we need today and in the future.

Amazon strives to be a great place to work, whether our employees are building lifelong careers with us or developing skills to help them on their professional journeys. This begins with offering competitive starting wages in locations around the world, and continues with benefits, support, and opportunities to help employees reach their full potential such as through tuition reimbursements.

We look forward to working with our employees and external partners to make all of these goals possible.

Sincerely,

Manuel Gonzalez

Director of Communications

Amazon

Manuel.Gonzalez123@amazon.com

Walmart Diversity & Inclusion Efforts  

by Raquel M. Gonzalez-Otieno

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “Raquel’s letter advocates for Walmart to make its increasingly diverse roster of employees feel welcome and included. This is a very welcome goal for Walmart as well as any employer of any size.“

December 2, 2022

Re.: Diversity & Inclusion at Walmart

We here at Walmart value our employees as much as our customers. Our Diversity and Inclusion Team is committed to the well-being of our employees. Walmart’s goal is for every employee to feel welcomed and like they belong.

You are part of a bigger family – the Walmart family. As such, we leave no one out of the picture. We want everyone to feel at home. Walmart has invested millions of dollars into the education of our employees. As a result, Walmart is announcing a dollar-for-dollar matching program for education fees like tuition and books.

Walmart has also included a comprehensive medical plan, 401K investment plan, retirement and stock options, as well as bonus initiatives and an increase in our employees’ discounts. Head over to our Walmart Team app and see all the wonderful things we have in store for you.    

Raquel Gonzalez, CSR

Diversity & Inclusion Manager

rgonzalez@walmart_d&i.com 

RadNet Medical Imaging 

by Danielle Hance

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “High quality internal professional development training is essential for all organizations, but especially for health care as is demonstrated by Danielle’s paper.“

December 2, 2022

Medical Imaging at RadNet

Medical imaging has become significantly important in accessing patient data for chronic diseases, illnesses, and life altering injuries, among other things. With the help of artificial intelligence programs and software, medical imaging has improved drastically.

However, radiologists and support staff are often required to perform double the work with not much additional information or staff support to go by. As a result, this increases complexity and volume of work decreases productivity in the workplace. These issues can lead to staff burnout. This lowers the quality of care administered to patients, decreases positive patient outcomes, impacts professionalism, increases healthcare cost, adds to emotional exhaustion, and reduces personal accomplishments.

RadNet Inc. is the leading national provider of freestanding, fixed-site diagnostic imaging services in the United States. Part of our corporate social responsibility statement entails “the strength of our workforce is critical to the success of our mission to provide comprehensive radiology solutions and change the future of healthcare. We are focused on attracting, retaining, and developing the talent we need to deliver on our commitment to our patients and partners” (RadNet, n.d., pp. 6-7).

In my experience as an Insurance Verification Specialist at RadNet, our productivity is increasing, but can be further improved to provide better quality of care to patients. It can also ensure that staff members are working to the best of their ability without experiencing extreme stressors in the work environment that prevents them from excelling further.

For example, we have many scheduling errors on same day appointments that can prevent further payment, patients are added at the last minute, radiologists have to readjust their scheduled patients, and staff members are doing double the work to ensure patient demographics information is entered correctly, and we have sufficient documentation in place. This has impacted RadNet’s daily workflow as information is constantly missing. Although many individuals are helping on the RadNet team, they are completing the bare minimum requirements and exiting the chart leaving someone else to follow up without proper documentation.

As one of the leading insurance verification specialists for the New York region I suggest that everyone in the department receives a refresher training on:

• demographics during the intake process,
• proper receival of insurance cards,
• referrals, and
• referring doctor’s information.

If we are not able to obtain all of those vital pieces of information, then the appointment should not be scheduled unless its special circumstances due to life or death circumstances or other dire exceptions that we have already set in place.

Refresher training and review quizzes should be conducted every 3 months, as we know rules change frequently. In addition, we should separate the eligibility phone line team from the eligibility remote and onsite teams, but remain in connection via Webex messenger to ensure all capacities are covered. These measures should decline scheduling errors, missing information, and last minute inconveniences in the office. All of these issues create further issues with patients and a lighter workload for staffing team and radiologist technicians.

Measures such as these listed above by RadNet can be adopted across other healthcare entities. Ideally this will ensure that efficiency and productivity continually improve while avoiding stressful work environments that lead to burn out and worse patient care.  

Thank you for your consideration.

Danielle Hance

Insurance Verification Specialist

RadNet

888.888.8888

Walt Disney Water Conservation

by John Martinez

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “John’s writing focuses on reducing Disney’s consumption of water as well as implementing a more rigorous water recycling program across its array of global theme parks and other operations to help in the water conservation movement.”

Dear Chief Executive Iger,

The Walt Disney Company, as one of the largest and most influential entertainment companies in the world, is in a unique position to be a leader in a variety of fields to improve society at large.

In water conservation and recycling the company can become a leader in improving water resources for all. As the Director of Environmental Quality and Standards at the Walt Disney Company, I will help lead the charge to improve the company’s use of water in its parks and offices around the world. The company’s goal for this is to reduce water intake for its parks and locations by 30% over the next five years and to clean and reuse 50% of the water from the parks for use in other projects.

To achieve this goal, our initiative will take place over a five-year timeline to improve the company’s use of water supplies across its global locations. While the company already has a water treatment facility that exclusively serves its parks in Florida, we plan to expand this facility to treat and reuse the water from these parks for other projects from our partners, such as for use in farmland and other needs in the community. The initiative plans to hire more staff to facilitate the improvement and expansion of these services. We plan to hire 100 new personnel to assist in the treatment of the water and expansion of the plant. In addition, the initiative will hire experts to examine the numerous facilities in the company to make recommendations on how Disney can improve water efficiency, allowing us to act upon these recommendations and become a leader in water conservation and recycling.

The Walt Disney Company seeks to be a world leader in combating climate change through this water conservation initiative among the company’s many planned projects, helping to lead the charge for other companies to follow suit. The world is rapidly changing and companies like ours must adapt to meet its demands. We look forward to sharing more on this initiative in the future as it progresses.

Sincerely,

John Martinez

Director of Environmental Quality and Standards

The Walt Disney Company

888-888-8888

Black Lives Matter Social Impact Report

by Nadine Pierre-Louis

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “Black Lives Matter originated online. It is an excellent example of leveraging the power of social media for offline impact. Nadine’s paper advocates for younger black people to advocate for change that lowers barriers that perpetuate racist practices within Fortune 500 companies and beyond.”

December 3, 2022

Black Lives Matter Social Impact Report

There is no room for inequality and racism in America. The Black Lives Matter campaign works to end systemic racism and the mistreatment of African Americans across the world. It is important to “write the world” and utilize our influence to make changes in society that are not morally right or go against equal treatment of all.

The Black Lives Matter movement has a heavy influence on Fortune 500 companies as well as social media. After the 2020 killing of George Floyd, many companies felt the pressure to publicly announce their support of the movement while condemning racism. We would like to expand and improve our social media influence to encourage the younger black generation to get involved and demand change regarding racism and other issues that are negatively impacted due to racism. We are working to create events and social meetings to attract the youth and develop a new community within the organization, working towards the same goal.

Sincerely,

Nadine Pierre-Louis

Director of Public Relations

Black Lives Matter

Email: press@blacklivesmatter.com

Tel: 888-888-8888

_____________________________________________________________________________

Toyota Reducing Exhaust Emissions

by Erika Rodriguez

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “Erika advocates on behalf of Toyota producing electric vehicles to reduce its global carbon footprint. Further, it is a strategic move that can also contribute to its corporate bottom line. In short, Toyota could garner good will among the public as well as satisfy investors and other stakeholders.”

December 2, 2022

Electric Vehicle Production to Reduce Toyota’s Exhaust Emissions

As Manager of the Environmental Impact Department for Toyota Motor Corporation, I would like to emphasize my concern regarding our role regarding air quality. My potential solution focuses on the importance of reducing exhaust emissions.

I have reached out to the CEO of the Environmental Impact Department to evaluate my proposal. It fits in with our company’s overall environmental vision.

Toyota considers it important to address air quality where urban environments result in greater air pollution caused by our global emissions across our corporate operations. This is an important issue to me because I strongly care about the environment. I share a strong concern about the environmental damage caused by global emissions by Toyota.

Electric vehicles sustain a meaningful promise in reducing global emissions, resulting in a minimized environmental impact. Over the long term, our environment is our most important place, therefore great care must be provided, including by multinational corporations like Toyota. Transportation accounts for nearly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., including Toyota (Bradshaw, 2022).

An approachable goal to overcoming this issue is to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions in the most affected areas and consequently begin to clear up urban air. This will include an increased production of electric vehicles. This will improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas impacts across different nations where we operate. The concrete steps that I suggest following to meet my proposed corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals are:

1. Initiate a reduced exhaust emission vehicle supply of ¼ from the previous inventory. Replace this ¼ with electric vehicles.

2. Record environmental data for 1 year to analyze the impact of this initiative.

3. Continue to decrease the supply of exhaust vehicles every year by ¼.

· Year 2= Supply of 2/4.

· Year 3= Supply of ¾.

· Year 4= Supply of 4/4. The remaining ¼ reductions must be replaced by electric vehicles to fill vehicle supply by demand.

4. Collaborate with air quality research organizations in each country to help collect and analyze more reliable data.

Air quality improvement will be achieved through the effective implementation of the CRS goal steps, and continuous data collection and analysis.

Sincerely,

Erika Rodriguez

Manager of Environmental Impact

Toyota Motor Corporation

Erika.Rodriguez@toyota.com

References:

Bradshaw, N. (2022, September 20). Are electric vehicles really better for the environment? Entergy Newsroom. https://www.entergynewsroom.com/article/are-electric-vehicles-really-better-for-environment/

_____________________________________________________________________________

Kia Electric Vehicles

by Carlos Leon

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “Carlos promotes the expansion of Kia’s electric vehicle production, both in the U.S. and abroad to help align with its five Core Values.”

December 5, 2022

Kia

Who are we?

KIA America, Inc. is a Korean car manufacturer that started selling its vehicles in the United States in 1994 and has become one of the top manufacturers and sellers of automobiles in America.

Policy brief and purpose

We feel that building great cars is only part of what we should be doing as a company. Building great cars while building an inclusive culture in which the diversity of our team members, dealers, customers, and partners is a key ingredient to our sustained success. We are committed to working diligently toward our goals so that we can consistently demonstrate how we support this vision through all we do. We believe that when we give it everything, we can achieve anything.

What is corporate social responsibility at Kia?

We have been interested in alternative fuel technology since 1988 and have included it in our 2025 Plan S. In fact we consider ourselves part of the evolution of electric vehicles (EVs). We have been pioneers in helping reduce our carbon footprint by investing $25 billion dollars to develop sustainable, environmentally-conscious, transportation and production. It is the purpose of our Plan S. The “S” in Plan S stands for “shift,” as in a shift from a business system focused on internal combustion engine vehicles toward one centered on electric vehicles and customized mobility solutions.

Scope

Our plan is substantial. But we can do more. We will increase the number of EVs we produce and sell not just within the United States, but throughout our factories at home and also abroad. For our carbon footprint to lessen, we must take steps for that to happen on a global scale. Each journey starts with its first steps and this is ours. In order to do this I, as Director of Research and Development, would direct our suppliers to use renewable and reusable materials in our orders. Additional research will aso be directed towards creating more carbon neutral elements for our products and use the same at our facilities.

Policy elements

We want to be a responsible business that meets the highest standards of ethics and professionalism. We have five Core Values that are fundamental to our success and company culture: customer first, challenges, communication and collaboration, people, and globality. The Core Values are reinforced throughout our workplace and celebrated annually. I sincerely believe that this push toward greater EV production will help us attain our five Core Values and help our stakeholders, the country, and the world.

Sincerely,

Carlos Leon

Director of Research and Development

KIA America, Inc.

888.888.8888

carlos.leon@kia.com

Johnson & Johnson Products

by Shennel Wallace

Dr. Sossi’s Introductory Note: “Shennel advocates for safer ingredients in Johnson & Johnson baby powder to help our next generation healthy and happy.”

December 5, 2022

Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder

Hello,

My name is Shennel Wallace. I am a newly hired Merchandise Representative for Johnson & Johnson (J & J. )

I am writing to bring attention to an issue that has been occurring here at J & J. Our products have been used by many new parents and families to care for their children for many years. From body washes to baby powders, our products have graced the shelves of many major and small department stores across the world.

Johnson & Johnson has received a bad reputation lately because our baby powers have been found linked to having cancerous ingredients. As a newly hired Merchandise Representative, I would like to advocate that the company go back to the drawing board and revamp the way our products are being made and ensuring they are created with more care and without causing harm to our customers.

We will first begin with the removal of talcum from our powder products and ensure all products being distributed going forward are 100% safe. I hope that this is a welcome first step to ensure that all of our offerings across our product lines are safe for all of our valuable customers.

Sincerely,

Shennel Wallace

Merchandise Representative  

Johnson & Johnson

888.888.8888

Shennel.Wallace@Johnson.com

by Dr. Dino Sossi

Companies across industries have become increasingly responsive to the whirlwind of social issues that swirl all around them. By writing eloquent internal position papers, CUNY students can learn to leverage the power of the organizations they will work for to “write the world” around them.

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