Essential Question:
How do corporations achieve sustainability and social responsibility within companies and cooperation with others? Specifically, I want to provide the basic contest and definition of corporate sustainability and talk about its development of concept, strategy and policies. Then, I would like to research about company cooperation and impacts with communities, other companies, governments, NGOs, and individuals. I want to focus on both the business and legal perspectives of this concept.
Project Description:
In my Capstone Project, I will create two products related to the essential question- corporate sustainability. Although the products are presented in various ways, they are all interconnected to the theme. The first product will be a research paper focusing specifically on one aspect of corporate sustainability. The second product will be a workshop in Social Justice Day, debriefing the importance of corporate ethics and ways to improve it.
The Origin of My Research:
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Two years ago, I attended a summer school about the introduction of the U.S. Law and lawyers’ logic. Before coming to that class, I wasn’t interested in business and corporate law at all. However, after that class, I became super interested in becoming a corporate lawyer. However, based on the documentaries I watched, such as Mann V. Ford, I was aware that corporations could be evil. Therefore, when I was signing up for Cornell summer school, I saw corporate sustainability and was super curious about what that class would provide, since it provides a balance for both. At the beginning of the class I found out that students have all learned about the business foundation, but I had not. However, my worries disappeared as my interests in law and sustainability helped me succeed in that class. By talking to the professor who had both a legal and sustainability background, I was more assured and had a clearer goal of what I want to do in the future. Therefore, I decided to make progress in that way now by making it my Global Studies Capstone Project.
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First Product: Research Paper
The title of my research paper is called "A Look into Methods to Achieve Sustainability Through Corporate-NGO Cooperations". First introducing corporations and NGO's rival relationship, this paper talks about the how and why a partnership can benefit them both. In the first part, corporation, NGO and corporate sustainability are define. Later on, this paper talks about three methods for businesses and NGOs to work together: The first one is NGO's help in corporate regulations, which can boost companies' reputations. I used Apple and child labor case in DR Congo as an example. The second method is about certification schemes, which is a way to show the public that corporations are sustainable and green. In this section, I used B Labs as an example. At last, NGOs can help corporations with new and foreign markets. Through them companies can overcome communication issues. Besides, this action can benefit small and rural communities, as I used Bata & CARE case in defending my argument.
Passages & Quotes
- "By doing so, they not only target the companies that directly relate to such activities, but also those that are indirectly related, like investment banks." - NGO's reaction to company damaging the Earth
- "The goal of corporate sustainability is to achieve stakeholder value by implementing methods that are socially responsible in terms of environmental and human rights."
- "Cooperation attracts partnerships, consumers, and satisfies shareholders because the market and public favor socially responsible companies."- Regulations
- "Different from other types of certificates, it does not only address or evaluate certain products, but it also takes into account the entire corporation by examining its philosophy and impact in “workers, customers, community, and environment”- The way B Labs distinct from other NGOs
- "When consumers look at two similar products, where one is one is NGO approved and one is not, they are likely to choose the former one as they are aware that purchasing this product is supporting worker rights."
- "Obstacles can occur in any of these steps; even when a company has already established its market, it still needs to find ways to adapt to local environments physically and economically. Local NGOs can speed up the whole procedure." -Obstacles in opening foreign markets
- "Unlike receiving donations or aids from the UN, this kind of transaction is sustainable, as the locals now own valuable skills in which donations are not able to provide."- How corporate sustainability is different from philanthropies
Second Product: Social Justice Workshop
My second product is a workshop for my school's Social Justice Day, a day devoted to students to learn about the injustices in the world and methods to resolve them. I decided that students needed to know the damage that large corporations bring about to the planet and its residents.
I started my workshop by introducing the basic information about sustainability and existing corporate issues that break its balance. Then, I went into detail to explain Amazon’s issues regarding environmental and social sustainability and contrasted it with Starbucks and why it can maintain ethics in the coffee industry. In the end, I provided three thought-provoking corporate dilemmas for students to discuss.
Compared to my research paper, my workshop relates closer to people’s daily life. While my paper proposes ideas for corporations to improve themselves through partnerships with NGOs, the workshop analyzes real business cases that the common audience understands. It is not only a more broad approach to corporate sustainability, but it is more personal, as well. I found myself connected to the corporations that I mentioned in the workshop.
To complete the workshop, I researched various topics ranging from the definition of sustainability, criticisms on Amazon, and Starbucks' sustainability goals. (Links to individual articles/videos are on the last page of the PowerPoint)
PowerPoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1b5133wT82iDkRO_0orII8wumHJ5rHmZEOH9Nc5OxBl0/edit?usp=sharing
I started my workshop by introducing the basic information about sustainability and existing corporate issues that break its balance. Then, I went into detail to explain Amazon’s issues regarding environmental and social sustainability and contrasted it with Starbucks and why it can maintain ethics in the coffee industry. In the end, I provided three thought-provoking corporate dilemmas for students to discuss.
Compared to my research paper, my workshop relates closer to people’s daily life. While my paper proposes ideas for corporations to improve themselves through partnerships with NGOs, the workshop analyzes real business cases that the common audience understands. It is not only a more broad approach to corporate sustainability, but it is more personal, as well. I found myself connected to the corporations that I mentioned in the workshop.
To complete the workshop, I researched various topics ranging from the definition of sustainability, criticisms on Amazon, and Starbucks' sustainability goals. (Links to individual articles/videos are on the last page of the PowerPoint)
PowerPoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1b5133wT82iDkRO_0orII8wumHJ5rHmZEOH9Nc5OxBl0/edit?usp=sharing
