The good, the bad, and the in-between

I've been researching CSR benchmarking recently - the awards and rankings that separate the "good" companies from the "bad" ones. As I compiled a lengthy list of these, I came across an article by David Vogel, who not long ago wrote The Market for Virtue.

His article ("When do 'good' firms go 'bad'?"; L.A. Times 2/13) argues that corporations are never entirely virtuous nor entirely evil, and that to say they are is an oversimplification. He points to half a dozen extremely compelling examples:

• British Petroleum (BP), which embraced alternative energy development but has struggled with industrial accidents that killed workers and destroyed Alaskan tundra.
• Microsoft, despised for monopolization but forgiven for it's founders charitable deeds - even if the Gates Foundation itself has been under recent scrutiny for its investment activities.
• Merck, which gives away river-blindness drugs but also failed to recall the blockbuster drug Vioxx after evidence of heart damage surfaced.
• Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, which manufactures tobacco but does so on family farms owned mostly by minorities, and gives generously to charitable causes.

As more consumers, and more companies, pay attention to the reputational value of CSR, it's important to keep in mind that companies are complex organizations with many people, and people are complex organisms with many motivations.