by Mary Ann Mcgivern

Created on: November 15, 2009   Last Updated: January 05, 2010

Grameen Bank, headquartered in Bangladesh, is one of the oldest and most famous socially and environmentally conscious companies. Grameen makes micro-loans to circles of women. The women participate in education programs that teach community organizing as well as business planning. They select which one of them will receive the first loan. When that loan is repaid, the circle selects the second recipient, and so on. Grameen has made loans to men, but the women prove to be a better investment risk. When flooding and other disasters occur, Grameen renegotiates the loans; when small disasters occur such as funeral costs after a death in the family, the other memberes of the circle help the woman meet her loan obligations.

Grameen has generously shared its know-how around the world. But Grameen is a non-profit. It seeks donations and grants rather than investments that would repay the principal as well as interest and it plows its profit back into the bank.

Another notable non-profit business is Better World Books, committed to global literacy. BWB seeks book donations, sells them (using carbon-neutral shipping), and donates the profits to literacy programs. Employees are paid a living wage and participate in company decision-making.

But it is more difficult to determine socially and environmentally conscious for-profit businesses. Criteria include the usefulness of the product; measures of production waste; working conditions, including fair wages and equal employment opportunity; and sales practices. For example, some investors reject firms that produce alcohol or tobacco or electricity by means of nuclear power. Others reject firms that market to children or profit from certain foreign military sales or engage in genetic engineering.

Because market competition drives company practice down to the lowest common denominator, best in class is a good means of identifying socially and environmentally conscious companies. Annual awards are a good measuring tool, though they tend to go to smaller, privately-owned firms. One of the oldest. the Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) Environmental Leadership Awards have been given every year in the UK since 1975. In 2009 the big prize went to Bovis Lend Lease for managing sustainable change.

The Deming Prize has been given in Japan since 1950 to award major advances in manufacturing quality improvement. Quality improvement inevitably reduces waste and improves workforce competence, even if management is not consciously

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