“Sustainability” and “Oil” are rarely used in the same sentence, however when you look at the company Cenovus that’s exactly what comes to mind. They are one of the most sustainable companies in North America and they work in one of the most looked down upon industries in the world. Again this raises the question of business
responsibility and ethic’s. Milton Freidman wrote an article on how “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits.” I’m not going to say I agree with him outright but he does have some valid points. Is a company being sustainable just to appear the way the public wants them to therefore increasing demand for their product? It is impossible to say, even with a company like Cenovus. In an industry that so often gets more than its fair share of scrutiny, there’s nothing better than to look like you are different, sustainable even. This will help boost profits within the company and the ill-fated “social-responsibility” is more or less an elaborate advertising scheme to ensure profitable growth of the company. I guess the real question is: does doing the right thing for the wrong make it the wrong thing?
*Cenovus cooperate responsibility page
–“A different Oil Sands”
Very relevant post regarding CSR, Steven!
It’s great to see that you are keeping up with your blog!
I suppose the lesson to be learned here is…someone’s got to be the bad guy?
I completely agree with the idea that some companies are out to just name themselves “sustainable” for the good public relations. So how do you ween out the fakes?
I personally think that it is okay to do the right thing for the wrong reason because what it comes down to is the right thing is being done. It is still better then having the wrong thing being done for the wrong reason (it’s cheaper). This is a very wise post, really got me thinking.