CENTER FOR BUSINESS
AS AN AGENT OF WORLD BENEFIT

It is possible for a very small number of committed, enterprising people to make substantive positive change. The development of the Beachland Ballroom & Tavern in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood has served as an impetus for community redevelopment and urban renewal. Its owners continue to promote the area’s improvement with an eye toward business growth and economic stability that will revitalize the district.

Coca-Cola is the largest private sector employer in Africa, with more than 60,000 employees. It has operated in Africa for more than 75 years and over the last five years has invested more than $600 million in new plants, updated equipments and employee training. Africa has been a profitable region for the company with continuous increase in revenues as well as unit case volume. But this rate of growth is threatened by the prevalence of AIDS/HIV crisis in the continent. The company has launched several initiatives to educate, protect and curb the crisis for its employees, in turn helping the economic growth of the whole region. Through partnerships and collaborations several innovative programs have been institutionalized. The prevention and education within the company cascade down, contributing to the health and development of the whole community.

The Social Enterprise El Pan de Cada Día (Our Daily Bread) was born in 2003 as the first of its kind in Peru and the only enterprise of its kind to exclusively employ disabled persons (Personas con Discapacidad a/k/a PCD). The company rescues, recuperates and reinserts into society disabled persons of low economic resources that are totally abandoned and that live in extreme poverty in places like the province of Trujillo in La Libertad. The PCD are given dignified living conditions and the opportunity to work regularly for the first time in their lives. The bread and pastry Our Daily Bread produces is sold to approximately 15,000 persons every day in what Peruvians term the "D and E social strata". This segment of the population benefit from the cost and quality of the products created by Our Daily Bread. Working within that poor population the company is fighting against poverty by combining the employment of those at the bottom of the economic pyramid with producing an affordable product for the same.

Equal Exchange is a successful, growing, for-profit, employee-owned, specialty foods company that has helped to pioneer the “Fair Trade” model that improves the market access, income, and commercial opportunities for small-scale farmers in developing countries. In the traditional coffee supply chain, small-scale farmers sell their crop to a chain of intermediaries who eventually export the coffee. Under this arrangement the individual farmers have almost no control; few economic options; carry out only the very least profitable link in the value chain; and receive just a small amount of the export price – which itself is usually too low to provide more than a poverty-level income. In contrast to conventional importing practices Equal Exchange deals directly with democratically run farmer cooperatives in Africa, Asia and South America, and buys their coffee, and other crops, at a guaranteed above-market price. In addition, Equal Exchange works with socially responsible financial institutions in the U.K. and U.S. to provide affordable loans to cooperatives that might otherwise lack access to credit. These Fair Trade practices increase the incomes of the economically disadvantaged growers; helps them to invest in their operations; and fosters broad-based, stable economic growth in rural communities. Fair Trade also helps to foster equality and democracy in countries where corruption is often a problem.

As the oldest and largest for-profit Fair Trade company in the U.S., Equal Exchange trades directly with 28 democratically run farmer co-ops located in 14 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Its mission is to build long-term partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relations between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate the viability of worker cooperatives and Fair Trade. They strive to build social and economic justice through the marketplace.

Enacting a fair trade model that values the farmers, consumers, and the environment, Equal Exchange is an inspiring example of success based on collaboration and honest intentions to do good. Equal Exchange is a co-operative that accurately calls itself a social change organization. It has been built as a company that is controlled by the employees. By collaborating with worker co-operatives around the globe, the organization is successfully providing high quality food to the customer. Additionally, it is also proactively educating consumers about trade issues affecting the farmers bringing positive social change in the community.

Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC) is committed to crafting fresh, flavorful, high-quality beer and food while remaining principle-centered, environmentally respectful and socially conscious. They have incorporated a "zero waste initiative" into day-to-day operations and cut operating costs at the same time. The objective is to make full use of the by-products generated from the brewing process.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is one of the top producers of double certified – organic and fair trade - coffee. As such, the company is uniquely positioned to promote ecological restoration while at the same time participating in poverty alleviation. To assure the overall successes of the double certified product like, every year Green Mountain Coffee Roasters takes its employees, customers, and partners for a "trip to the origin". To date, about 20% of the company has taken the trip to learn about the intricate interdependencies of all coffee production processes, "from tree to cup," and to engage with partners at the origins in order to create new mutually beneficial policies, methods, and approaches to coffee production.

Over the past 15 years, Groupe DANONE has moved into a number of emerging markets, including China, Indonesia, India, North Africa, and South Africa. In all of these countries, the sale of high quality food products is held back by the low purchasing power of consumers. Today Asia, Latin America and the Africa/Middle East region account for no less than 24% of group sales. To make its products accessible to low-income consumers, the company launched DANONE's Affordability Initiative. Through this Initiative it has developed products with significantly enhanced nutritional value that meets local needs at an affordable price, without compromising high standards for quality and food safety.

“Sustainable agriculture” is a competitive and productive type of agriculture striving to include, in addition to food quality and safety standards, a balance between respect for the environment, economic and social repercussions on the local environment, and profitability. Groupe Danone is one of the first food-manufacturing groups to have committed to sustainable agriculture, an essential requirement for meeting consumer expectations, considered as a complementary approach to organic agriculture. This commitment, however, does not mean that the Group is neglecting organic agriculture, as shown by the purchase of Stonyfield Farm in the United States.

The story of Hubbard Foods Ltd. of New Zealand represents an innovative approach to Sustainability Reporting (SR). Traditionally, SR is seen as an adjunct, or secondary, reporting process for a company, often performed for external stakeholders and marketed for general public as a means of PR. Hubbard Foods Ltd decided to use their SR process as a means for sustainability implementation – in other words, as a part of their overall change management process. As a result, a new set of Key Performance Area Drivers and Indicators have been devised and integrated into core operations of the company.

Newman’s Own Organics is an organic food manufacturer that focuses on providing the kinds of products people loved as kids, but takes them one step further by using the highest quality of available organic ingredients. Nell Newman, daughter of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, along with Peter Meehan founded Newman’s Own Organics in 1993. Newman’s Organics has been an innovator of organic food products since its conception, concentrating on developing products with wide consumer appeal, such as pretzels, cookies and popcorn. According to Nell Newman, “Some people have a narrow definition of organic. They see it as heavy and tasteless, being forced to change your eating habits. No way! This is great food that is ultimately better for the environment long, long term.”

An alliance of farmers and restaurant owners in Northeast Ohio is developing a sustainable food network. Novel relationships between the farmers and the local retailers and restaurateurs have stimulated efforts to educate small business owners and consumers about the benefits of sustainability. Members of the alliance are working to combat over-industrialization while improving health and the environment.

PeaceWorks is a not-only-for-profit specialty food company that manages to combine production of condiments with peace building. Fostering coexistence through business, they unite people traditionally on the opposite sides of conflict via a shared goal. Together with people who are striving to co-exist, Peaceworks creates and delivers unique and exciting specialty foods. PeaceWorks currently does business with Israelis, Palestinians, Egyptians, South Africans, Turks, Indonesians and Sri Lankans.

In 1999, Restaurant Nora in the Dupont Circle area of Washington D.C. became the first certified organic restaurant in the nation, a distinction currently shared by only two other establishments. Through her commitment to promoting a healthier society, Austrian born Nora Pouillon has become not only a pioneer in the world of organic cuisine, she has demonstrated that organic foods and the upscale dining experience are eminently compatible. In the late 70’s, when healthy eating was associated with vegetarianism and the alternative culture, she set out to show that seasonal, local, and organic cuisine was well suited to the white-tablecloth dining experience. And she has done so decidedly. Since opening its doors in 1979, Nora’s Restaurant has been lauded in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times Magazine, Gourmet, Vogue, and USA Today, and she has granted a considerable number of interviews, including one for CNN, and with the likes of Madeline Albright, Betty Friedan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Jane Goodall for the preparation of the PBS documentary, If Women Ruled the World.

Starbucks Coffee Company’s C.A.F.E (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices program ensures that Starbucks sources sustainably grown and processed coffee by evaluating the economic, social and environmental aspects of coffee growing along the supply chain. In 2005, Starbucks purchased 76.8 million pounds of coffee from the C.A.F.E Practice providers, which represents 24.6% of all coffee purchased by the company. By improving the environment, economy, and the educational and health services within local communities, Starbucks creates stability for its farmers and, in turn, for the company, according to Cindy Hoots, Senior Specialist at Starbucks in the Corporate Responsibility Office.

The Greyston Bakery, a for-profit business, incorporates the positive societal agenda into its core business practice via hiring individuals “chronically unemployed” due to lack of skills and education, as well as histories of homelessness, drug addiction and incarceration. Furthermore, the bakery sustains the work of its non-profit affiliate, Greyston Mandela. With an overriding mission to reduce human suffering, both organizations are focused on sustainability, community development and empowerment.

A Home for the Holidays, which airs annually on the U.S. network CBS, is the product of Wendy's, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and The Children’s Action Network. In 1992, Dave Thomas created the Foundation to promote adoption awareness in the United States. This organization has allowed Wendy's employees to be engaged in the cause of adoption at the local and national levels. The results have touched tens of thousands of families and children.

Food, Fun and Social Activism - the blinking words flashing across the website of White Dog cafe more than sum up its philosophy- they define the life spirit flowing through the café’s business model. The café does not simply offer its award-winning cuisine but does this with social consciousness through various activities and events organized throughout the year. Through its initiatives to serve the customer, community, earth and each other, the café is a model for small community businesses as levers for social change.

Whole Foods is the largest organic and natural foods grocer in the United States. Clearing $188 million in profits over the past two years, it has beaten Wal-Mart in overall and comparable store sales growth, while profoundly impacting how Americans eat. The company also prides itself on treating employees in a fair and equitable manner and preventing upper management salaries from skyrocketing out of control. Financial data is released to employees, to help them understand how the company is doing and keep the working environment transparent. Executive pay is limited to 14 times the average frontline worker, while frontline employees qualify for stock options, profit sharing, health insurance for full time employees, and paid time off for volunteer work.