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Kellogg School of Management and AACR Convene a Joint Conference with Great Success
Chicago, October 15, 2009: The Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University,
and the Association of Americans for Civic Responsibility (AACR) joined together to
sponsor a very successful roundtable conference on
"Social Responsibility in Small and Medium Size Enterprises" at Kellogg's James
Allen Center on October 15. The event was attended by about 40 invited attendees who
included representatives and leaders from small and
medium size businesses, academia, and public policy organizations. Professor Tim
Feddersen of Kellogg kicked off the event emphasizing that the time has come to
raise the level of awareness of corporate social responsibility
among small and medium size businesses. Dr. Jamie Jones of Kellogg, in her opening
remarks, outlined the desire of the university to include corporate social
responsibility (CSR) as an integral part of the preparation
of students who take business management majors at the Kellogg School of Management.
Dr. Joy Cherian, the founder/President of AACR, coined a tag line for the conference
in his presentation as to "
Be
Generous and Become Prosperous".
The first segment of the conference was on Unique Challenges of Social
Responsibility in Small
& Medium Enterprises moderated by Rudy Pamintuan, CEO of Sherman
Worldwide and a former US Presidential Appointee from Chicago. The panelists were
Joseph Melookaran CPA; a business leader from Kansas City
and Mr. Jim D'Angelo, Regional Manager, Chicago based Lou Malnati's Pizzeria.
Detailing various dimensions of corporate social responsibility, Melookaran chiefly
emphasized the first dimension of corporate civic responsibility
- commitment to and support for the community. "This can be a win-win for the
business entity and community; and certainly it can be so impactful with appropriate
intervention in the forms of institutional framework
and a high level of public awareness and encouragement", Melookaran said.
Mr. D'Angelo highlighted the significant benefits through socially responsible
behavior; some of these benefits include a well-educated, stable, satisfied work
force; a healthy environment; and a thriving community in which
to live and do business. He narrated the opening of his Pizza Restaurants in many
inner city communities following a conscious strategy of his company to do good for
the community and to enhance the economic means of
those who live in those communities.
Dr. Jamie Jones of the Kellogg School of Management speaks
"There is greater morale amongst employees whose companies have CSR" Pamintuan said.
At his company Sherman Worldwide, CSR investments are part of fixed costs and the
company has no choice but to generate revenue to cover
costs. Since the interested organizations or individuals are much in need, as
business owner, we always find a way to keep CSR commitments.
Tom Doherty, who was featured in the mainstream media for his exemplary CSR efforts,
explained his initiatives to meet the community needs. His jewelry firm offers good
employee policies and has adopted nine major small
groups in the community (i.e. breast cancer, child care). His company builds
theme-based jewelry that has benefited these small community organizations. He
believes CSR has to be engrained in a company.
The second segment of the conference was on Sustaining a Socially responsible
Focus in a Troubled
Economy moderated by Dr. Joy Cherian. The presenters were Major General
Paul Lima from Milwaukee and Dr. David Gomez, an Executive Search consulting firm
CEO, headquartered in Chicago.
General Lima focused on CSR efforts by small and medium sized businesses and
their potential impact on problems facing veterans returning from service in the
Army. "In this extremely fragile economic environment,
offering jobs for veterans is extremely invaluable" he said. The Army has relied on
national guard/reserve lists, where 90% of people have jobs. It is very difficult to
keep civilian jobs because of multiple tours of
duty and most soldiers work for SMEs.
Dr. David Gomez talked about business strategies such as austerity measures for SMEs
that help those companies survive through these troubled economic times. With
careful planning and execution SMEs can weather the storm
and still be engaged in the community doing good. Community is also a stakeholder in
their business and a stable community is good for the business.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Cherian expressed his hope that the US Small Business
Administration (SBA) would consider including CSR component to their small business
advisories and push the SMEs CSR focus at the policy
level.
This conference was sponsored by Mr. Joseph Melookaran of JMA Chartered,
Overland Park,
Kansas. AACR appreciates his generosity.
