Progressive Companies and Businesses

We invited many progressive companies to be a part of the Marketplace exhibition. In this way they were able to get some international exposure and also connect with the different initiatives that were represented at the conference.

What is a progressive company?

That is hard to define. Most companies would think of themselves as progressive.

In our sense, we have a few criteria, which are not fixed and not all aspects have to be met, but they are guidelines helping us to judge the degree of social and environmental awareness present in the company.

Does the company have Social Responsibility program assisting non—profit organisations and other community ventures?

What is it doing for the protection of the environment?

What are the working conditions in the company like?

Is it involved in a fair-pricing system for its suppliers in development countries?

Here are a few keys that might help one to form a judgement:

Social responsibility extends beyond our business into our day-to-day lives. Are they involved in external activities such as human rights/refugee advocacy, peace initiatives, drug and alcohol counselling, environmental rehabilitation and the sponsorship of families in third world countries, for example

Clients could also be involved with recommending projects to sponsor and share revenue through their involvement.

Do they work in partnership with clients and providers to develop, support and promote sustainable solutions that seek to achieve a common goal - a just, peaceful and environmentally harmonious world for our generation and those yet to come.

Do they have a commitment to providing each of their full-time employees a living wage and a thirty five hour working week. Do they employ people based on merits and skill without discrimination based on age, colour, creed or relationship orientation. Do they ensure reasonable social benefits for their staff?

Do they recognise the personal, parental, educational and family responsibilities of their employees, and ensure that each staff member is properly supported in terms of being able to take leave at short notice when the need arises.

Staff should be provided with the opportunities to further develop their skills, with the aim of making the company an enjoyable and satisfactory place to work.

Ethical purchasing?

Ethical purchasing put simply is buying things that are made ethically by companies that act ethically. Ethical can be a subjective term both for companies and consumers, but in its truest sense means without harm to or exploitation of humans, animals or the environment.

The ways in which you can act as an 'ethical consumer' can take on a number of often subtle forms.

Positive buying is favouring ethical products, be they fair trade, organic or cruelty free. This option is arguably the most important since it directly supports progressive companies.

Negative purchasing means avoiding products you disapprove of such as battery eggs or polluting cars.

Company-based purchasing involves targeting a business as a whole. For example, the Nestlé boycott targets all its brands and subsidiaries in a bid to force the company to change its marketing of baby milk formula in the Third World.

The fully screened approach is a combination of all three and means looking at all the companies and products together and evaluating which brand is the most ethical.

Sponsors:

Partners: