CSR - key to innovation?

Great day today! It started with a visit to transportation giant, Maersk. The presentation by the Head of Group Sustainability was both interesting and refreshing. The most exciting thing to hear in the presentation was that sustainability can be a source of innovation. They see their role in sustainability is to enable trade, increase energy efficiency and invest in education. The line that really sold it for me was at the end of the presentation when the presenter said "We see our purpose to use our expertise to unlock growth for society and Maersk". This type of position may just be the winner to sell sustainability and social responsiblity to the skeptics in the U.S. 

The afternoon session found us at the Copenhagen School of Business where we attended a Governing Responsible Event. It was a panel discussion that included the chair of the advisory board for Transparency International. The discussion on the panel was a mixture of anti-corruption and sustainability. There was a moment when there was a question from the audience that went something like this "if the U.S. politicians are so corrupt, why are they so high on the index?". The response that followed was interesting. Basically, research has shown that while yes, our politicians are on the take- the regular folk just trying to do business are pretty darn honest. Another observation, even though the audience and panel were well aware that there were 20 visiting faculty members from U.S. institutions, they were very direct in their criticism of the U.S. and made no apology about it. I wondered if the shoe were on the other foot, if we would have been so critical in front of foreign friends?!