Can Accountants Save the Planet
On August 23, 2021 by Ken PuckerAre you familiar with sustainable finance? ESG investing? Impact accounting? No? That’s ok, neither were we – that is until we met Ken Pucker. Ken is the Advisory Director at Berkshire Partners and a Senior Lecturer at the Fletcher School at Tufts University – he is also the former COO of Timberland. In today’s episode, […]
The Dangerous Allure of Win Win Strategies
On February 22, 2021 by Ken PuckerStanford Social Innovation Review For the past 30 years, celebrated academics and business leaders have promoted the idea that companies often profit by addressing social and environmental problems. Although these proposals have been hailed as promising breakthroughs, they are unscientific and counterproductive. By Andrew A. King & Kenneth P. Pucker Winter 2021 Read the full […]
Private Equity Makes ESG Promises: Their Impact is Often Superficial
On July 27, 2020 by Ken PuckerInstitutional Investor Alongside Bono, Richard Branson, and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, private equity firm TPG launched the Rise Impact fund in 2016. The offering committed “to deliver positive and sustainable impact” while creating a “top-performing fund.” At the time, Bono remarked that “capitalism is going up on trial, and I think that it’s clear that […]
There Are No Easy Answers to our Biggest Global Problems
On July 27, 2020 by Ken PuckerHarvard Business Review by: Ken Pucker, Andrew King and Auden Schendler Too many academics, commentators and experts have fallen victim to magical thinking regarding our ability to tackle the major societal challenges facing humanity. To wit: many of the signatories to a recent pledge to find societal purpose in business are furloughing employees during the […]
How a Bottle of Salad Dressing Inspired Corporate Social Responsibility
On July 27, 2020 by Ken PuckerThe Guardian Timberland’s former chief operating officer sheds light on the company’s lofty sustainability practices, but argues more needs to be done to develop an industry standard for emissions reporting The first decade of the 21st century was a boom time for corporate sustainability. Iconic US companies, including GE, IBM, Walmart and Google, embraced the […]
Sustainabilty Versus the System: An Operator’s Perspective
On July 27, 2020 by Ken PuckerJournal of Applied Corporate Finance 2015, vol. 27, issue 2, 18-27 https://econpapers.repec.org/article/blajacrfn/v_3a27_3ay_3a2015_3ai_3a2_3ap_3a18-27.htm