New York Times (August 20)
“Nearly 200 chief executives, including the leaders of Apple, Pepsi and Walmart, tried on Monday to redefine the role of business in society—and how companies are perceived by an increasingly skeptical public.” The new inclusiveness of multiple stakeholders sounds appealing. Still, “for companies to truly make good on their lofty promises, they will need Wall Street to embrace their idealism, too. Until investors start measuring companies by their social impact instead of their quarterly returns, systemic change may prove elusive.”
Tags: Apple, CEOs, Idealism, Inclusiveness, Investors, Pepsi, Redefine, Role of business, Skeptical, Society, Stakeholders, Wall Street, Walmart
Washington Post (August 17)
“American consumers are increasingly propping up the global economy,” but it’s unclear that they can keep playing this role or even continue propping up the U.S. economy. “A number of signs point to a possible downturn in the United States, economists are growing more skeptical that consumers will continue to open up their wallets as freely. A failure to do so could hasten the arrival of the first U.S. recession in a decade.
Tags: Consumers, Downturn, Economists, Failure, Global economy, Skeptical, U.S., Wallets
Reuters (March 14)
“Boeing’s belatedly grounded jets” serve as “an apt symbol of the erosion of U.S. soft power. After saying there was no problem in the wake of two crashes,” the FAA followed the lead of other governments and banned the 737 MAX.” These days, “even allies are increasingly skeptical of Washington’s leadership.” It is challenging to measure “the influence a country wields though its cultural, technological and economic strength,” but the U.S. fell “to fourth in the Soft Power 30 ranking last summer, from top of the list just two years earlier.”
Tags: 737 MAX, Allies, Belated, Boeing, Crashes, FAA, Grounded, Influence, Leadership, Skeptical, Soft power, U.S.
Institutional Investor (December 14)
“Institutional investors have long been skeptical that impact funds can deliver the returns they need to meet their investment objectives.’ But Impact Capital Investors a consortium of multiple investment firms is attempting to make the case with convincing evidence that investors “don’t have to trade high returns for so-called impact investing, or investing with social, environmental, and other objectives.”
Tags: ESG, Evidence, Impact funds, Investors, Objectives, Returns, Skeptical
Wall Street Journal (January 19)
“Donald J. Trump takes the oath of office on Friday facing unprecedented opposition but also an extraordinary opportunity. He confronts the paradox of a country skeptical that he has the personal traits for the Presidency but still hopeful he can fulfill his promise to shake up a government.”
Tags: Government, Oath, Opportunity, Opposition, Paradox, Presidency, Promise, Promise http://www., Skeptical, Traits, Trump
