News > October 23, 2008

By R. Hunter Bratton | Staff writer

Dan Bross, senior director of Corporate Citizenship with the Microsoft Corporation spoke on Oct. 21 in the Worrell Professional Center. He discussed the challenges and opportunities for global high-brand corporations There is an evolving international market where environmental sustainability, responsible business practices and basic human rights are being closely examined by both employees and consumers.

Now, the paradigm of acceptable business operations is being remolded Bross said.

Bross quoted Bill Gates, saying “It takes more than products to make a great company.”

No longer are corporations and governmental programs being scored on effectiveness and productivity, said Bross.

Rather, they are now being defined by how they accept and share responsibility for the needs of the global society.

The entrepreneurial spirit of corporations such as Microsoft ensures that challenges to improve their reputation are turned into opportunities to strengthen brand value, business results and shareholder returns.

Prospective employees are becoming increasingly concerned about the community affairs of their future employers, Bross said.

Rightfully so, for “all of us want to work for corporations in which we can believe.”

With over 96,000 workers worldwide and 1,800 employees working in Charlotte and the Research Triangle alone, Microsoft has the unique ability to proscribe the muddled corporate values of the 20th century and utilize their niche to advance corporate citizenship.

Bross argued that “corporate activities that increase business value and benefit society,” which once were viewed as unseemly, are now widely regarded as duties of global corporate citizenship.

“There is a nexus between doing well and doing good,” said Bross.

Microsoft has the impetus of searching for lucrative business opportunities that simultaneously address issues of environmental sustainability.

“Lowe’s builds houses for the homeless,” Bross said, for they are a home improvement corporation.

Similarly, Microsoft has hopes of institutionalizing their philosophy of uniting product innovation and responsible business practices by taking their technology to the five billion who are currently receiving no technological benefit.

Likewise, Microsoft is working to reduce its carbon footprint and, along with Google and Yahoo, to solve privacy issues on the Internet.

Customers and employees no longer permit their corporations to remain silent while human rights are violated in countries where no protective legislation is present, Bross said.

Those with vested interests are now demanding accountability and positive societal affectability from global corporations.

Equally significant as global citizenship, Bross said, are the internal responsibilities of corporations to have accountable business practices.

Such acts as regulatory and legal compliance, healthcare benefits and ethical business practice training are obligatory to the advancement of employee satisfaction.

Since 1983, Microsoft has given over $3.4 billion in cash, software and services and currently matches all employee donations, dollar-to-dollar, to advance the spread of technology.

Still, there are some problems in mitigating realistic standards for responsibilities in a corporate setting where profit remains king, Bross said.

Can one accurately quantify constructive citizenship and responsibility with a dollar amount of a million or a billion?

Despite these and other challenges, Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential campaign plans to use such creative capitalism strategies to return value to shareholders and to benefit communities.