THE CORPORATE IDENTITY CRISIS
Lip service and public relations rhetoric often substitute for real change. Fancy promotional brochures proclaiming a new era of social responsibility very often camouflage a robber-baron rapacity. Nevertheless, a fundamental “paradigm shift”—a reconceptualization— of the structure, goals, and responsibilities of the corporation is taking place in response to new pressures brought by the Third Wave. The signs of this change are numerous.
Amoco, a leading oil company, for example, states that “it is the policy of our company, with respect to plant locations, to supplement the routine economic evaluation with a detailed exploration of the social consequences… We look at many factors, among them the impacton the physical environment, the impact on public facilities… and theimpact on local employment conditions, particularly with respect to minorities.” Amoco continues to weight economic considerations most heavily, but it assigns importance to other factors as well. And where alternative locations are simitar in economic terms but ‘.’different in terms of the social impact,” these social factors can prove decisive.
In the event of a merger proposal, the directors of Control Data Corporation, a top U.S. computer manufacturer, explicitly take into account not merely financial or economic considerations but “all relevant” factors—including the social effects of the merger and its impact on employees and the communities in which Control Data operates. And while other companies have been racing into the suburbs, Control Data has deliberately built its new plants in inner city areas of Washington, St. Paul, and Minneapolis, to help provide employment for minorities and to help revive urban centers. The corporation states its mission as “improving the quality, equality, and potential of people’s lives”—equality being an unorthodox goal for a corporation.
In the United States, the advancement of women and non-whites has become a long overdue matter of national policy, and some companies go so far as to reward their managers financially for meeting “affirmative action” targets. At Pillsbury, a leading food, company, each of its three product groups must present not only a sales plan for the following year but a plan relating to the hiring, training, and promotion of women and minority group members. Executive incentives arelinked to the attainment of these social goals. At AT&T
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