McDonald's CSR blog

We've seen Wal-Mart's buyer blog, and now we stumbled across a McDonald's social responsibility blog, found here. As one might expect, there are skeptics....
From the preamble:

Corporate social responsibility through the eyes of Vice President, Bob Langert, and the other people at McDonald's who work on corporate responsibility issues that matter. Get personal perspectives on the issues, hear open assessments of the challenges we face, and engage in civil dialogue with the people behind the programs at the Golden Arches.

From a post in February:

Back in School: Key Learnings From the Harvard Agribusiness Seminar

Main takeaway: Sustainable agriculture is gaining momentum. As I listened to--and learned from--other agribusiness leaders at this executive development seminar, it became clear to me that sustainability has become an integral part of running a food business.

The majority of executives there had a firm handle on the issues behind the term "sustainability" and demonstrated an understanding of how important it is to manage sustainability in their businesses. This is very exciting to me. In my opinion, five to ten years ago "sustainability" would have generated a big yawn of either indifference or sense of irrelevance. Not now. It was part of practically every discussion we had.

Still, I think the nuts and bolts of how to execute on sustainability day to day remain a mystery to many. I was fielding many questions about how to identify priorities, when and how to work with NGOs, if and how to set goals and targets. They were asking a lot of the same questions we have been asking here at McDonald's for quite some time. And, to be truthful, the answers are never simple.

The landscape is continuously evolving, so we never have all the answers--or for that matter, all the solutions. We focus on continuous improvement and progress, both of which mean that we never leave the classroom for good.

Being back in school at Harvard was intense. We were scheduled from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and we had a stack of businesses cases that added up to the biggest textbook I've ever had to read. It was also a fantastic learning experience and one that I will turn to frequently over the next several years as I work to advance sustainable agriculture within the McDonald's System and across the industry.

-- Bob

TK: Here is one comment on that post....

Posted By: scott ohso on February 16, 2008
Comment:
did you ever ask WHY the 'answers are never simple' - especially at a place like mcdonalds? if you look at sustainability from a system point of view it might just be the mcdonalds business model runs counter to the very essence of sustainability. case in point, annie leonard ('the story of stuff') suggests sustainability equals community. i think you would be hard pressed to find many who would suggest mcdonalds = community. net/net, forgive the candor but my point of view is that you are simple attempting to ameliorate many unsustainable practices by putting band-aids on things without recognizing the real systemic issue at hand. that said, love your passion. perhaps it would be better served cultivating the seeds of a more sustainable and authentic brand.
Response: Dear Scott,
As noted in his most recent post, Bob Langert is currently on sabbatical, but the rest of the CSR team is happy to address your comments. We actually feel quite strongly that McDonald's = community. Yes, we are a global brand with a presence in over a hundred countries around the world. However, the vast majority (roughly 75%) of our restaurants are owned and managed by local franchisees who are very much involved in their communities. In addition, it is our policy to purchase locally whenever possible. So, your characterization of the McDonald's business model is misleading.
That said, we ask ourselves "why" and "how" and "what more can we do" all the time, but we believe in the McDonald's System. So the intent of those questions, and the answers that stem from them, are focused on continuously improving. We do not accept the premise that our business model prevents us from achieving sustainable solutions. And so we continue to meet the challenges head on and endeavor to be the best company we can be.
You should consider visiting our corporate social responsibility site at http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/values.html to learn more about the progress we have made on a number of social and environmental issues.
-The McDonald's CSR Team