World Reimagined: A Reckoning for Companies
In 2010, corporate citizenship took a major step forward when the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), an international nongovernmental organization made up of national standards bodies, released ISO 26000, a set of voluntary standards meant to help companies implement corporate social responsibility.
While the notion of corporate citizenship dates back to the 1950s, the challenges presented by both the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement ushered in a new era of corporate citizenship in 2020 that went far beyond the realm of philanthropy. Companies rallied to do good in the face of the coronavirus and stepped up efforts for diversity, inclusion, and belonging. In many respects, 2020 will be a year worth forgetting, but for corporate citizenship, it will be a year to remember.
In early March, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) estimated 89 million medical masks would be required for the Covid-19 response each month, along with 76 million examination gloves and 1.6 million goggles. To help fend off the coronavirus and protect medical workers treating those infected as well as address potential shortages of key products, companies altered their production lines to help how they could. Here are just a few examples:
