6 minute read
Two legendary stories
from TWSM#2
Eric Brown, Charles E.L. Brown,
Sidney Brown, Walter Boveri and others in front of a turbo-generator, in a Baden factory near Zurich, in 1901. (Archiv Museum Langmatt, Stiftung Langmatt Sidney und Jenny Brown, Baden).
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Calouste Gulbenkian Residence
in Paris. Today is a cultural center with Gulbenkian name.
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01 Luigi Rossi, The Wheat, 1910, ©Pagine d’Arte 2009 02 Luigi Rossi, First Daylight, 1900-1905, ©Pagine d’Arte 2009 03 Luigi Rossi, Portrait, 1916, ©Pagine d’Arte 2009 04 Luigi Rossi, Ivy, 1900, ©Pagine d’Arte 2009
The paintings of Luigi Rossi you see on the magazine, today belong to the museum house of the artist which is close to Lugano (CH).
CALOUSTE SARKIS GULBEnKIAn ARMEnIA - LISBOn
In 1969 with the heritage of the oilman and merchant Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian from Armenia, a foundation in Lisbon is instituted, which had great importance for the development of Portugal during the hostile times for the democracy education. Gulbenkian had collected a lot of things: pictures, sculptures, oriental ceramics and pieces of ancient Egypt, elements of decorative arts, French mobiles, textures, jewels, and ancient books. The collections are being displayed in the two museums of contemporary and ancient art in Lisbon, while the foundations are assuring the cultural formation and the scientific research also with the collaboration of the offices in London and Paris.
GIOVAnnI BERnASCOnI SOUTH OF SWITzERLAnD - ARGEnTInA Giovanni Bernasconi moved from Ticino to Argentina in 1855, where he crafted leather and he accumulated a fortune with the fabrication of shoes and luggages in a short time. With his sons Juan and Felix, he started a commercial business with Europe. Meanwhile, he gave her daughter Maria, the care of Villa Argentina in Mendrisio where there is a big collecion of Italian paintings belonging to the nineteenth century, and in where there used to be the work of Luigi Rossi that today is a missing piece. The Bernasconi family supported a lot of artists and they also opened a • school of arts and crafts in Buenos Aires which is still open today.
Pictures of Luigi Rossi (1853-1923), L’edera (the Ivy), painted by Luigi Rossi around 1900, is a liberty style painting, and is on the opening page of the book dedicated to the artist, which is issued by Pagine d’Arte. The painting is exposed in the house of the artist which now is a museum. Previously, it was in Bernasconi’s collection, and was sold in 1987 in an important public sale in Christie’s in London. Luigi Rossi (1853-1923) was a realist and symbolist painter, and was the illustrator for the books of Alphonse Daudet and Pierre Loti. The museum house dedicated to the artist hosts paintings of portraits, landscapes and illustrations. In a wide section of the museum can be found, the letters of Anker, Hodler, Welti, Puccini and of symbolistic italian writer Gian Pietro Lucini, who was inspired by Luigi Rossi’s paintings for his art of poetry.
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By PINA DRASKOVICH
IS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPOnSIBILITY just a fashionable term, or a serious practice implemented by the companies? How can an activity of corporate social responsibility affect the reputation of the business?
CSR is on reputation index
There are a thousand ways to measure reputation that are seriously structured and ongoing. Nicholas DiGiacomo, Co-founder of vanno.com (Usa) says “Reputation is by definition a social evaluation. As such, measuring company reputation requires more than just summing up the facts, reports, and news articles about corporate deeds and misdeeds.” The measurement must also consider how those facts, reports and articles are interpreted by individual consumers, business people and citizens, and how the resultant opinions move through social networks. The method to Measure Company Reputation, used by DiGiacomo (The Vanno Reputation Index) is based on the use of the Social Media. It’s the result of a Web-based social evaluation that captures and quantifies user insights into how companies treat their customers, employees, communities, the environment and the society in general, in track of a total of 25 aspects of reputation, in 6 broad groupings: • Community Involvement • Customer Satisfaction • Employee Satisfaction • Environment • Patriotism • Social Responsibility
David Stark, the Public Affairs manager of TNS, a company based in Toronto (Ontario), reveals, “Good corporate citizenship reflected by ethical labour, environmental and social practices cannot be ignored by companies looking to differentiate themselves in a competitive market.” Furthermore, Richard W. Jenkins Corporate Director, Public Opinion Research of TNS, adds, “A key factor in the success of a business over the long term is the trust that is built between the company and the consumers.” The prospect of both Stack and Jenkins is that in Canada, about half of the citizens (49 per cent) say that they are very likely to refuse to buy a product from a company that they hear negative news about. The “TNS reputation survey” found out that, among the factors that go into building trust, a company’s reputation is almost as important as the other factors like having more tangible product and service characteristics, such as price, value and customer service. “Companies are increasingly going to be held accountable not only for the quality and price of their products and services, but also for the corporate citizenship and environmental stewardship of their business as a whole, as these are key components of a company’s reputation,” says Jenkins. The survey points to the emergence of a new consumer attitude around corporate accountability and corporate social responsibility that may transform the market. The suggestions presented in the survey by TNS are reflected in the market where the last six months, one-third of Canadians say that they have recommended a green product to someone they know and 28 per cent have refused to purchase a product from a company that they believe has a poor reputation.
CSR: An InDEx OF REPUTABLE COMPAnIES
Makhiba Mollo, Associate of JSE (SouthAfrica) implies that during the relaunch in recent years, South Africa has seen a growth in company awareness of corporate social responsibility. Businesses increasingly recognise three bottom line practices; • environment • society • economy with governance as the foundation in the way they conduct themselves and report on their achievements. Increasingly, sustainability practices have evolved from being high level strategies to practical, measurable and quantifiable actions. In May 2004 the JSE established the socially responsible investment index. The criteria included in the review are drawn from those that are recognized as having global standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative. However the criterias are also taking into account the transformational status of South Africa. Governance criterias are also drawn from those in the JSE’s Listing Requirements. Other factors showing us how important being included in the index is for companies are: • Company reference to inclusion in press releases, annual reports etc • Reliance by some award rating tools on the SRI index as the universe for sustainability selection • Comments made in the media by successful participants of the index review process annually Mollo concludes saying “Whether propelled by investor demand, shareholder activism or consumer interest, takeup of the review process over the years affirms that corporate social responsibility is important for companies. It has also influenced the behavior of many companies, enhancing their sustainability focus and improving their public reporting as companies strive to be included in the SRI Index.” •
