Socially Responsible Companies

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In today’s world, there are many companies that have chosen a business model that puts an emphasis on things like being socially responsible, strong ethics, and sustainable business practices.  Three companies are devoted to this business plan are Sysco, General Mills and Little Caesars Pizza.  Many communities all around the world have been affected by these three companies throughout their endless donations and charitable events they do.   

Little Caesars all began more than 50 years ago in Garden City, Michigan with the owners Mike and Marian Llitch.  Now Little Caesars is the third largest pizza chain in the United States.  Giving back has always been the way that they do business.  Little Caesars has their own unique programs to give back, such as Little Caesars ice hockey, Little Caesars Love Kitchen and the Little Caesars Veterans Program (Littleceasars.com).

        Little Caesars Love Kitchen is a nationally recognized program.  It is a mobile kitchen on wheels which has fed more than 2 million people in 48 states and 4 Canadian provinces.  Also, the mobile kitchen has responded to many disasters such as hurricane Katrina, the World Trade Center and the Federal Bombing in Oklahoma City (Littleceasars.com).

        In 2006, Little Caesars started a program where it serves veterans and their families.  They provide business opportunities and help honorably discharged veterans to transition into civilian life.  The Llitch family also established an organization that invests in communities by community development, human services, education and recreation through contributions of other people (Littleceasars.com).

                General Mills is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores.  Its headquarters are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The company markets brands such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Haagen-Dazs, Cheerios, Trixs, Coco Puffs and Lucky Charms.  They have 90 leading brands all throughout the world (generalmills.com).

        Since 1966, General Mills has raised over 640 million dollar for schools all across the United States through Box Tops for Education. Also, the company has partnered with Feeding America and Global Foodbanking Network to donate over 50 million meals to the hungry during 2014 (generalmills.com). 

General Mills and its Foundation have given 1.5 billion dollars to charitable causes worldwide since 1954.  In the fiscal period of 2013, 2014 and 2015, General Mills reached a milestone with donating more than 150 million dollars, which equates to more than 3 million dollars a week (generalmills.com).

Join My Village was established by General Mills in 2009 with the international humanitarian organization where they make progress towards ending global poverty and hunger.  Also, they aim to expand access to education that includes both girls and boys and to provide training programs that improve livelihoods and enrich the broader community.  Join My Village has impacted more than five million people globally by empowering woman and girls through education and economic power (joinmyvillage.com).  

        When it comes to diversity at General Mills, they embrace it.  “Diversity plus inclusion equals business value.  We connect with our consumers, customers, and communities” (General Mills Foundation, 2014). Said Ken Charles, vice president of diversity and inclusion.  Employees participate in professional development training, mentoring programs, and employee and affinity networks (generalmills.com).

 General Mills has also been committed to being part of the solution on climate change. Since 2005, they have reduced their absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent.  One goal the company has is to have a 28 percent absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. General Mills has invested more than 100 million dollars in energy efficiency and clean energy (generalmills.com).

        With General Mills trying to improve their packaging environmental performance they have reduce package-to-product ratio, increased recycled content and recyclability, increased renewable and compostable content and fitting more products into each truck for transport.  In 2014, they eliminated 900 metric tons of plastic cereal packaging with reducing the film on the bag by 10 percent (generalmills.com).

        General Mills biggest concern in there company is the safety of their foods.  In 2014, they committed to spending 14.5 million dollars on food safety, more than 600 trained quality professionals, 100 percent of their facilities audited using globally recognized food safety criteria and 88 percent of the facilities worldwide audited and/or certified by third parties (generalmills.com).

One company that demonstrates these practices is Sysco.   Sysco Corporation is an American multinational corporation involved in marking and disturbing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, hotels and inns, and other foodservice and hospitality businesses.    The company has over 425,000 customers and 50,300 employees.  The company was founded in 1969 and started off sales at 115 million dollars but now in 2016 their sales are over 46 billion dollars.  Sysco’s mission is to market and deliver great products to their customers (sysco.com).