May 29, 2008
Next to a busy train station in Buenos Aires, not far from the chic restaurants and condos getting all the attention these days, lies another world. Behind a gate is a long metal shed, once used to store trains. This is La Casa del Afectado Social y Ambiental — literally, “the house of the enviro-socially affected.” Here, amidst the bustle of traffic and commuters, hundreds of people on the flip side of the nation’s renewed glitter are taking a stand. (more…)
Activists and companies can move from confrontation to co-operation
May 22nd 2008
LAST month Tom Katzenmeyer, vice-president of investor relations at Limited Brands, met representatives of the government of the Canadian province of Alberta. Limited Brands is an American apparel firm with sales of $10.1 billion last year; its best-known division is Victoria’s Secret, which sells lingerie. And what was the topic of discussion? The firm’s worries over threatened caribou habitats.
This may not seem to have much to do with Mr Katzenmeyer’s job, but Limited Brands is one of several firms giving a new twist to the idea of corporate social responsibility by putting money and effort into causes previously championed by activist groups. Sometimes they are even working with campaigners whom they had once fought to a standstill.
May 11, 2008
Jazz and sushi seem at first an unusual combination, but in the San Francisco Bay area they are inextricably linked, thanks to Yoshi’s.
Yoshi’s, a Berkeley sushi joint opened in 1973 by Kaz Kajimura, Hiro Hori and Yoshi Akiba, featured jazz from the start. In the 1990s, when Oakland was redeveloping its waterfront, Mr. Kajimura moved Yoshi’s into a new space that was built for it, which included a much bigger restaurant and an intimate custom theater. It was a big hit, quickly becoming a regular stop on West Coast tours.
