Vagit Alekperov Quotes

For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country.

I think we have moved from a shareholder society to a stakeholder society, and that has massive implications.

Doing good business - being ethical, being transparent, being caring, implementing values in your business - makes a difference, and you make money at the same time.

Companies and leaders are role models - not just with the business community - but in the broader world.

Corporate executives need to re-frame their responsibilities to include the interests of all the stakeholders in society at large; not just shareholders, but also employees, the citizens of our communities, and those who care about the environment.

Corporations are social organizations, the theater in which men and women realize or fail to realize purposeful and productive lives.

Understanding how your business affects human rights and using that knowledge to shape appropriate policies and practices is crucial to achieving what should be the goal of all corporations - sustainable growth.

Let's face it: we live at a time when government is less and less powerful, less and less effective, and the agent of social change, at least for the immediate future, is the corporation.

I'm a businessman, and I think there's nothing wrong with being a businessman provided you have the right headspace and do good things with the money you make.

I pretty much believe, as everyone in the B Team does, that business must succeed beyond the bottom line. More important than profits is how you get to them. Measuring financial earnings and losses only is definitely not enough and has led us astray from creating a better world for all.

It took a generation for companies to recognise their responsibilities in terms of labour practices and another generation for them to recognise their environmental obligations.

Despite their good intentions, today's businesses are missing an opportunity to integrate social responsibility and day-to-day business objectives - to do good and make money simultaneously.

Sustainability includes how you run your business, and my bottom line includes how you treat your people. Sustainability starts with your staff.

Business can be a source of progressive change.

Leaders must be reminded that Businesses exist for the service of men.

An important priority for me is a business must get their own house in order. Be or become an agent of positive change in your own enterprise and adopt responsible practices to eliminate the risks that often lie at the root of inequality and poverty.

I tell you, Bono may have a point. South Africa needs a Walmart.

I think CSR, corporate social responsibility, is something that is becoming front and center.

Big corporations don't just belong to one person or two persons but to a whole nation. If you let big corporations fail, then a lot of people are going to suffer.

Globalization means that business strategy and business ethics cannot be separated from each other.

For millennials, conducting business with a purpose that goes beyond making profits is critically important in determining the kind of company they want to work for - and the kind of company with whom they are willing to do business.

It's not just about checking the box on corporate social responsibility. It's about hitting our bottom line.

I started a software company with a couple other folks. It went public. We made plenty of money. And I thought it was this incredible mission, but in fact, we sold software to Haliburton; we sold software to Frito-Lay and Pepsi and all these companies that didn't necessarily do good things.

I believe we must go further in redefining what United's corporate citizenship looks like in our society... and we intend to live up to those higher expectations in the way we embody social responsibility and civic leadership everywhere we operate.

American business needs more conscience, not less, whether from religious motivation like Hobby Lobby or from secular intentions.