Coro's Blog

Published on April 20, 2012

CSR – A Plug and Play Platform for Planet Earth

CSR – A Plug and Play Platform for Planet EarthI like plug and play. You plug in a new device or program to your computer and it just works – no set up, no reconfiguration. I like that the term has joined the popular marketing and business lexicon – “the new guy at work is so plug and play”, meaning a new employee doesn’t need any training. And in Silicon Valley there’s the Plug and Play Tech Centre, a “start-up accelerator” for fledgling companies.

I think CSR has become a similar kind of plug and play platform. Over the last few years I have seen it evolve into a start-up accelerator for social or environmental priorities.

Here’s how I came to this realization.

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Solutions for a Sustainable World

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