Robert Amen ’73, president of International Paper (IP), recently spoke to operations management students about some of the ethical issues facing the company around the world.
Amen encouraged students to consider the impact of social responsibility beyond the bounds of corporate life, and he put forth numerous examples of IP’s efforts in the area.
In a Russian town where the company has a presence, it financed the rebuilding of a community hospital and instituted a maintenance program for the future. IP also purchased forest acreage along the Amazon in Brazil and designated half as a natural rain-forest preserve.
Speaking to the dilemma posed by rising labor costs, he explained that IP would remain loyal to its American employees despite the allure of moving operations overseas. On the subject of toxic emissions, he noted, “The big enterprises should set a standard—we don’t wait for society to set a standard.”
Amen ended by invoking the “Amen Doctrine”: “Build a sustainable competitive business model that maximizes the returns in total to constituents without violating key societal needs. This is really enlightened capitalism.”