At its annual roundtable with chief diversity officers, The Network Journal gets a close-up look at diversity efforts at leading public, for profit and non-profit organizations, and how the people who lead those efforts do their job.

Two events this fall bear witness to the growing importance of corporate social responsibility, or CSR, in business strategies. Studies show that formal CSR programs are on the rise, accompanied by the creation of lead CSR roles — as in the case of NBCUniversal, which last year created the position of senior vice president for corporate social responsibility.

Aside from the fact that Africa is larger in size than Bangladesh, Britain, China, France, Germany. Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Spain and the United States combined, global investors see many reasons to favor Africa, the sub-Saharan region in particular.

What are you going to do after college? The question has irritated you for the better part of eight months. Everybody’s been asking you and if you knew, you’d tell them. Are you already working but crave more from your work life?

Recent moves by a number of emerging African economies to cut interest rates and improve the investment climate resulted in gains for their stock markets.

An Economist Intelligence Unit report has an intriguing reference to the role of government in corporate (social) responsibility.

Today, having worked as a farmer, a minibus driver and a DJ, Hawthorne is the president and CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill, an independent family-owned business that is the largest Caribbean business in the United States.

Industry research firm IBISWorld (www.ibisworld.com) has identified the following six franchise industries with promising outlooks, based on revenue growth, growth in the number of franchise establishments and the dispersion of those establishments on a national scale:

Generally, there are two parts to a consulting agreement: the “statement of work” (SOW for short) and the actual legal contract.

Whether you’re a confused stock market investor or a saver frustrated by low interest rates, this is not the time to make any big moves. The best decisions are made by analyzing facts, but these days the financial facts seem to change day by day.

Remember the way banks used to slap debit-card users with outrageous bounce fees if you happened to operate too close to the edge

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk was among the first to cheer when the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate voted in August to make critical changes to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and to the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

Citing “substantial obstacles to equal educational opportunity” in the country’s educational system nearly 60 years after the Supreme Court ruled separate public schools for Blacks and whites unconstitutional, President Barack Obama signed an executive order creating the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

Today, HR professionals are taking on more strategic roles within their organizations, partnering with other functional leaders to create and implement people strategies.

As rapid socio-economic shifts transform the business environment and workforce, human resource experts and advocacy groups find themselves pressed to equip the industry’s professionals with adequate tools to keep functioning successfully. 

High unemployment and the high cost of education at home are driving U.S. workers and students overseas in unprecedented numbers in search of jobs and educational opportunities.

Amini C. Kajunju
Kimberly Marcus
Rosalind McLymont
Meme Omogbai
Tina Waters
Teresa Wiltz

Industry researchers IBISWorld recently identified 10 tech industries that have experienced significant change or growth over the past five years and which are ones to watch in the years ahead. Here the firm’s projections for the top 10 industries.

Gazing through the window of the South African Airways carrier as it flew over Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe’s adventure capital, I saw what I thought was the smoke from a huge forest fire. The “smoke” was blue-white, with silvery hues. It rose high up into the air and seemed to roll along a winding path on the ground.

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