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The Americans have used the business leaders taking the well-used paths of the northeast corridor to meet alongside elected officials in Washington, DC, and discuss geopolitics, politics and all that is between the two.
In 2017, the major CEOs across the country met to oppose the transgender law of the North Carolina bathroom. In 2019, they called the “bad business” abortion prohibitions.
After the deadly attack on the American Capitol on January 6, 2021, many biggest names in American companies denounced the rioters and undertook to arrest their political donation.
Recently, more than 1,000 companies have promised to voluntarily reduce their operations in Russia to protest against the Moscow War against Ukraine.
Dick’s Sporting Goods has ceased to sell semi-automatic assault style rifles in stores and Citigroup has put new restrictions on firearm sales by commercial customers after mass shooting in a parkland high school in Florida, in 2018.
A year later, after mass shots in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and a nightclub in Dayton, Ohio, Walmart put an end to the sales of fist of weapons.
Corporate leadership has long been expressed on the issue of firearms control – in 2019 and again last summer, nearly 150 companies – notably Lululemon, Lyft, Bain Capital, Bloomberg LP, Permanent Medical Group and Unilever – called armed violence of “public health crisis” and demanded that the US American Senate legislation passes to remedy it.
This is why the silence of American companies following the last mass shots in a school in Nashville is so shocking. The United States has ended up relying on the growing power of large companies as political defenders.
But professor of Yale Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a vocal defender of corporate social responsibility which has a direct line to large CEOs around the world, said that senior executives were desperate. Their previous efforts have not done much to push the needle on the legislation on the control of firearms and without more support, they do not know what they can do for the moment, he said.
Before the bell speaks with Sonnenfeld, who heads the Management Institute of the Yale School of Management, an educational and non -profit research institute focused on the leadership of CEOs and corporate governance.
This interview has been modified for more clarity and length.
Before the bell: The CEOs were silent on the reform of firearms since the last mass shooting in Nashville, did you hear something on the plans to express themselves?
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld: Where is everyone? Where is all civil society? The CEOs are only a group of people and it is as if we were turning to them to be our saviors on each subject. They joined causes with value and nobility, but they cannot simply take the cause after the cause as if there was no one else in society. The social change that occurred in the 1960s was not mainly directed by CEOs. Social changes have really taken place when we saw the interfaled activity of clergy locking arms and soliciting legislators. We have seen live and excited campuses. Where is all student activism?
CEOs are always the most active even if they are less active than they were six months ago. They are not there like shareholders to fulfill the role of politicians and civic leaders. They are there to join this refrain, but they don’t want to be the only one to sing.
So what do you hear from the best CEOs? Are they tired of defending?
I have just come down from a CEO call on voting rights and this morning we had a forum on sustainability – CEOs are always the most active on these fronts. It is the same on immigration reform. If a CEO worked for a day of 18 hours a week of 12 days, he still couldn’t solve all the problems that must be solved.
The CEOs of the country are waiting for everyone to join them. They don’t need to rephrase something they have already said. Where did they jumped into the pool, where is everyone?
So, what do you think you have led to this complacency among Americans and to increasing dependence on CEOs to defend our name?
They took a very strong position and they left further than the general public. They are where the general public is in surveys, but they are not where the general public is in action in the streets. So we are ready for others to do something now. Already already saying “What are the CEOs doing?” The share capital is as precious as financial capital. CEOs understand that in their souls, they want there to be social capital. They want there to be public confidence, but they need the rest of civil society to join them. And it’s their frustration.
It seems that CEOs are frustrated?
Yeah, they are frustrated.
But don’t these CEOs hold the bag strings in terms of donation to powerful politicians?
You would think that, but since the 2020 elections, much fewer campaign contributions come from large companies. Since the race in 2021 on the Capitol, many companies had an official moratorium where they have given simple sous to politicians. The common printing in the street according to which the CEOs control the hand strings in the countryside is 100% erroneous.
By Chris Isidore of CNN
Tesla reported. A modest 4% increase in sales in the first quarter compared to the last three months of last year, despite a series of price reductions on its low -cost vehicles and to speak of the CEO Elon Musk of high demand at these lower prices.
The first quarter also marked the fourth consecutive quarter that Tesla produced more vehicles it has delivered to customers. Part of this can be due to the rise in power in two new factories, one in Texas, the other in Germany, which opened its doors last spring, and a gap between this production and this increased sale.
Tesla said there was an increase in the number of its most expensive models, the S model and the X model, in transit to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region.
But that means that in the past 12 months, Tesla has produced 78,000 more cars than it has sold, which suggests that the discussion of the high demand by Tesla leaders cannot be saved by the figures.
“At the beginning of this year, we had a price adjustment. After that, we actually generated a huge demand, more than what we can produce, really, “said Tom Zhu, the executive of Tesla in charge of production and world sales. “And as Elon said, as long as you offer a product with an affordable value, you don’t have to worry about demand.”
