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Comment by agilebyte | Hacker News Reader

Corporate social responsibility could be thought of as (a part of) a soul of a company.

http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/people-and-planet/st...

If sustainability and social responsibility reports are what make up (a part of) the soul of a company, Nokia is in good hands.

http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/re...

It's not a person. Microsoft has statements like that. Why don't they have a soul? I'm actually not trying to be flippant. I think that people need to question their assumptions about "companies as people"...Nokia didn't "have a soul". It was a business. The fact that people think it did reflects more on their marketing than anything else.

Have you seen Hank Poulsen's documentary about precious materials that make it into mobiles? He referred to Nokia as a company that does not do bad and is responsible.

If only to force/guilt-trip companies to do better and be responsible to their workforce, customers, supply chain, country etc., I am going to talk about companies and their soul.

http://bloodinthemobile.org/

OK. Fair enough. That doesn't not make Nokia a sentient entity with "a soul".

It's a business that has a fair degree of social responsibility in its business plans.

My point with this isn't to be pedantic...I'm trying to say that referring to them in this way plays into the larger picture where it is in all businesses interest to have us refer to them as a person. They aren't.

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