[Closed] No company is perfect, but...

Apple

*ducks and covers*

Amgen, first to bring an anti-cancer viral therapy to market....costs and profitability (it wasn't profitable at all) be damned. Head of site teared up meeting patients.

Great company.

And what of the Volvo example? Am I missing something

Brewdog.

Just to annoy the **** out of the #hipsterbeerartisanbawbags

Amgen, first to bring an anti-cancer viral therapy to market

And they used to sponsor the Tour of California, which is an expert piece of trolling given one of their other major products.

I don't know about Volvo in general (and I work for a competitor) but for MarkBrewers benfit....

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again.....”

Just sayin' :o)

Sick Bicycle Co.

Apparently, they are teh awesumz.

The early years of Cadbury's chocolate give a fascinating illustration into how a company can work for the good of its' workforce as much as for the management.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournville

Currently there are two in my list:

Lexus

Duesenburg Guitars

SICK! #nobicyclesthisweek aren’t on my radar

Ebenezer Scrooge Ltd

Well, eventually anyway.

Kellogs back in the day.

Timpsons

bane and Duckett

Saxon you've not mentioned it in your praise for Volvo.

But didnt they invent the car safety belt but not take out a patent so that others could use it ?

I knew a few people who used to work at Cadbury and it sounded like a wonderful company to work for until Kraft then Mondelez were allowed to ruin the company culture and the chocolate.

That Volvo test is basically the ED-209 scene from Robocop...

Dead or alive...you're driving with me...

I read "Let My People Go Surfing" by Yvon Chouinard, CEO of Patagonia. I thought "I like the cut of this mans jib". They seem to do everything right, but when they didn't they went above and beyond to put it right.

My slight doubt was whether the attitude to its employees went from top to bottom, or whether there was a them and us culture, like most companies.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/katie-investigates/katie-morley-investigates-new-volvo-xc90-faulty-brakes-could/

Geely make the S90 in Daquing, the XC60 in Chengdu.

Richer Sounds doing OK by me...

perchypanther Member

Sick Bicycle Co.

Apparently, they are teh awesumz.

Is it true buyers of Sick! bikes are involved in less cycling accidents than those who buy from companies who actually supply bikes?

Is it true buyers of Sick! bikes are involved in less cycling accidents than those who buy from companies who actually supply bikes?

Probably, but the cycling accidents they do have are rad to the max, bro.

You can't mix rad, max and bro in one sentence, you'll create a temporal impossibility that will destroy us all.

Saxon you’ve not mentioned it in your praise for Volvo.

But didnt they invent the car safety belt but not take out a patent so that others could use it ?

I forgot that, but yes, I think they did. And while I know not many on here will consider it important, they were also the first to make their “A” pillars moose-proof.

On top of this, when they decided to open up an assembly plant in Canada, they asked which region was most in need of employment. At the time, it was Nova Scotia, so they chose it, and committed to maintain the plant until the region was in better economic shape. They then gave two years notice before moving on. It was a huge Canadian success story at the time, and when I was taking Business Studies in junior high school, it was used as an example of altruistic business practice.

It wasn't the seat belt that Volvo invented but the inertia reel seat belt. I think they patented it but made it royalty free. Prior to the IR seat belt you had ones which you had to adjust by hand when you got in the car, in the same way you adjust something like a rucksack strap. Not too bad if the previous occupant of the seat was the same size as yourself but a right pain if you got in after a giant or a midget.

I had a Volvo about 15 or so years ago. They were well into recycling at the time and had an option where they would coat the radiator in some sort of catalyst that hoovered up ground level ozone. I think it was called premair or something like that. I know little about Scandi culture but it seems to be part of their ethos. They also developed a spray on reflective paint for cyclists a few years ago. Great company IMO.

The Cadbury and Bournville mention up there^^^^

I live in the Bulmers version. Hereford Garden City, as it was known, was created by the Bulmers family in the early 1900s and built around 120 houses over the space of 30 years. The estate is still owned by the Bulmers family and is one of three Edwardian Social Housing projects that have remain pretty much intact. Hereford has by and large remain unchanged. Bournville, Letchworth, and Hereford Garden Cities are a conservation officers wet dream.

Incidentally, for all those religion haters; Cadbury did all that because he was a Quaker. See also Rowntree in York and plenty of others.

Incidentally, for all those religion haters; Cadbury did all that because he was a Quaker

Well as per the thread title...nobody is perfect. People don't need religion to do nice things. Bill Gates is an athiest and is the most philanthropic person to have ever lived.

Brewdog seems a good company to work for. The owners are big dog lovers so you can take your dog to work and if you get a new dog you get a week's pupernity leave.

Brewdog also have some pretty shady practices....

Amgen are certainly a good company. There was some discussion above of their possibly contradictory manufacturing of EPO and sponsorship of Tour of California. Well it does seem odd at first but when Amgen developed recombinant EPO (new type of manufacturing) they worked in secret with the drug testing authorities to develop a test before its release. This caused many drug cheats (cyclists included obvs)to get caught. Good work from Amgen.

Longley Farm. The yoghurts are the same now as they were 35 years ago. Simple: fruit + sugar + natural yoghurt. Quite tart. Very tasty, esp. the gooseberry, apple, lemon, blueberry and blackcurrant flavours.

Hereford has by and large remain unchanged.

Including the colour of the boathouse?

Oh, and Soreen.

@molgrips - the house I grew up in in the Lakes was owned by a contemporary of George Fox who founded the Quakers. He was what we'd call o haulage contractor these days. His diary was full of entries such as "Took a cart of coal to Lancaster and saw George Fox speak at the hall"

William Penn after whom Pennsylvania is named was also a Quaker.

And they used to sponsor the Tour of California, which is an expert piece of trolling given one of their other major products.

Maybe. But they are also a pretty cycling mad company - a very high percentage of their employees cycle to work. They're also right near the top for research openness.

They are some of the good guys in the industry, I genuinely want to be back working with them one day. Every Brit and Euro company I've worked for since has been at best...meh and at worst total **** in comparison and dominated by the aforementioned "them vs us" corporate climbers.

They also developed a spray on reflective paint for cyclists a few years ago

Very thoughtful of them, where do I go to get sprayed?

Incidentally, for all those religion haters; Cadbury did all that because he was a Quaker. See also Rowntree in York and plenty of others.

Or they did it because they were nice people and it was the cultural norm at the time to express one's altruistic impulses within a religious framework?

William Penn after whom Pennsylvania is named was also a Quaker.

Yes - I've been to the museum there and you can see the original plan for the city (whose name means city of brotherly love of course). Rows of terraces which are small by our standards but in those days having your own entire house for your family was amazing for many people - and they all had gardens to grow food. Where did it all go wrong eh?

I've seen William Penn's father's grave, I thought it was in Hereford but apparently I'm wrong it's in Bristol.

Or they did it because they were nice people and it was the cultural norm at the time to express one’s altruistic impulses within a religious framework?

Or because keeping their workers in tied houses without access to alcohol made them more productive.

Volvo invented the three point seatbelt, not the inertia reel, and then didn't patent so all manufactures could adopt. They also have been ahead of the curve on safety and environmental credentials for decades and are still out there. Good engineering.

Richer Sounds impressed me with the founder recently giving the company to the employees (I recall). Mental note made to shop there.

As a cyclist I eat shed loads of cereal. I stopped eating Kelloggs cereal on principle years ago when they asked their employees to oppose the Manchester congestion charge. I'm a bit militant like that but proud to have kept the veto going for so long.

Also on the Waderider avoid list - Amazon - shop local; and stuff with palm oil. Of on a tangent now though!

Summary - You're either part of the problem or part of the solution, whether a company or person.

From what I have read TrainerRoad get a good employee rep in the cycling scene. Top quality on employee pay, benefits, flexibility and healthcare. Plus they innovate based on customer feedback and still haven’t increased prices for loyal customers

Or because keeping their workers in tied houses without access to alcohol made them more productive.

Though of course you can do something that's good for you and for your employees. Paralells with the contemporary interest in employee wellbeing.

Hereford has by and large remain unchanged.

Including the colour of the boathouse?

Nothing has changed. At all. I live in a City that is its own working museum "How We Lived 100 Years Ago"!

Nothing has changed. At all. I live in a City that is its own working museum “How We Lived 100 Years Ago”!

So, what colour is the boathouse in Hereford?

and stuff with palm oil

I read something that suggested the alternatives are worse in terms of deforestation required per tonne of product. Could be bollocks of course but could be right.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/giving-up-palm-oil-might-actually-be-bad-environment-180958092/

Lever Bros (Sunlight soap) built the Port Sunlight village to house the workers. The children grew up bigger and healthier, the village was shown as an example to visiting royalty etc.

Though of course you can do something that’s good for you and for your employees. Paralells with the contemporary interest in employee wellbeing.

Overall, I agree that philanthropic industrialists provided far better working and living conditions than was the norm. But I would point out that this was often achieved by exerting a great deal of control over their workers and families.

I read something that suggested the alternatives are worse in terms of deforestation required per tonne of product. Could be bollocks of course but could be right.

There was a thing on where some supermarket were looking for a palm oil substitute for their pastry.

The only thing that worked nearly as well was… lard.

That’s fine by me!