Corporate social responsibility is a term applied to a company’s adherence to the letter and spirit of the law. It has also come to mean, in a broader sense, how a company and its leadership act based on corporate conscience — that internal guide to the rightness or wrongness of corporate or individual behavior.

Consumption of goods and services is dramatically changing. The traditional retailing business model is experiencing downward pressure on foot traffic, browsing and sales. The browsing is happening online as online sales increase. But is that the whole mosaic?

It’s a paradox: Consumers want to be led, yes. But they also want to be in the discussion about the veracity of the product, cause or campaign.

Why didn’t Sears become the first, or more successful, Amazon? The power of the Sears brand very well could have adopted and commanded the online sales model, returning to its roots and offering the broadest inventory of every product under the sun — online, and delivered directly to you. Just like it was done in 1888 with the first Sears catalog.

Consumers want to be confident about the performance of the product, as well as associating themselves with a winning brand personality.

Sounds like we’re again promoting the notion government should be run like a business. Well, government is not a business. And since it isn’t, policymakers and implementers would struggle to make it run like one.

Consumers need to understand that the cost of a move toward economic nationalism is a cost that will be borne by us all.

If the United States were to impose onerous tariffs on foreign goods, the effect on Arkansas consumers would be higher prices.

If voters know exactly what a sales tax is for — a new jail or community center or fire station, an economic development incentive for a new factory, a local road project — the likelihood local voters will support the local tax is greatly increased.

The election is over. Exhale. The holidays are here and retail doors are ready to be busted in search of discounts and deals designed to spur consumer spending. And overall spending should see an upturn.

On the eve of the election, a great deal is at stake for brand USA. And a great deal of worth and value is on the line for the Trump brand.

June was a big month for commercial transportation and its benefits to consumers. On June 29, the Interstate Highway System turned 60. And on June 26, the expansion of the Panama Canal was completed, more than doubling the ship-board container capacity of the canal, which was built in 1914.

The rapid development and marketing of all-electric cars, accelerating in the wake of a plethora of plug-in hybrids, is changing consumer acceptance of the future-is-now concept. It is reality.

A much-needed increase in annual highway funding is a problem. It’s a problem because the needs are so great, and the options for attainable, incremental funding are limited. In order to achieve the increases necessary to benefit all Arkansans, public involvement is needed in the development of new public policy leading to increased funding.

Made plans for London yet? The cost of staying, eating and buying goods and services there is now cheaper due to the weaker British pound and stronger U.S. dollar. All because the United Kingdom — comprising England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — voted to leave the European Union.

“Think like a brand; act like a retailer.” What gets my focus these days is how to apply that strategy not in terms of reaching an end-user consumer, but how a business markets its wares to another business. It’s called business-to-business marketing, or B2B.

Basic. Essential. Enduring. That’s what a core is. In business, we often hear the term “core competency.” In this layman’s terms it could be expressed in the simple phrase “Stick with what you know.”

Perceived quality is created. Objective quality is measured. Either way, quality begets value and value begets purchasing and repurchasing decisions.

Last week’s leap day brings to mind the notion that we as consumers adjust every so often to the dynamics of the marketplace.

McDonald’s, under new CEO Steve Easterbrook, has decided to heed national consumer research and take a bold, new and yet simple step: The most important meal of the day now has become the most important meal of the day, as McDonald’s unveiled in October its all-day breakfast menu.