It is interesting to note the findings from the Boston College survey that highlights a gap between public expectations of business and actual business practices. New research from Corporate Citizenship shows some other potentially worrying differences between the views of the public and CSR practitioners.
We recently polled more than 170 business professionals working in the UK and the USA in the field of corporate responsibility and sustainable development. Their views were compared and contrasted with a similar sized group of social activists (representatives of local community groups, charities, NGOs, etc.). One of the key differences between the two groups concerned the social and environmental issues business should address. While the majority of CSR practitioners see climate change as the biggest challenge, activists are more concerned with issues of poverty, social inequality and health issues such as obesity.
Another interesting finding related to the pressure for action on CSR issues. Many commentators point to the media and NGOs as the most influential groups militating for changes in corporate behaviour. While this is true in some cases, CSR practitioners think that more pressure comes from employees.
Clearly, if business is to respond to the demands placed on it by society – whether from employees, social activists or the media – it must be sure it has a proper understanding of the issues and concerns of its key stakeholders and does not simply jump on the climate change bandwagon. (The full report can be downloaded from www.corporate-citizenship.com).
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The cost of luxury?
Some of the world’s most luxurious brands are not taking environmental and social issues seriously according to a report from WWF released at the end of November. Deeper Luxury found that beauty products company, L’Oréal, was the best at addressing these concerns but even L’Oréal only scored at C+ grade with many of its competitors not even achieving a pass. Other companies included in the report are Hermès, Tods, Tiffany & Co and Swatch and were ranked by referring to sustainability reports as well as media and NGO scrutiny.
The study highlights the importance of corporate responsibility in luxury brands and refers to a global elite of consumers who are more and more concerned about social and environmental issues and brands need to reflect these aspirations. It also states that celebrity endorsement of brands should be more thoroughly thought through by the celebrities themselves. Contact WWF 01483 426 444 www.wwf.org
Managing citizenship
Senior executives support corporate citizenship but there is a gap between public expectations of businesses and actual business practices according to the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. The centre published its annual survey State of Corporate Citizenship 2007: Time to get real – closing the gap between rhetoric and reality on December 17, which examines the US private sector’s perception of its role in society. The survey considers the attitudes of senior executives of 751 small, medium and large businesses and is funded by the Hitachi Foundation.
Contact Boston College – Centre of Corporate Citizenship 001 617 552 4545 www.bcccc.net
Small firms are responsible
Small companies are becoming more responsible according to a report from the Federation of Small Businesses published
on January 1. Social and Environmental Responsibility and the Small Business Owner states that 92% of small businesses are socially and environmentally responsible and that, even though the CSR terminology may be unfamiliar, 76% of small businesses define their actions in the field as good business practice with 83% engaged in reducing waste and recycling. Contact FSB 01253 336000www.fsb.org.uk
Global Accountability Exposed
Inter-governmental organisations, such as the UN Development Programme, are the most accountable organisations according to the 2007 Global Accountability Report, which was released by the One World Trust in December. However, the report did find that each sector – inter-governmental, non-governmental, corporate – led in one of the areas. Inter-governmental organisations showed good transparency and evaluation systems, with NGOs having the best participation capabilities, and corporates the best complaint and response mechanisms.
The top inter-governmental organisations were the UN Development Programme, the Asian Development Bank and the UN Environment Programme; the top non-governmental organisations were Christian Aid and the International Accounting Standards Board; and the top corporations were The General Electric Company, GlaxoSmithKline and The Coca-Cola Company.
The report ranks the accountability of 30 of the world’s most powerful intergovernmental, corporate and non-governmental organisations by considering performance across four dimensions of accountability – transparency, participation, evaluation and complaint and response mechanisms. Contact One World Trust www.oneworldtrust.org
Covalence Ethical Ranking 2007
The Covalence Ethical Ranking 2007 was published on January 2 and the top 10 companies across sectors are:
1 Unilever
2 Toyota
3 HSBC
4 HP
5 Alcoa
6 Starbucks
7 Rio Tinto
8 Intel
9 Dell
10 M&S
The report also ranks companies according to their progress and best reported performance. Toyota and Wal-Mart came out top respectively in these categories. Covalence is a Swiss organisation that tracks the ethical reputation of multinationals by sourcing information from the media, civil society and companies. The ranking is based on Covalence’s ethical quotation system, which is a reputation index based on quantifying data and is used as a barometer of how multinationals are perceived in the ethical field. Contact Covalence 0041 22 800 08 55 www.covalence.ch
GE reputation top in the US
General Electric is America’s most admired company according to the America’s Most Admired Companies 2007 survey by Fortune magazine. GE is followed by Starbucks, Toyota, Berkshire Hathaway, Southwest Airlines, FedEx, Apple, Google, Johnson & Johnson and Procter &Gamble. Fortune carries out an annual ranking of the US companies with the best reputations. This year 3,322 executives, directors and securities analysts were interviewed and asked to select the ten companies they admire most. According to the survey, innovation and environmental leadership were qualities that distinguish this year’s winners. Contact Fortune magazine http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune
Most influential people in business ethics
David Logan, co-founder and executive director of the former The Corporate Citizenship Company and now chair of Corporate Citizenship, was named as one of the top 100 most influential people in business ethics in 2007. Ethisphere magazine, an ethics and compliance publication for the private sector, draws up the list annually with the help of an expert advisory panel made up of representatives from universities and other institutions. Logan is joined on the list by Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger among others. Contact Ethisphere www.ethisphere.com
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