CSR management

The world of corporate responsibility and sustainable development is – like all other management disciplines – populated with its own jargon. Whether we like it or not, some of this obscure terminology has passed into (relatively) common usage.

The concept of “glocal” neatly describes the need for a multinational company to operate to a set of global standards for its social and environmental performance; and at the same time respect the customs, cultures and norms of the local society in which it operates.

Perhaps less well known is the concept of “co-opetition”. However, there is every chance that this term will become increasingly familiar and relevant to corporate responsibility practitioners. Co-opetition is used to describe the process of collaboration that occurs when companies which are usually competitors work together for mutual benefit. A perfect example of co-opetition is the announcement by Nike to make hundreds of its patents freely available to others in a bid to drive environmental innovation.

The scale of today’s sustainable development challenge is such that it is often impossible for a single organisation to address the problems in isolation. Effective responses will only come from multinational, multilateral and multi-stakeholder initiatives. This does not absolve individual companies from their responsibilities for action. However, as Nike and other are demonstrating, co-opetition might be the way forward to develop collective thinking and joint action.

Andrew is a director at Corporate Citizenship.
Email him at andrew.wilson@corporate-citizenship.com to discuss new approaches to developing your organisation’s corporate responsibility strategy.

Just share it - top brands usher in era of green ‘co-mpetition’
Ten leading organizations recently announced the launch of the GreenXchange, a web-based marketplace where companies can collaborate and share intellectual property, aiming to fuel new sustainability business models and innovation. Supporting companies include Mountain Equipment Co-op, Nike, 2degrees, and Yahoo! The organizations called on other corporations to join them in committing to opening up their IP to fast-track the development of innovative solutions to sustainability challenges. One example of IP that could have cross-industry benefits is Nike’s Environmentally Preferred Rubber. Used in Nike footwear the rubber contains 96% fewer toxins than the original formulation. By licensing the technology on GX it could be used in other company’s footwear, or it could hypothetically be used by Mountain Equipment Co-op for bicycle inner tubes. In this way Mountain Equipment Co-op could bring a greener product to market more quickly and cheaply than it could on its own.
Contact: Nike
www.nikebiz.com

New report shows increase in uptake of GRI reporting in the S&P 100
The latest edition of the annual Sustainable Investment Research Analyst Network (SIRAN) commissioned report, ‘S&P 100 Sustainability Reporting Comparison’, shows a marked increase in the number of firms reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. According to the report, the number of Standard and Poors companies producing sustainability reports with performance data has increased by over a third in the past year. Since 2004, the number of companies making reference to GRI in their sustainability reports has more than doubled from 24 to 55 of the S&P 100. In 2009, the number of S&P 100 companies reporting according the GRI Guidelines increased by 25% on the previous year. 93 of the S&P 100 now provide at least some sustainability information on their websites, up from 58 companies in 2007.
Contact: Sustainable Investment Research Analyst Network
www.siran.org

M&S extends 'eco-plan' after £50m savings from previous scheme
Marks & Spencer announced 80 major new commitments under its Plan A strategy on March 1. The new commitments include converting all 2.7 billion individual M&S food, clothing and home items sold every year into ‘Plan A products’, so that each carries at least one sustainable or ethical quality (e.g. carrying Fairtrade or Marine Stewardship Council certification or using free range or other sustainable ingredients). The company also plans to encourage 21 million M&S customers to live a more sustainable lifestyle with the launch of a new competition for customers to submit their ideas for ‘green’ actions for M&S to adopt. The retailer also plans to work with suppliers to provide training and education programmes – including in basic healthcare and workers’ rights - for 500,000 workers in their factories. M&S plans to become the first major retailer to ensure full traceability of all the key raw materials used in its clothing and home products including cotton, wool, polyester, nylon, leather and wood. Stuart Rose, M&S chairman said ‘It's not just the right thing to do morally but also makes strong commercial sense’.
Contact: Marks and Spencer
corporate.marksandspencer.com

Four strategies to achieve world-class carbon management
A report released on February 12 by Verdantix, based on interviews with 33 industry experts, explains why firms are floundering with carbon management and putting the future of the business at risk due to flawed governance and strained business processes. Verdandix asserts how firms will need to implement a low carbon business transformation plan to fix governance blackholes, effectively design a carbon strategy, coordinate business process change and launch a technology platform for world-class carbon accounting. Firms listed in the report who have already made progress in carbon management and carbon accounting include; BAE Systems, BHP Billiton, BP, Cisco, Dow Chemical Company, HP, Proctor & Gamble, SAP and Wal-Mart.
Contact: Verdantix
www.verdantix.com

Major new study reveals corporate social responsibility “iceberg”
A new study, released on 16 February by the British Brands Group, comprises of a new collection of essays which estimates that billions of pounds of value is currently hidden, as branded companies do not measure fully the impact of their CSR activity. The study assesses the investment made by brands into responsible business practices and the developing partnership approach between Government and brands to deliver public policy goals. This included a review of projects such as Change4Life and the Campaign for Smarter Drinking. The study found that there is currently no comprehensive model for assessing the social, economic and environmental value of branded companies’ contribution through CSR, and that approximately £370 million has been invested by brands to support public policy partnerships.
Contact: British Brands Group
www.britishbrandsgroup.org.uk

IBM, Intel Corp and HSBC Holdings top Covalence ethical ranking
Covalence has recently released its reputation index, based on quantifying qualitative data, which is classified according to 45 criteria such as labour standards, waste management, product social utility or human rights policy. The process involves integrating thousands of documents found among media, enterprise, NGO and other sources, for producing the EthicalQuote score which serves as a base for calculating Covalence rankings. New sector leaders are: BMW (Automobiles & Parts), Walt Disney (Media), and Suncor (Oil & Gas). Across sectors, companies progressing the most during 2009 were: BT Group (Telecommunication), Kimberly-Clark (Personal & Household Goods), Samsung Electronics (Technology), and Siemens AG (Industrial Goods & Services). Companies losing ground were: Caterpillar (Industrial Goods & Services) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (Banks).
Contact: Covalence
www.covalence.ch

Safeway becomes first grocer to be founding member of the Sustainability Consortium
On March 1, Safeway announced it has become the first US based retail grocery chain and manufacturer of private label merchandise to join The Sustainability Consortium in support of the organization’s science-based work toward a more sustainable global supply chain. The company joins other retailers and consumer product manufacturers that have become members of the Consortium and its product “life cycle” mission including social and environmental considerations. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool for analyzing emissions, waste and the natural resources used from soil to kitchen in different food and non-food items. Safeway is interested in aggregating the data for primary sectors such as agriculture, dairy, packaging and fishery through industrial food processing to retail delivery.
Contact: Safeway
www.safeway.com

Carbon management tops supplier criteria
A Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report, produced by A.T. Kearney, shows suppliers are now expected by some of their global customers to demonstrate carbon emissions management, awareness and action, in order to maintain business relationships. The second annual CDP Supply Chain Report shows the importance granted by CDP Supply Chain members to carbon management targets versus classic procurement targets is expected to triple in the next five years. The report also shows that all CDP members now have a strategic approach to deal with climate change. The majority (63%) have a formal, documented corporate climate change strategy and the remaining (37%) have general guidelines. They have integrated a carbon policy into their procurement organization, and a large majority of them (90%) have a reduction plan in place.
Contact: Carbon Disclosure Project
www.cdproject.net

81% of European CEO's focus on sustainability
A new pan-European research study called "Sustainovation" has revealed that 81% of European CEO's are combating shortages in raw materials such as oil and water through focusing their efforts on sustainability. Conducted by management consultants Brands & Values, the report presents comprehensive examples of companies creating innovative solutions to environmental challenges. Of the 1,200 CEO's surveyed across every industry in fourteen west European countries, 86% view ecological and social challenges as motivators of innovative products and business models. Furthermore, 90% believe that global threats are a challenge for the long-term success of their companies.
Contact: Brand & Values
www.brandsandvalues.com

eBay launches green marketing efforts around rainforest
eBay has launched two green initiatives aimed at positioning itself as a conservationist in the eyes of consumers. The online marketplace has unveiled a new green shopping hub that will help consumers find millions of green products, and launched its eBay Green Team Challenge that commits the online giant to save up to a quarter of a million acres of rainforest for consumers who reuse. For the first 250,000 people that pledge to reuse on eBay, the company, in collaboration with Team Earth, will protect an acre of rainforest in their name.
Contact: eBay Green Team
www.ebaygreenteam.com

Link between sustainability and profits remains unclear
Just 24% of executives in an Economist Intelligence Unit survey believe there is a strong link in the short term (1-2 years) between financial performance and commitment to sustainability. However, 69% believe the link is strong in the long term (5-10 years), and companies worldwide are moving sustainability principles into their core policies and practices. The survey, carried out in December 2009 and January 2010 among over 200 finance and corporate social responsibility executives, found that 34% of respondents said their firms’ immediate financial goals were a more pressing priority than sustainability. The report also found that just 18% of firms link pay to sustainability indicators, but anecdotal evidence suggests this practice is growing among leading companies.
Contact; Economist Intelligence Unit
www.eiuresources.com

Accenture concludes sustainability drives innovation
In February 2010, Accenture published research suggesting that strong innovators are more inclined to pursue superior sustainability strategies. In reaching this conclusion Accenture investigated the innovation strategies of more than 200 European companies from six major industries - chemicals, steel, utilities, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications. It observed that the relationship between the innovation and sustainability is symbiotic - a focus on sustainability drives innovation. A keen appreciation of resource constraints, for example, leads to product and process improvements and to greater supply chain efficiencies. Moreover, its research shows that companies in pursuit of sustainability tend to proactively integrate stakeholders in the innovation process, an approach that encourages innovative solutions that are more sustainable.
Contact: Accenture
www.accenture.com

Making the business case for sustainability
On 15 February, Ray Anderson’s new book entitled Confessions of a Radical Industrialist was released in paperback. The book captures sustainability in action, charting the progress of Mission Zero, the global modular flooring company’s drive to achieve a zero environmental footprint by 2020. Having realized in 1994 that his company’s ‘take, make, waste’ approach to manufacturing was fundamentally flawed, Anderson set out on a ‘mid-course correction’, changing the company’s business model to consider and reduce the environmental impact of every creative, manufacturing and building decision made, pioneering the sustainability movement for the industrial world. Confessions of a Radical Industrialist tells his story and presents the business case for sustainability based on Interface’s own experiences over more than fifteen years. Published by Random House Business Books.
Contact: rayanderson.com

IN BRIEF
Social responsibility: What do companies report on?
In the analysis of more than 700 European companies’ reporting on their social responsibility, Vigeo, a European social and environmental rating agency, found that companies provide the most copious and complete information about their governance; whilst subjects that receive the least attention are the basic rights of their employees and their working conditions. The study also found that companies are much more inclined to post their visions and targets than their social, environmental or governance-related achievements; and that when providing information on their social responsibility practices, companies first address their shareholders and the financial markets.
Contact: Vigeo
www.vigeo.com