From CSR to Sustainable Business - What are companies doing, and why
16 likes3,762 views
The document outlines the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) towards sustainable business practices, emphasizing the importance of ethics, governance, and stakeholder engagement. It highlights trends such as improved trust and cost reduction, and profiles leaders like Unilever, Marks & Spencer, General Electric, and Siemens for their strategic approaches to sustainability. The report concludes that successful sustainable business relies on ethics and ongoing engagement with society.
From CSR to Sustainable Business - What are companies doing, and why
- 1. From CSR to Sustainable Business: What are companies doing, and why Toby Webb, Founder, Ethical Corpora7on and Stakeholder Intelligence. Lecturer, Corporate Responsibility, Birkbeck, University of London Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, September 2013 [email protected] Tobiaswebb.blogspot.com
- 2. What is CSR today? • CSR IS NOT PHILANTHROPY • Ethics * Integrity * Products * Services * Consumers * Investors * An7-‐corrup7on * Suppliers * Tax payments * Market Ethics * Employees * Civil society * Poli7cs and the Environment… and more… • CSR is not about how you give your money away • It is about how you make it • “CSR is about how you run your business when no-‐one is watching”
- 3. What are the CSR trends today? • More compliance • BeWer governance • Improved trust • Cost reduc7on • Co-‐ope77on
- 4. What are the (addi?onal) trends tomorrow? • Resource constraints (popula7on, materials, climate change) • Licence to Operate • Collabora7on for systems change • Ins7tu7onal, trade and poli7cal improvements • Impact measurement
- 5. Who are some of the leaders? • Unilever -‐ Ten year journey towards sustainable growth – The Sustainable Living Plan • Applies right across the value chain • Responsibility for own direct opera?ons (social/enviro) • Also for suppliers, distributors and how consumers use Unilever brands • Underpinning the Plan are around 60 very tough business targets
- 6. So what do they actually want to do? • Bring safe drinking water to 500 million people • Increase propor7on of product por^olio that meets highest nutri?onal standards (22% in 2010 to 25% in 2011) • Halve the greenhouse gas impact of products across the lifecycle by 2020 • 2020: Source 100% of agricultural raw materials sustainably (36% in 2012)
- 7. Business Benefits of Sustainability
- 8. Marks & Spencer • Launched Plan A in 2007. 100 commitments to achieve in 5 years • Now extended Plan A to 180 commitments to achieve by 2015. • 139 achieved so far • Ul7mate goal of becoming the world's most sustainable major retailer • Sustainability work has driven profits as well as cut costs • 2012: £135m NET BENEFIT (29% increase year on year)
- 9. Launched in 2007: “Ten years of incrementalism leading to transforma?on”
- 10. Who are some of the leaders? • General Electric: Eco-‐ Innova7on as business strategy • Ecomagina?on: Mainstream focus on business innova7on and sustainable industrial products • $2.3 billion invested in “Ecomagina7on” products in 2011 • Reduced GHG emissions 30% since 2004 • Reduced wastewater by 45% since 2006
- 11. Who are some of the leaders? 2011 -‐ Siemens reorganised opera7ons into four core business units: • Energy -‐ efficiency in energy produc7on and distribu7on, including oil, gas and renewables • Healthcare -‐ supplying technology (medical imaging equipment and healthcare IT) • Industry -‐ providing sojware and technology services • Infrastructure and ci?es -‐ sustainable technologies (smart grid equipment and rail vehicles)
- 12. Siemens and Green Business Strategy • 2011: Products and solu7ons in Environmental Por^olio generated revenue of €29.9 billion: 41% of total revenue • Objec7ve: Grow annual revenue to €40 billion by 2014 –with new, innova7ve products and excep7onal growth in fields like renewable energy
- 13. Why do they choose to lead? Unilever Marks and Spencer General Electric Siemens • Securing supply • Customer trust • Low carbon future • Urbanisa?on (These are not the only reasons!)
- 14. Why do they engage “stakeholders”? • Employee engagement drives innova7on and ideas • NGO partnerships bring science, experience, and credibility • Communi?es have increasing power & influence • Social media means no company escapes scru7ny • Big business want a long term vision from Governments: And policies and incen7ves that enable investment and longer term planning: So must lead by example
- 15. How do they engage with stakeholders? • Dialogue with civil society • Consul?ng experts on agriculture, trust, ethics. urbanisa7on, climate change, energy futures • By using guidance and standards • Listening to their employees • Watching trends emerge ISO 26000 Guidance ‘Standard’
- 16. How do CSR and Sustainability improve Business? • Consumers want to trust brands, not all the product detail • Leading companies are turning sustainability into opportunity all over the world: Water, Telecoms, Commodi7es, Retail, Mining, Construc7on… • 9 billion people means less resources. Innova7on will be essen7al. The Circular Economy will be vitally important. • Corporate roles in changing inefficient systems will be vital: The winning companies recognise CSR is systems change • CSR and Sustainability = Smarter business
- 18. Is CSR/sustainability profitable? London Business School & Harvard Business School research: • Firms with beWer CSR performance face significantly lower capital constraints • BeWer stakeholder engagement and transparency around CSR performance, are important in further reducing capital constraints • That the rela7on is driven by both the social and the environmental dimension of CSR "CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCESS TO FINANCE" Available at: hGp://ssrn.com/abstract=1847085
- 19. CEOs agree with all this… UN Global Compact and Accenture CEO study 2013: ü 75 CEOs 1-‐to-‐1s ü 1,000 CEO responses ü 103 countries ü 27 industry sectors Found two clear CEO priori?es for the future: One: “The need for governments to intervene to align global markets allowing companies to compete effec7vely to drive sustainability” Two: “To move beyond incremental change to transforma7on that delivers both sustainability leadership and value crea7on”
- 20. In conclusion… • CSR today = Sustainable Business tomorrow. BUT: • Sustainable business does not happen without Strategy • Strategy does not happen without good Governance • Good governance does not happen without Ethics • Ethics do not happen without Stakeholder Engagement • My final point: Successful sustainable business is based on both ethics and open and con7nuous engagement with society