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
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From CSR to Sustainable Business - What are companies doing, and why
A presentation given to 400 business students and professors in Guadalajara, Mexico on September 19 2013. It covers: CSR definitions, trends now and in the future, company case studies, the business case for CSR and sustainability and the issues of the future. Looks at Marks & Spencer, Unilever, Siemens, General Electric company
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From CSR to Sustainable Business: What are companies doing, and why
• Infrastructure and ci?es -‐ sustainable technologies (smart grid equipment and rail vehicles)
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
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!)
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
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’
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
Harvard Business School
Professor Robert Eccles, Harvard Business School
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
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”
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