1 Centre for Business & Social Resilience THE AFRICA CENTRE FOR BUSINESS AND SOCIAL RESILIENCE This document provides a proposal for a specialised centre to assist in monitoring and tracking criminal activities in Africa which have a negative impact on business and social resilience. Business resilience is defined broadly as the capacity of enterprises to survive and even thrive during challenging economic periods and establish a sustainable base for long-term profitability. Social resilience is broadly defined as the extent to which a given society and its sub-communities can offer a basis for sustainable living, including safety and protection, of all those forming part of the society. THE SHIFT FROM CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT TO CORPORATE ACTIVISM The global trend is to now shift from mere CSI to Corporate Activism. Activism in its essence are acts that aim to change the current state of society into a desired state of society. The world changes, and business must change as well. Companies that fail to reflect the social values and priorities of their workforce and their customers are unlikely to thrive. What types of corporate activists are there? • The opposite of dollar-driven Business Inspired Activism would be to take activist action that hurt your own financial results - Ethically Inspired Activism. • Corporate activism is a public stance taken by a major company to positively impact social change or legislation. • Corporate activism uses the bedrock of company value systems to actively fight obstructions in the market and issues in society at large that run against these value systems, thus going further than CSR and triple-bottom-line models, which seek to balance financial results with environmental and societal ones. 87% of people will purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue they cared about. 73% of Millennials are willing to spend more on a brand if it comes from a sustainable brand. 81% of Millennials expect their favourite companies to make public declarations of their corporate citizenship. “Consumers want to know more than whether
33
Embed
THE AFRICA CENTRE FOR BUSINESS AND SOCIAL RESILIENCE
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1
Centre for Business & Social Resilience
THE AFRICA CENTRE FOR BUSINESS AND SOCIAL RESILIENCE
This document provides a proposal for a specialised centre to assist in monitoring and
tracking criminal activities in Africa which have a negative impact on business and social
resilience. Business resilience is defined broadly as the capacity of enterprises to survive
and even thrive during challenging economic periods and establish a sustainable base
for long-term profitability. Social resilience is broadly defined as the extent to which a
given society and its sub-communities can offer a basis for sustainable living, including
safety and protection, of all those forming part of the society.
THE SHIFT FROM CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT TO CORPORATE ACTIVISM
The global trend is to now shift from mere CSI to Corporate Activism. Activism in its
essence are acts that aim to change the current state of society into a desired state of
society. The world changes, and business must change as well. Companies that fail to
reflect the social values and priorities of their workforce and their customers are unlikely
to thrive.
What types of corporate activists are there?
• The opposite of dollar-driven Business Inspired Activism would be to take activist
action that hurt your own financial results - Ethically Inspired Activism.
• Corporate activism is a public stance taken by a major company to positively
impact social change or legislation.
• Corporate activism uses the bedrock of company value systems to actively fight
obstructions in the market and issues in society at large that run against these
value systems, thus going further than CSR and triple-bottom-line models, which
seek to balance financial results with environmental and societal ones.
87% of people will purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue they
cared about. 73% of Millennials are willing to spend more on a brand if it comes from a
sustainable brand. 81% of Millennials expect their favourite companies to make public
declarations of their corporate citizenship. “Consumers want to know more than whether
2
Centre for Business & Social Resilience
a corporation is socially responsible. They want to make purchasing decisions based on
their values and understand which companies are not aligned with their values.”
1. Africa in context
During the past years, the continent of Africa has experienced significant growth in
criminal activity and a decline in resilience to crime. “The growth of criminal networks
operating in Africa has at the same time been supported by conflict and instability, weak
and corruptible state institutions, as well as criminalised states.”
(https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/enact_report.pdf). The markets
for criminal activity have increased, and remain in an upward spiral, exposing the
The centre will be instrumental in creating, receiving and disseminating key intelligence,
and in this regard, is acutely aware of the sensitive management of this intelligence.
6. The composition/structure of the Centre
The centre will align its key focus areas to a physical, operational structure, thereby
enabling focus and output in the desired chambers. This is illustrated below:
Public layer InformationIntelligence & Information made available to the general public.
Business layer InformationThis layer of intelligence/information is produced for specific business needs. It may be shared amongst businesses (if agreed) for the
benefit of an business cluster, or it may be isolated to one business
State layer InformationThis layer is highly sensitive & for use by state agencies only. This intelligence can vary from real time operational to highly
strategic in nature.
10%
30%
60%
“De
ep”
Inte
llige
nce
“Se
nsitiv
e”
Inte
llig
ence
The Research Centre
The Cyber Centre
The Profiling Centre
The War Room
The Hall
OfficeAdministration, Finances, Staff
Training, Conferencing etc. (Internships &
External Companies)
Idea Generation, Brainstorming, Brown
Paper Sessions
Environmental Criminology, Human
Trafficking, Gender Based Violence, Animal Poaching
Cyber Crime, Software Development,
Data Analysis
Research to Support Law Enforcement,
Business, Government, Community
Office Admin (1), Finance (1), Director (1),
Events Co-Ordinator (1), Public Affairs (1),
Cleaner (1)
Permanent Staff
N/A
N/A
Criminal/Psychological Profiler (1),
Specialists (2)
ICT Experts (2), Analysts (2), Developers
(2)
Senior Researcher (1), Junior Researcher
(1), *Interns (10)
Supporting Task Teams
24
Centre for Business & Social Resilience
Within the centre will be a “nerve centre” focused exclusively on the digital landscape.
This is where the state-of-the-art IT/ICT component is housed.
7. The Internship programme (a first for Africa)
The internship programme is focused on Criminology/IT graduates. It will equip them with
a theoretical & practical skill set. It is a one-year programme that consists of classroom
training, practical exposure, and workshops/conferences. Staff will do part of the training,
and external, expert facilitators will contribute to round the training off.
The course will deliver specific pro-bono output as part of the practical application. This
however does not preclude any paid work requested by businesses.
Interns will be exposed to a wide network within Criminology, Law Enforcement, the
Judiciary, Cyber Space and Business.
Close relationships have been developed with universities to ensure that the programme
is a continuation (not repetition) of theoretical work covered in the undergraduate
programmes. The University of Limpopo has officially endorsed the programme as an
academic extension to university Criminology degrees. This will allow for accreditation
Live Digital Platform at the Command CentreLive Public feed