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Being Green is Glorious: Beijing's Green Olympics
Beijing pledged to hold a "Green Olympics" as part of its Olympic bid, promising that the 2008 Beijing Games would "serve as a catalyst for environmental improvement and help promote sustainable development in Beijing and China." As the organizers of major events such as the Olympics and World Cup invest in "sustainable games," Beijing 2008 could change the way China meets its future environmental challenges. What can Olympic sponsors and foreign investors do to help promote environmental responsibility in China, and what do the experiences from other "mega-events" suggest for the Beijing games?
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Building Supplier Capacity: Global Markets -- Local Benefits
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key drivers of economic growth with the potential to become important partners with multinational companies to build business success that enhances local economic development. In the developing world, SMEs can face a number of impediments to success, such as excess bureaucracy, governance issues, and lack of access to human and financial capital and technology. How can multinational corporations build a stable supplier base that helps SMEs overcome these barriers?
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Can We Talk? A Dialogue on Integrating CSR and Government Affairs *
CSR and government affairs can support business strategy and -- in ideal circumstances -- work together to advance complementary approaches to material social and environmental questions. Very often, however, such efforts are misaligned, resulting in lost opportunity, inconsistency and damage to the reputations of everyone involved. Join this candid dialogue among leaders of Government Affairs and CSR functions on how to establish results-oriented collaboration that promotes responsible business and impacts public policy.
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Changing Media, Changing Rules of the Game *
The flowering of user-generated content on the Internet has opened up new forms of communication—from blogging to "wikis" to video. Companies used to dominate communications from the top down; now communications channels flow in thousands of directions, with great diversity of opinion. How do companies communicate effectively in this new environment, and what are the implications for how companies define, pursue and communicate about CSR?
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Communicating CSR: Building Credibility with Skeptical Audiences
With complex messages, skeptical publics and the need to maintain humility, communicating about CSR presents different challenges and opportunities from traditional corporate communications. The potential to increase brand value is clear, yet communicating with integrity about CSR calls for more than just a great public-relations campaign. Hear from experts about the benefits and pitfalls of communicating CSR to a diverse audience of consumers and stakeholders.
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CSR: Made in China
CSR in China continues to evolve with its own distinctive character. Rapidly accelerating interest from Chinese officials, grassroots responses to the environmental and social consequences of development, China's rising impact outside its own borders, and ongoing interest from outside the country all combine to create a dynamic context for the Chinese approach to CSR.
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Designing the Box (By Thinking Outside It): Sustainability as a Source of Innovation in Design
A growing number of companies are considering specific environmental and ethical sourcing criteria in the design of their products. Design For Environment, for example, is a set of standards that reduces manufacturing companies' use of hazardous materials, lowers energy usage and increases the recyclability of products. A growing body of experience shows that this is an opportunity to make sustainability an integral part of the design process, rather than a simple response to regulatory requirements.
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Ethical Sourcing Standards from the Supplier's Perspective: Worth the Effort?
It is a common belief that suppliers benefit financially when they implement practices inspired by their customers' ethical sourcing standards. This session tests that assumption through discussion with suppliers who have initiated such practices at the factory level through management systems and internal compliance structures. They will speak frankly about their reasons for taking these steps; how they have affected their productivity and profitability; which methods produce measurable results; and what the biggest obstacles are to improving their workplace standards.
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Freedom of Expression, Privacy and the Internet
The intersection of the explosion of communication via the Internet and government's ongoing efforts to regulate communication has led to considerable debate over how companies providing Internet products and services can maximize expression while avoiding complicity in restrictions on expression that violates human rights. Join a discussion about how companies, academics and stakeholder groups have been working together to address these issues.
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From Carbon to Water to Biodiversity: Business Opportunities in Emerging Environmental Markets
How much are environmental services such as biodiversity, clean water and sustainable energy worth to your company's bottom line? You're about to find out. Recent studies show significant degradation in these resources, and market mechanisms are being developed to sustain them by creating value assessments based on supply and demand. This session will explore both the business costs of declining environmental services, as well as the new opportunities arising from emerging "environmental markets."
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From Foresight to Insight to Action: The Institute for the Future's 10-Year Forecast *
Successful business strategies depend on an understanding of the ways the world around us will change. The Institute for the Future's highly-regarded 10-Year Forecast provides a provocative and useful window into the social, technological and economic trends that will fundamentally impact business strategy. Participate in an interactive discussion about the ways in which the world around us might change and the ways that business -- in a manner consistent with the direction of society -- can anticipate these changes and use this understanding to shape successful business strategies.
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Going Public: Collaborating with Governments, Industry and Workers to Achieve Lasting Supply Chain Solutions
The Better Work Program, a joint initiative of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), works to establish systemic, sustainable improvements in labor standards -- and enterprise performance -- in global supply chains. It builds on lessons from the Better Factories Cambodia Project, which combines monitoring, remediation and training for factories with cooperation with government, employers, unions and international buyers. Hear about the experiences of Better Work and future plans that target the garment and footwear industries, plantations, electronic equipment and light manufacturing.
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Governments As Agents of Change
For many, CSR has been about what companies do in spite of government. Increasingly, however, businesses are acutely aware that their efforts to address the most important global challenges can succeed only by partnering with the public sector. Join a discussion of government officials to hear how they view their roles in promoting sustainable business conduct, and the ways they seek to collaborate with the private sector.
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Green to Gold: Building Successful Environmental Strategies
Green to Gold, the new book by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston, gets under the surface of the green business movement, drawing on a four-year study of the world's most innovative companies. Learn from the authors -- and the companies they studied -- why the Green Wave is sweeping the business world, and find out about the strategies and tools business leaders are using to create value while meeting environmental imperatives.
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In Conversation with John Ruggie, UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Business and Human Rights
For the past decade, human rights has occupied one of the most dynamic aspects of the CSR debate. Despite considerable attention, numerous complex questions remain unanswered, such as the nature of business' responsibilities on human rights; boundaries between public and private obligations to promote and respect human rights; and the nature of formal accountability structures. Join an illuminating dialogue with John Ruggie, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, to get a first-hand account of how these questions are being debated and resolved.
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In Conversation with Pamela Passman, VP Global Corporate Affairs, Microsoft
As one of the world's most successful companies and recognized brands, the scope of Microsoft's products, programs and business operations touch on many of the questions and issues that help define responsible business. As the company has grown and evolved, its approach to corporate citizenship and stakeholder engagement has also evolved. Join Pamela Passman for an interactive discussion of how this company -- which in so many ways defines the "new economy" -- integrates citizenship values, responsibilities and programs into its business strategy and operations.
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Keeping the Faith: Religious Frameworks for CSR
More than 80% of the world's population consider themselves religious. Religion provides people with a powerful moral framework, but what does it have to say about the relationship between business and society? Religion is seldom cited directly as inspiration for the modern CSR movement, and has been considered by some to be antithetical to its principles. This discussion will explore how different religious beliefs and traditions inform our notions of corporate responsibility.
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Lessons To and From the Field: The Global Young Leaders Programme
BSR and the Hong Kong-based Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT) have launched an innovative executive education program that fosters social enterprise development while delivering a unique learning experience. This program provides intensive field experience that marries business experience with development needs being addressed through social enterprises throughout Asia. This session will present learnings from company participants in the first Global Young Leaders Programme project, in Yunnan Province, China.
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Living in a Material World: Making Reporting Count
Social and environmental reporting exploded on the scene several years ago to address stakeholder concerns that non-financial elements of performance were being ignored. Now, as reporting evolves, many leading companies are coming full circle, returning to the core financial criterion of materiality for the basis of their CSR reporting. What are the implications of this trend and where will it go from here?
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Measuring Climate: A Carbon Disclosure Framework
The recently released Global Framework for Climate Risk Disclosure offers guidance to corporations from 14 leading pension funds, investor groups and other global organizations working on climate. The Framework includes information that investors need to analyze climate risk in their portfolios. Learn how businesses and investors can use the Framework, and how improved disclosure helps companies better manage their emissions, anticipate risks and capture opportunities in an increasingly carbon-constrained world.
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Measuring CSR Integration: Do You Know Your KPIs?
As work on CSR matures, additional effort is being put into measuring impacts. Key performance indicators (KPIs) help prioritize, measure and communicate the achievement of CSR goals, and link them to business performance. What is the best way for companies to create KPIs that frame, manage and execute their CSR strategies?
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Meet the Analysts -- The People Who Make Markets
Companies often state that markets do not value fully their investments in sustainability, and that they are often penalized for efforts that do not immediately enhance the bottom line. At the same time, analysts and investors often state that they have little incentive to value sustainability unless there is a connection to long-term economic performance. At this session, some investment institutions will discuss this ongoing tension and offer their insights about both the obstacles and opportunities in the current system.
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New Skills for New Challenges: Environmental, Social & Governance Skills in the MBA Core Curriculum
Note: This session is from 9 AM - 10 AM. Today's business environment requires that managers have new abilities -- cultural sensitivity, assessment of non-financial risks and opportunities, stakeholder-driven marketing, and governance, to name just a few. Input from BSR member companies and a gauge of public debates suggest that today's MBA graduates are not sufficiently equipped to meet these challenges. This session will look at innovations appearing in the design of MBA curriculums and their impacts on the next generation of responsible business leaders.
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Responsible Market Entry: Strategies for Making the Right First Impression
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. How do companies bring CSR into their decision-making processes when investing in or entering new markets? The way that they anticipate social, environmental and cultural questions can mean the difference between successful market entry and chronic conflict that diminishes the financial value and sustainability of their investment. Explore the different approaches to risk assessments that have shaped successful market entry strategies.
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Rethinking Global Supply Chains for a Climate-Constrained World
With the growing awareness of climate change, companies are reevaluating the very viability of global supply chains. Rising fuel costs and emerging consumer demand for locally produced items are leading some companies to change their procurement strategies and increase their use of local and regional suppliers. This session uses the agriculture industry as a window into the ways that companies are reconfiguring their supply chains to minimize transportation costs and reduce their impacts on the environment.
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Scream! Crash! Boom! The Coming Ecosystem Disaster
Drawing on 30 years of involvement with environmental issues, Paul Gilding argues it is inevitable that the global ecosystem will stop providing services at a level that can sustain our current economy. The former head of Greenpeace International suggests that we've passed the tipping point and asks whether we have entered an all-out collapse, rather than a mere crash. The unavoidable economic destruction will occur within a decade, he says, facing some businesses with rapid demise while presenting huge opportunities for others. Is this what the future holds for the economy and the world? Come find out.
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Setting the Example: The International NGOs' Accountability Charter
As the NGO sector has grown in size and importance, so too have questions about their own standards for transparency and responsibility. Earlier this year, leading global NGOs signed on to a voluntary "accountability charter" to govern their operations. This joint code -- which was two years in the making -- is designed to advance the very accountability NGOs have long sought from companies. Learn about the thinking behind this development and explore the questions faced by NGOs as they turn the spotlight on their own performance.
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Stakeholder Engagement Strategies That Deliver Value
The principle of stakeholder engagement is now widely accepted. This session will explore the challenges, opportunities and constraints that come from engaging stakeholders, and how some companies have evaluated the possibilities and developed solutions to support their activities.
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Strategic Decision-Making on Climate Change: Exploring Voluntary and Regulatory Approaches
What's a company to do about addressing global climate change? We are in a period where global policy consensus remains elusive, and there is significant experimentation in mandatory and voluntary schemes. How should a business choose from among the hundreds of voluntary initiatives and the worldwide patchwork of regulatory regimes? This session will explore which approaches have been the most successful and provides a solid framework for making decisions about company environmental policy.
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Strategies for Improving Business Impact on Poverty: Unilever and Oxfam Look Ahead
In 2004, Oxfam and Unilever entered into a partnership to gain a deeper understanding of how a multinational company's activities affect the poorest people associated with its value chain. They focused on Unilever's operations in Indonesia, and the resulting report, released in 2005, garnered a great deal of attention. Oxfam and Unilever are now assessing the report's implications for sustainable poverty reduction strategies in different countries. How can other companies learn from Unilever's and Oxfam's experience?
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The BoP Protocol in Action: SC Johnson's Kenya Experience
With more and more attention to poverty alleviation through the potentially immense business opportunities at the "Base of the Pyramid" (BoP -- the more than 4 billion people with per capita incomes below $1,500), companies are looking at ways to build new business models. SC Johnson has done just that by supporting field testing of the BoP ProtocolTM in Kenya. Learn about this cutting-edge business process that enables the private sector to partner with local communities to develop sustainable products that build economic, social and environmental value.
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The CSR and Business Strategy Connection? A Practitioners Discussion of the 2006 BSR-GEMI Benchmark Survey
Is there is a disconnect between business strategy and sustainability commitments? A new survey produced by BSR and the Global Environmental Management Institute (GEMI) offers insight from the perspective of dozens of sustainability leaders. The results tell us how well compensation is (and is not) tied to CSR performance, to what degree sustainability is viewed as a driver of business strategy, and how well integration is really happening. Find out what is and isn’t working, and how sustainability and EH&S practitioners can synergize to bolster their success.
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The New New (Green) Thing *
The latest tech investment boom (or bubble?) is about environmental sustainability. Significant investors are placing large bets on the development of technologies that have the potential to deliver large environmental and financial returns. This dialogue with leading participants in this wave will illustrate where that smart money is going, and where disruptive green technologies will come from.
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Thirsty for Solutions: Water Scenarios for the Next 20 Years
This highly interactive workshop will build on scenarios organized by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in conjunction with several companies. These scenarios, which aim to illustrate the world's most significant water challenges, encourage companies to think about the effects that water issues will have on business over the next two decades. Participants will use the scenarios as a framework to discuss the links between water-related concerns and their own business strategies. Note: Space for this session is limited.
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Toward an Alignment of CSR Standards: The Global Compact and GRI
Many companies have called for greater alignment of the external standards that they apply to their CSR activities. With the recent launch of an alliance between the UN Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), consistency may be within reach. Join the leaders of the Compact, GRI and AA1000 assurance standard to explore the opportunities and challenges presented by this recent development.
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Unlocking Hidden Value: Intangible Assets & CSR
Analysts increasingly believe that intangible assets like leadership skills, innovation and employee knowledge can represent as much as 75% of a firm's value. Understanding the nature of intangibles and the ways that responsible business can strengthen and measure them effectively holds great promise. This discussion will help us identify the link between sustainability and intangible assets, and measure the benefits arising from such efforts.
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With the Best Intentions: Measuring Development Impact
With the torrent of efforts by companies to contribute to poverty reduction, the importance of measuring impacts is essential. Companies have long looked at inputs and investments, but have only recently begun the more complex task of measuring actual impacts. This session will look from different perspectives at the kinds of metrics that are available and being used by companies, social entrepreneurs and multilateral agencies.
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Women Factory Workers, Health and Productivity
Women between the ages of 18 and 25 comprise a significant majority of people manufacturing goods as part of global supply chains. This session will present the findings from a major project undertaken by BSR in partnership with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to understand and effectively address the reproductive health needs of women employed in export manufacturing. We will present perspectives from innovative solutions identified through fieldwork in China, Vietnam, Mexico and India.
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