Case Studies Archives: 2009
June 2009
Achieving Global eSustainability
The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector moves quickly. It is known for developing new products and services, as well as driving the convergence of previously separate services into integrated products. These constant changes are accompanied by rapidly shifting CSR risks and opportunities. While companies often seek to maximize the sustainability of CSR efforts by prioritizing their most material issues, there is no consensus on which issues are most material for the ICT industry as a whole.
June 2009
Women’s Health Enables Return in Global Supply Chains
Women between the ages of 18 to 25 often comprise the vast majority of developing world workers making products for export to the developed world. Much of this work is performed in environments where access to information about reproductive health, as well as critical health services, is lacking. Moreover, factory managers often question the value of investing financial resources in health programs due to high turnover and the perception that young, unmarried women workers are not sexually active and thus are not at risk for reproductive health problems. Despite the challenges presented by this reality, we set out to leverage our unique position to improve the general and reproductive health of women workers along global supply chains.
June 2009
The Automotive Industry Action Group
The automotive global supply chain touches nearly every other industry, including steel, plastics, textiles, electronics, and more. As scrutiny of human rights practices in other industries heated up, the automotive sector knew it could soon become a target if it did not proactively address the social impacts of its operations. In an effort to improve the working conditions of the automotive supply chain, five major auto companies sought BSR's help to create a set of working conditions guidelines and other tools. BSR was assisted by a sizeable grant from the U.S. State Department to fund this initiative.
June 2009
Visa: Aligning and Strengthening Corporate Responsibility Strategy
Visa Inc. undertook the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO) in March 2008. As one of the world’s foremost brands, Visa sought to “place a stake in the ground” as a leader in responsible business at the time of its IPO. Executives sought to create an integrated and strengthened vision of corporate responsibility to achieve greater impact—building on its existing programs in employee engagement, environmental stewardship, community relations, and philanthropy. They engaged BSR to assess the company’s existing programs, analyze strategic options, and prepare a comprehensive corporate responsibility platform.
June 2009
Sustainability Outlook: Forecasting the Future
The fast-changing events of 2008 reinforced how important it is to understand the undercurrents of change that shape our world—and determine the success of business strategy. Companies that anticipate underlying social, economic, technological, and political changes are positioned to win.
June 2009
Starbucks Coffee Company
Starbucks has set the bar high with an ongoing commitment to ethical and environmental sourcing. As modeled by their coffee practice, Starbucks regularly invests in understanding the complex production landscape behind its products. So before they launched a new line containing cocoa—which is sourced primarily from regions in West Africa that rely on forms of child labor—the company needed to learn more about the potential social and environmental impacts of the production. Lacking direct relationships with suppliers, they reached out to BSR to connect with global stakeholders.
June 2009
Sino Gold Implements Action Plan for Community Development in China
Sino Gold's Jinfeng Mine is an Australian-operated joint venture with the Chinese government that entered production in May 2007. Sino Gold sought guidance on how to build its "social license to operate" by promoting long-term community development in the five remote villages surrounding the mine in the mountains of southern China. Sino Gold contacted BSR for advice on the design of a community development strategy that would go beyond traditional public relations or social marketing efforts to promote real, tangible improvements in people's quality of life.
June 2009
Shenzhen’s ICT Sector Strives for Social and Environmental Leadership
The Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), a joint initiative of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, sought to build the capacity of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in Shenzhen, China, to meet international social and environmental requirements and improve the "soft" competitiveness of the industry. This in turn necessitated an innovative multi-stakeholder project approach that included a wide range of industry and public sector players.
June 2009
Shell Wind: Community Engagement in a New Era of Energy
Shell Wind Energy is involved in 11 wind-generating facilities across the United States and Europe, with 550 megawatts of owned generating capacity—saving around 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year compared to conventional energy sources. Shell recognizes that wind projects can have a range of impacts that require community engagement, and that community engagement is central to positive outcomes. For example, while wind developments in rural areas can support the regional economy, important public services also need to be readied for managing revenues, safety, and communications regarding planned construction and operating activities. Shell asked BSR to support community engagement with wind projects in several locations, including New Mexico and Texas.
June 2009
Promoting Business Engagement in Enhancing Effective Public Governance
Companies are increasingly finding that the boundaries between public and private responsibilities are unclear. Many CSR challenges flow directly from weak or poor governance, or from a lack of clarity about how to address questions of global significance. Appropriate business efforts to address topics ranging from climate change and labor standards to bribery and corruption are more likely to be successful where effective public governance is present. Indeed, true sustainable economic growth is more likely where governance mechanisms function effectively.
June 2009
Novartis Pays Social Dividends with Wages
Novartis needed help meeting its commitment to pay competitive and fair wages—which clearly exceed what is needed to cover basic living needs—and to provide employees with time for family, social activities and leisure. To achieve this standard established in its Corporate Citizenship policy, Novartis must pay wages that cover the market price of a basket of goods and services representing the necessities for an average worker in the countries where Novartis operates. This basket should include reasonable housing, transportation, health care, clothing, nutrition, and education for dependent children in accordance with local standards.
June 2009
GE’s Citizenship Report Sets the Bar High
GE decided to create a reporting strategy that would communicate a global, companywide approach while also encompassing its diverse business lines: GE Money, Commercial Finance, NBC Universal, Infrastructure, Industrial, and Healthcare.
June 2009
Ghana Responsible Mining Alliance
Ghana is the second largest gold producing country in Africa, and the majority of its population suffers from basic developmental needs. There is a history of conflict around the mining sector in the country and a perception that local communities receive fewer benefits than they should. Two major gold mining companies and USAID/Ghana collaborated to create a tri-partite Global Development Alliance (GDA) aimed at improving the lives of Ghanaians in mining communities. Together they sought the help of BSR professionals to assess the internal capacity of alliance partners and to define key focus areas for Alliance activities.
June 2009
IBM Supports Small Businesses in Emerging Economies
IBM wanted to develop a virtual business incubator for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and asked us to help evaluate target markets, assess gaps in current offerings and desired functionality, and identify potential partners. Such an understanding would prepare IBM to develop a solution that best meets the needs of SMEs and maximize the impact on economic development.
June 2009
Harnessing the Power of Media
As the media industry evolves, so do the definitions of what it means to be a great corporate citizen. With many media companies both creating and distributing content, their impact is far reaching—but industry-wide priorities can be hard to define and set.
June 2009
Environmental Services, Tools, & Markets Initiative
The landmark Millennium Ecosystem Assessment—the most far-reaching ecological study ever undertaken, conducted by over 1,300 scientists around the world—found that 60 to 70 percent of environmental functions, such as natural water purification and flood protection, are being degraded faster than they can be recovered. The private sector, its customers and its suppliers rely on many of these services for consistent supply, business continuity and consumer purchasing power. BSR took on the challenge of identifying and evaluating financial mechanisms that can be applied to these services in order to capture their value through new environmental markets.
June 2009
Defining the Role of Responsible Business in Protecting International Labor Migrants
An increasingly vital part of the global workforce, labor migrants now comprise approximately 190 million people, or about 3 percent of the world population. These migrants—many of whom are moving “South to South,” between emerging economies—often arrive in destination countries heavily indebted, with limited knowledge of local languages, laws, and culture, and with restricted access to protection. As a result, they are vulnerable to a number of human and labor rights violations, including passport withholding, bonded labor, broken contracts, and nonpayment of wages.
June 2009
Cleaning Up Industrial Water Pollution in Southern China
In industrial regions of southern China, water pollution is an increasingly serious problem. According to the Nanfang Daily, 12.62 billion tons of polluted materials and 8.3 billion tons of wastewater were discharged into the waters off Guangdong in 2007—up 60 percent from five years ago. Perhaps most distressing, according to Guangdong officials, more than 40 percent of the province’s rural people do not have access to safe drinking water.
June 2009
China Mobile: Advancing Corporate Responsibility Reporting
While sustainability reporting in Europe, Japan, and the United States has been common practice for years, businesses in China have begun embracing this practice recently. China Mobile issued its first corporate responsibility report in 2006, and it engaged BSR to assist with its 2007 report as a way of advancing its newest sustainability efforts.
June 2009
Building Collaboration: The ILO/IFC’s Better Work Program
A joint project of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Better Work program is designed to improve working conditions in global supply chains while boosting both countries' economic competitiveness and business for national industries. The ILO and IFC selected BSR to help increase the involvement of international buyers in order to create systemic improvements of the working conditions in their supply chains.
June 2009
Archer Daniels Midland: A Sustainable Supply Chain for Agribusiness
As one of the largest agricultural processors in the world—producing food, feed, and bio-energy products—Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) addresses one of the world’s most pressing challenges: meeting the growing global demand for agricultural products, while balancing the need to use such resources for food, fuel, or animal feed, and minimizing environmental degradation. Seeking guidance as it navigated these interconnected issues, ADM engaged BSR, beginning in 2007, to help the company align its supply chain management with best practices in social and environmental stewardship.
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