Case Studies
Building the South China Energy Conservation Community
Today, China is one of the world’s largest carbon emitters and consumers of energy, with the average Chinese factory using about 11 times as much energy as its equivalent in Japan. In 2005, the Chinese government began an aggressive five-year plan to improve the energy efficiency of the country’s top 1,000 energy-consuming enterprises. These companies, which together account for one-third of China’s energy use, each emit more than 450,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The companies include China’s largest power plants, steel mills, petrochemical companies, and paper mills, among others.
ANZ: Responsible Growth in the Financial Services Industry
In an era when the bank down the street is often headquartered in another country, the question of a company’s social license to operate has taken on new meaning. In this context, Australia-based ANZ asked BSR to apply its expertise in stakeholder relations in Asia as a key enabler of its strategy for expanding into new markets in the region. The company, which has a strong history of corporate responsibility at home, sought input on how to develop a new, groupwide corporate responsibility strategy to align with its business growth strategy, focusing on new target markets in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
AgroAmérica: Improving Productivity Through Better Communication
AgroAmérica, one of Guatemala’s largest commodity crop companies, employs more than 8,000 plantation workers. Two of its banana farms have faced chronic work stoppages due to the generally poor relationship between the company, its employees, and the farm’s trade union. This has contributed to the farms’ low productivity as compared to other company farms, despite significantly better growing conditions. Deep mistrust between workers and company management is widespread in Guatemala and remains potent despite the end of the long civil war 15 years ago. This mistrust frequently results in ineffective dialogue and, thus, frequent work stoppages on unionized farms.
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.
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.
