Publications by Tag: Governance & Accountability
Blog
Is Business Ready for Hypertransparency?
In the age of Wikileaks, the Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street, technology has opened a new world for democratized digital inclusion. Suddenly, there is more information available instantly—to everyone, everywhere—about environmental degradation, human rights impacts, and ethical business practices. Read more
CSR in the EU: Time to Make It Mandatory?
Charlotte Bancilhon, Associate, Advisory Services
The European Commission’s third Communication on CSR has been a long time coming. With mid-October the new projected release date, it’s a good time to look at what may be on the table. Read more
Regulating Supply Chain Sustainability
Peder Michael Pruzan-Jorgensen, Managing Director, Europe, Middle East, and Africa
What would have been unthinkable only a few years ago is now the order of the day. Read more
How Companies Can Help Prevent Trafficking
Celine Suarez, Manager, Advisory Services
It’s estimated that 80 percent of global trafficking victims are women, and the vast majority are ensnared in sexual exploitation through the promise of legitimate jobs, marriage, “a way out,” or the lure of love from a male figure. Women and girls often become trapped in their situations through the threat (or reality) of violence, physical bondage, psychological control, and drug addiction. Around the world, poverty and illiteracy are some of the most common factors among female victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Read more
Conflict Minerals Reporting Regulations: Who is Covered?
Marshall Chase, Manager, Advisory Services
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released draft conflict minerals reporting rulesin December 2010 that have significant implications for a range of corporate sustainability issues—from supply chain monitoring and transparency to integrated reporting and responsible investing. In the short term, however, many people are simply focused on understanding and commenting on these rules, which are open for comment until the end of January 2011. Read more
The Great CSR Debate 2010
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
I just finished participating in a debate over CSR, prompted by the (in)famous Wall Street Journal piece by University of Michigan business school professor Aneel Karnani, “The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility.” Read more
Europeans Trust Business Less—and More
Peder Michael Pruzan-Jorgensen, Managing Director, Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Trust—and trust in business, in particular—can be a fickle friend. One year after the fall of Lehman Brothers, and its subsequent global economic impact, we see public confidence in business "to do what's right" playing out very differently in different regions. Read more
The Need for Transparency and Cross-Sector Partnerships
Together with 500 representatives from private and public foundations and grassroots NGOs across China, I participated in the first national private foundation forum, a great endeavor to assess the development of and challenges for private foundations in China. Emerging from the forum was a clear call for increased transparency and stronger cross-sector partnerships. Read more
The Next Big Ideas: Postcard from the Aspen Ideas Festival
Kara Hurst, Vice President
Here at the Aspen Ideas Festival (where, at 8,000 feet in elevation, every idea has the propensity to seem lofty), I have spent the better part of the week talking and debating about “ideas that work.” Read more
The Future of the Corporation
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
I am just back from Boston where Corporation 2020—the ambitious effort to redefine corporate purpose—completed its second Summit on the Future of the Corporation. Read more
Facebook Is… Asking Users to Set Company Policy
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
You don’t have to be younger than 25 to know that Facebook is reshaping the way we communicate. Social networking is now mainstream, and with Facebook’s fascinating decision to open up the terms of use to definition by its users, the company may be reshaping corporate governance the same way it’s reshaped the web. Read more
Executive Pay: Are We Missing a Broader Point?
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
A recent edition of the Sunday New York Times presented an unintentional debate between two very different perspectives on public and government responses to the recession. Read more
BSR Insight Articles
Advocating a Shift to Sustainable Capitalism
In the face of climate change, water scarcity, poverty, and other challenges, it’s time for a shift to sustainable capitalism, according to a white paper published last month by Generation Investment Management, a firm cofounded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Read more
Increasing Gender Diversity in the Boardroom
A new group of institutional investors, governance experts, and executives from U.S.-based companies including Campbell Soup and the Hopgood Group launched the 30% Coalition last week to promote the idea of securing a minimum of 30 percent women on Fortune 500 company boards by the end of 2015. Read more
UN Report: Government Must Help Align Sustainability
The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability’s new “Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing” report—which builds on the seminal 1987 Brundtland Report—contains a host of recommendations to put sustainable development into practice worldwide. Recommendations for governments include: Read more
CSR in Saudi Arabia: Q&A With BSR Partner Nailah Attar
Cammie Erickson, Associate, Partnership Development
With support from a multiyear grant from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, BSR has worked to introduce CSR strategies to companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Through this initiative, we partnered with Nailah Attar, a Saudi Arabian businesswoman and activist, to expand the CSR offerings of her ECO Consulting business, which serves both Saudi and international companies operating in the country. Read more
WEF Report Reveals Top Global Risks
Elissa Goldenberg, Associate, Advisory Services
Based on a survey of 469 experts from industry, government, academia, and civil society, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) new “Global Risks 2012” report examines 50 global risks across five categories: economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal, and technological. Read more
Reflections From the BSR Conference 2011: We Have the Will—and the Power—to Act
Kara Hurst, Vice President
In his opening address at the BSR Conference 2011, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore talked about the “functional insanity” of CEOs and CFOs who choose short-term gains over long-term sustainability. He referenced a study in which these leaders were asked what they would do if they were given a chance to make an investment that would increase their company’s profitability and sustainability—with the catch being that they would miss their quarterly targets. Eighty percent said they would not make the investment. Read more
Doing Business in a Changing Asia
Jeremy Prepscius, Managing Director, Asia
We live in interesting times—times when global changes are permeating societies as issues, institutions, and information begin to collide. Developments in connectivity and access to information are intersecting with changing societal expectations about political participation, environmental stewardship, economic equality, and expectations of governance. Society’s new expectations are being driven by developments in economic growth patterns, education, scandals, and natural disasters. Read more
Best Practices in Reporting on Ethics
Dunstan Allison Hope, Managing Director, Advisory Services
Ethics and integrity disclosure—reporting on the implementation of codes of ethics—is an important part of corporate transparency. Leading companies typically take one of the following approaches: Read more
Sustainability: What’s Quality Got to Do With It?
Raj Sapru, Director, Advisory Services
About a half century ago, Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran were asking some questions that sounded ahead of their time: How can companies redesign whole systems to overcome corporate challenges and improve products, service, and the organization? Read more
Boards and Sustainability: A Look Ahead
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
In last week’s feature article, I touched on various aspects of the growing debate about board governance of sustainability. In this week’s article, I look at how board engagement is likely to evolve in the years ahead. Read more
CSR in the Boardroom: The Board’s Role in Advancing Sustainability
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
Sustainability today is seen by many company leaders as an important strategy in business success, and that idea has made it into more and more boardrooms in the last several years. In light of that trend, BSR recently completed a paper for the UN Global Compact examining the role of the board in CSR. Based on that work, as well as BSR’s experience working with member companies, this article examines board roles and responsibilities, the three approaches to incorporating sustainability into the board structure, and how the composition of the board influences the company’s approach to sustainability. Read more
The Case (Book) for Responsible Labor
Terry Nelidov, Manager, Advisory Services
BSR's new "Stories From the Field" provides a reader-friendly collection of 14 case studies from our DR-CAFTA Responsible Competitiveness Project in Central America and the Dominican Republic, which BSR created and led to make the business case for responsible labor in the region. Read more
Stories From the Field
Interview with Richard Feinberg, Professor, University of California, San Diego, by Terry Nelidov, Manager, Advisory Services, BSR
Terry Nelidov, project manager of BSR's DR-CAFTA Responsible Competitiveness Project, recently talked with University of California, San Diego Professor Richard Feinberg, a senior advisor to the project, about his insights gained from developing the case studies for it in BSR’s new compendium “Stories From the Field.” In excerpts below from the conversation, Professor Feinberg highlights both overall learnings from the three-year project and practical tools that companies anywhere in the world can apply to their labor and competitiveness strategies. Read more
Closer Look: Understanding Land Deals in Africa
The International Institute for Environment and Development's new guide to understanding land deals in Africa explores the significant impacts land contracts have on agriculture and food security in recipient countries. Land contracts define the terms of an investment project, and particularly how risks, costs, and benefits are distributed and who has the authority to sign the contract and through what process. Read more
Practical Applications of the UN Business and Human Rights Framework on the Rise
Faris Natour, Director, Human Rights
John Ruggie, the UN special representative for business and human rights, issued a report listing practical applications of the UN "Protect, Respect, and Remedy" Framework. The framework, which has emerged as the de-facto standard for business and human rights, has already been applied by numerous governments, companies, investors, multilateral institutions, NGOs, national human rights institutions, academia, and the United Nations. Read more
Promoting Human Rights in Saudi Arabia: A Strategic Role for Business
Chhavi Ghuliani, Manager, Advisory Services
Recently, BSR visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of a U.S. State Department project to promote CSR and human rights in the region. While there, BSR led: Read more
What to Look for in 2011
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
Over the past couple of years, relentless focus on the basic vitality of the world’s economy has distracted attention from important underlying trends. As we go into 2011, the market meltdowns of 2008 are receding from view. This means that structural changes in the world are—thankfully—again capturing the world’s attention. These longer-term developments are again shaping the business environment—and pointing to an even greater focus on sustainability as one of the defining characteristics of business success. Here are five key trends that will shape our world in 2011. Read more
ESG Integration in Emerging Markets
Elissa Goldenberg, Associate, Advisory Services
Eurosif's "Emerging Markets Report</a>" explores the integration of ESG factors into business operations and reporting by companies in emerging markets, which is on the rise but still lower than in developed markets Read more
Going Local: Increasing the Value of Local Sustainability Reporting
Adam Lane, Manager, Advisory Services
In addition to producing a global sustainability report, a growing number of multinational companies (MNCs) are reporting on local sustainability performance at the regional, country, and site-specific levels—a trend that holds true for 27 out of the 100 largest global companies. Read more
Three Tools for Managing Supply Chain Transparency on Climate
Ryan Schuchard, Manager, Climate and Energy
With guidance on supply chain reporting by the GHG Protocol just around the corner, companies will soon have more clarity on how to manage “Scope 3” emissions. At the same time, companies like HP and others in BSR’s Energy Efficiency Partnership are working on climate change with a growing number of suppliers. As a result of these developments, minimum expectations for climate reporting on the supply chain are rising. Read more
Corporate Responsibility and Trust in Business: Exploring the Connection
Interview with Aron Crame, President and CEO, BSR; Richard Edelman, President and CEO, Edelman; and Carol Cone, Carol Cone@Edelman, by Amon Rappaport, Communications Director, BSR
As the global economy recovers, the level of public trust in business is also increasing modestly, according to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer. But in this climate, will good corporate responsibility performance translate into increased trust among key audiences? That depends on how your business goes about executing its sustainability strategies, as we learned in a discussion with three leading thinkers on corporate responsibility and trust in business. Read more
2010 Proxy Preview
Elissa Goldenberg, Associate, Advisory Services
As You Sow's "2010 Proxy Preview" categorizes the hundreds of proxies filed in the United States on social and governance issues, explores important issues, identifies the key investors and organizations filing them, and provides a list of companies and upcoming proxy votes. Read more
Public Thinks CEOs Should Consider All Stakeholders in Business Decisions
According to a survey conducted for the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer, most people worldwide believe that when CEOs make business decisions, they should equally weigh the perspectives of all stakeholders—including customers, employees, investors, and society at large. Survey results also suggest that for the first year, trust and transparency are as important to corporate reputation as the quality of products and services. In addition, surveyors reported that they are more likely to trust a company that partners with an NGO to solve global challenges. Read more
Guest Perspective: GreenBiz on Ten Trends Shaping the State of Green Business
By Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com
“We’re still here.” Read more
U.S. Government Admits Fault in Madoff Investigation
Following an investigation into why the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) failed to detect the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme that stripped investors of nearly US$65 billion, SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro expressed her regret in a public statement, which also outlined how the commission will reform the way it regulates markets and protects investors. Read more
Winning Back the Public’s Trust in Business
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
The fall of Lehman Brothers last September triggered a collapse in financial markets, and then the real economy. It also signaled a dramatic decline in the public’s trust in business. Read more
Trust in Business
Kara Hurst, Vice President
According to the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer, nearly two-thirds of the public reported less trust in business than the year before. BSR's roundtable event on "Business Success in a Reset World" examined what it will take to earn that trust back. Read more
Business and Government: Working Together in the Reset World
Aron Cramer, President and CEO
I've just returned from a few days in Washington, D.C., and with that fresh in mind, the link between public policy and corporate responsibility seems a perfect topic for this inaugural edition of the BSR Insight. Read more
Events
BSR Conference 2011: Leadership Required
Leadership in business is changing fast. In today’s global, integrated, and transparent world, business is expected to do more than deliver shareholder returns. At its best, business is a creative force and an integral player in delivering prosperity for 9 billion people, applying game-changing technologies for social benefit, and radically reducing our use of natural resources. Learn more
ESG Investment and Implications for the Energy and Extractives Sector
Following our Sustainability Matters webinar on integrating ESG issues into investor relations, BSR will host a webinar for energy and extractives members to discuss the implications of these trends on the sector. Given increasing attention from both mainstream and socially responsible investors, there is a critical need to understand investor expectations as well as explore potential impacts on company management. Learn more
Reports
CSR and Quality: A Powerful and Untapped Connection
Launched a half century ago, the total quality movement has some striking similarities to CSR: It strives to make hidden costs visible, it focuses on corporate governance, it empowers individuals to improve quality, it takes a proactive approach to prevention and continuous improvement, and it breaks down barriers to internal, cross-functional collaboration. Read more
Board Adoption and Oversight of Corporate Sustainability
This paper gives an introduction to the role of corporate boards in overseeing corporate sustainability and implementing the Global Compact principles, and covers the following dimensions central to the intersection of sustainability and governance: Read more
A Public Policy Framework for Advancing Responsible Labor and International Competitiveness: El Salvador
The purpose of this report is to assist El Salvador—its government, private sector, and civil society—to design a public policy framework, centered on positive incentives, to advance responsible labor practices in a manner that benefits private sector employees and also bolsters labor productivity and the international competitiveness of firms and, ultimately, the competitiveness and therefore the well-being of the entire nation Read more
Supply Chain Sustainability: A Practical Guide for Continuous Improvement
More and more companies are extending their commitment to responsible business practices to their value chains, from subsidiaries to suppliers. They do so not only because of the inherent social and environmental risks and the governance challenges the supply chain poses, but also because of the many rewards supply chain sustainability can deliver. Indeed, sustainable supply chain management can be a strong driver of value and success--for business as much as for society. Read more
Aligned for Sustainable Design: An A-B-C-D Approach to Making Better Products
Eco-Promising: Communicating the Environmental Credentials of Your Products and Services
This business briefing is intended to help managers in consumer- facing companies to communicate the environmental credentials of products honestly and convincingly. We examine why businesses are increasingly using environmental messaging on products, how different formats (such as eco-labels) have developed, and the risks and challenges associated with making environmental claims. Read more
The Leadership Challenge for CEOs and Boards
Over the past 18 months, the World Economic Forum Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative (GCCI) Advisory Committee, which is composed of top corporate citizenship executives of leading Forum member companies, explored how companies can contribute constructively to efforts to improve public policy frameworks and the capacity of public institutions. The project has attempted to improve understanding of the business case for improved public governance and provide guidance on how businesses can engage in public-private efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of such frameworks and institutions. The outcome of these deliberations is a CEO leadership statement and supporting analysis that together provide a roadmap for business leaders seeking to work with governments to improve the enabling environment for sustainable economic growth and development. Read more
The Stakeholder Fiduciary: CSR, Governance and the Future of Boards
This paper explores how corporate boards do, could and should relate to the CSR agenda. In equal shares, it observes the present and envisions the future, seeking to both position the board as an agent of CSR under current rules and show how to reconstitute it under different rules that may emerge in the coming decades. Our core premise is this: the board’s current posture is incommensurate with the changing nature of the social contract between business and society, and with the attendant opportunities and risks that lie ahead. This incongruity must be corrected if the board is to function in a way that enables the firm to create and allocate long-term wealth in a form consistent with 21st century needs and expectations. In short, it is time to transform the board from a shareholder fiduciary to a stakeholder fiduciary. Read more
Sustainable Investment in China Articles
Decoding Chinese CSR Reports
BSR has a long-standing focus on helping companies improve their disclosure on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues through corporate responsibility reporting and other communications vehicles. We spoke with BSR’s Scott Chang to learn more about reporting and how to interpret company communications on ESG. Read more
Case Studies
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. Learn more
Sustainability Matters
Stories From the Field: The Business Case for Better Working Conditions
To ensure responsible labor practices—in both farms and factories—business leaders should start by meeting basic government, buyer, and corporate standards. However, companies should also look for how investments in better working conditions can improve their bottom lines. Learn more
Preparing for the 2011 Proxy Voting Season
Proxy voting is an important tool that many investors use to show their support for ESG issues, with a goal of garnering attention for areas they view as critical to a company's business.
Learn moreRebuilding Trust in Business
Listen to BSR's President and CEO Aron Cramer and Eric Olson, our Senior Vice President, Advisory Services, discuss ways companies can boost public trust, and how companies that work to regain the public's faith will enhance their ability to navigate a fast-changing world successfully Learn more
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