All Articles About Strategy & Integration

BSR Insight Article: What Total Cost of Ownership Offers Sustainable Procurement

Jessica Davis Pluess, Manager, Research

What if procurement and sustainability managers in your company spoke the same language? It's likely that the concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) would find its way into the conversation. For procurement managers, TCO captures the costs associated with a product over its lifetime—from the development and design of a product through its use, maintenance, and disposal. Similar to the way sustainability managers think about the impacts of a product on the environment and society throughout its lifecycle, TCO takes a long-term view of the value a product brings to a company by evaluating the direct and indirect costs of a product at the time of purchase. Over the next few months, BSR's new Center for Sustainable Procurement (CSP) will be exploring ways the TCO model and its application could support the incorporation of sustainability information and data into procurement decisions. Is there an opportunity to align TCO and lifecycle assessment (LCA) information to form a total impact and ownership model? Read more →

Posted: September 11, 2012 | Topics: Strategy & Integration, Supply Chain, Sustainable Consumption, Travel & Tourism

BSR Insight Article: How Business Can Help China’s Emerging Social Enterprises

Julia Beier, Associate, Advisory Services

Social entrepreneurs—who can help address a country's social and environmental challenges—have gained ground in Western countries, but the sector is still young in China. Read more →

Posted: August 21, 2012 | Topics: Governance & Accountability, Strategy & Integration

BSR Insight Article: Four Ways to Attract Long-Term Investors

Laura Commike Gitman, Managing Director, Advisory Services, BSR, and
Hélène Roy, Intern, BSR

In 2011, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) adopted a "total fund" approach to sustainable investment, through which it committed to integrate the analysis of its portfolio companies' environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance into all of its investment strategies. Like other pension funds or foundations, CalPERS has long-term liabilities and a fiduciary duty to its members, which, for CalPERS, is set out in California's constitution. By taking a wider perspective and by incorporating ESG criteria into its investment-decision process, CalPERS believes it can increase the financial performance of its portfolio and better achieve the long-term, risk-adjusted returns on which its members rely. For CalPERS' portfolio companies, this means their ESG performance is under greater scrutiny. For example, the pension fund will pay particular attention to a company's governance structure because poor governance often translates into poor decision-making and a decline in shareholder value. In another example, CalPERS will closely monitor emerging-market companies to ensure no infringement of social and human rights principles. CalPERS, with its focus on ESG integration, is not alone among mainstream investors—even in today's relentlessly short-term-focused economy. As evidenced by the growing number of UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) signatories, asset owners and investment managers are embracing sustainable investing. As of June 2012, the 1,100 UN PRI signatories collectively represented US$32 trillion of asset under management, or 25 percent of the world's total financial assets. Two key drivers are leading this trend: Read more →

Posted: August 21, 2012 | Topics: Financial Services, Strategy & Integration

Report: Trends in ESG Integration in Investments: Summary of the Latest Research and Recommendations to Attract Long-Term Investors

As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integration in mainstream investments continues to grow, listed companies have real opportunities to attract desired long-term investors by enhancing and communicating about their ESG performance. Read more →

Posted: August 20, 2012 | Topics: Financial Services, Strategy & Integration | Download (PDF)

BSR Insight Article: Climate 2.0: What Is Expected of Business Now?

Ryan Schuchard, Manager, Climate and Energy

Business at large has only recently awakened to climate change—really just within the last 10 years. It started slowly, following the 1997 adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, and then it picked up speed after the development of industry-accepted greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring and reporting standards such as 2001's GHG Protocol and 2003's Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Read more →

Posted: August 7, 2012 | Topics: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Leadership, Strategy & Integration