| Events
& Resources |
| For upcoming IBE events please
click here |
| Events |
|
CR Reporting & Communications Summit 25-26 November
In the last 15 years, the number of CR reports produced per year has increased. How do you make sure your report reflects what’s material to your organization and to society and is a driver in your company’s sustainability –and overall business- performance?
With topics including materiality, stakeholder engagement, assurance, the GRI, reporting formats and many more, this is your chance to get yourself on the fast track to best practices! Profit from exclusive insights into some of Europe’s most successful CR reporting and communications strategies with speakers including Nestlé, Vodafone, GlaxoSmithKline, Novo Nordisk, Coca-Cola, Telefonica, Bayer, Tata and many more.
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/reporting/?t=businessethics
Register here > https://secure.firstconf.com/ethicalcorporation/reporting/register-corporate-logix.asp?Affiliate= |
Jody Kollapen, Chair, South African Human Rights Commission
speaking on: “Human rights and business: South Africa and beyond”
and updates from our regional researchers about developments in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe & Latin America
Tuesday 2 December - doors open 6:30pm, event starts 6:45pm – free of charge
Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road (opposite Euston Station), London (map below)
Jody Kollapen, Chair, South African Human Rights Commission
speaking on: “Human rights and business: South Africa and beyond”
and updates from our regional researchers about developments in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe & Latin America
Tuesday 2 December - doors open 6:30pm, event starts 6:45pm – free of charge
Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road (opposite Euston Station), London (map below)
Business & Human Rights Centre Tuesday 2 December
Jody Kollapen, Chair, South African Human Rights Commission speaking on: “Human rights and business: South Africa and beyond” and updates from our regional researchers about developments in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe & Latin America - doors open 6:30pm, event starts 6:45pm – free of charge Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road (opposite Euston Station), London
http://www.business-humanrights.org |
Philosophy in Business Seminar 14th December 2008 at Tate Britain
Tickets ( including a copy of From Principles to Profit ): £35 (£25 for School members).
Available from the School of Economic Science
11 Mandeville Place, London W1U 3AJ, 020 7034 4000
Speakers: Chris Rees & Paul Palmarozza Philosophy in Business, co-authors of From Principles to Profit; Sir John Whitmore and Philippa Foster Back |
| 21st - 23rd January 2009 European Business Ethics Forum www.ebef.eu |
| Resources, Reports &
Research |
NEW PROGRAMME IN
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY FROM WWF
'One Planet Leaders' - WWF's exciting new corporate responsibility
and sustainability programme for business managers, launches
in April 2007. The programme is designed to develop the
competencies of senior managers in international businesses,
to develop and deliver innovative responses to sustainability
/ corporate responsibility within the context of existing
organisational commitment - i.e. to assist in bridging
'the implementation gap'.
www.panda.org/business/training |
| CARBON FOOTPRINT
CHECK SUPPLIED BY BT BT have introduced a carbon footprint
calculator on its website to allow company owners to put
a figure on exactly how much damage their business is
doing to the environment. The website, http://www.btplc.com/climatechange/
, also includes tips for improving a company's green credentials,
such as sourcing from local suppliers and encouraging
flexible working. |
| In a new white paper,
The Enemy Within: Corporate Fraud and the Employee
- A Roadmap, UK law firm Glovers Solicitors and Privy
Council Agents states that over £40 million is lost
every day to fraud in the UK, that 80% of that fraud involves
an employee, and that 90% of fraudulent employees have
been with their employer for more than a year - 20% for
more than a decade. Arguing that these statistics represent
a huge risk to corporations, the guide offers companies
directions for three main elements of dealing with insider
fraud - deterrence, punishment and protection http://www.glovers.co.uk/pdf/16-Fraud_White_Paper_final_21_March_2007.pdf
|
CPA's New Primer
on Corporate Political Giving. In its guide for companies,
shareholders, and the media, the Center for Political
Accountability discusses different political routes that
corporate money can take in the US, highlighting major
gaps in transparency.
http://www.politicalaccountability.net/ |
Business Roundtable
Institute for Corporate Ethics Paper Shifts the Focus
of CSR to Company Stakeholder Responsibility
The Institute's latest Bridge Paper, Company Stakeholder
Responsibility:A New Approach to CSR, shows how the dominant
model of CRS has outlived its usefulness. The paper argues
that it is time to replace "corporate social responsibility"
with an idea of "company stakeholder responsibility."
http://www.corporate-ethics.org/pdf/csr.pdf |
| Corporate responsibility
strategy and communications consultancy Context has published
the world's first guide to carbon offset providers and
advisers. Carbon Offset in Context is a free download
from Context's website http://www.econtext.co.uk
Carbon Offset in Context profiles 23 organisations that
offer to offset carbon emissions, or advise on how to
do so. |
RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION
ACAS have published a new "Religion and belief audit
tool" on their website . http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1203
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1207 |
|
Dramatic Progress in Sustainability Reporting
SustainAbility, the UK-based think tank, ranks 50 leading
sustainability reporters worldwide.
Sustainability reporting continues to mature, according
to a survey from SustainAbility entitled Tomorrow's
Value. Reports are shifting their focus from managing
social and environmental risks to seizing the opportunities
created by sustainability. Amongst the top ten leading
corporate sustainability reporters are six CSRwire members,
including BT (first place with an 80 percent score),
BP (third--72 percent), Unilever (sixth--67 percent),
Vodafone (tied for seventh with 66 percent), Shell (ninth--65
percent), and Nike (tied for tenth with 64 percent.)http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=6792 |
| According to a new report
by the US Conference Board, many US companies say they
lack an active CSR strategy to develop new business
opportunities. The report is based on a survey of 198
medium to large multinational companies and is the first
report issued by The Center for Corporate Citizenship
& Sustainability - launched by the Conference Board
to help senior executives seize opportunities and avert
risks stemming from corporate social responsibility issues.
'This mixed perspective of a glass more than half full
of market awareness and nearly half empty of product response
demonstrates that there is work to be done in bringing
corporate citizenship, sustainability, or CSR programs
to the forefront of top executives' minds,' said David
Vidal, Research Director at Global Corporate Citizenship.
http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressDetail.cfm?press_ID=3005 |
|
Salter-Baxter: "IS CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
IN YOUR COMPANY'S BLOOD?"
The communications and design consultancy SalterBaxter's
latest report poses very practically the question of
whether corporate responsibility is " embedded"
in their company's operational structures. http://www.salterbaxter.com/publications.html
|
|
GTI releases new study
The Global Transparency Initiative released a new study
called "Behind Close Doors: Secrecy at the International
Financial Institutions IFIs." The study highlights
the difficulty in requesting information and the varying
degrees of disclose across countries. The study conducted
requests of information on IFIs in five different countries:
Bulgaria; Mexico; Slovakia; South Africa and Argentina.
http://www.oneworldtrust.org/owtframe.cfm?page=http%3A%2F%2Fifitransparency%2Eorg%2Fdoc%2Fbehindcloseddoors%5Fsecrecyinifis%2Epdf
|
|
Accountability: The Materiality Report: Aligning
Strategy Performance and Reporting
The Report, prepared by AccountAbility in association
with BT Group plc and LRQA, provides a toolkit for managers
to work out which issues are 'material' to their underlying
performance, and encourages business to focus on these
issues in their public reporting. Download
the Full Report |
|
International Business Attitudes Towards Corruption
Survey. "One in four UK companies lost business
in the last five years because of bribery", says
Corruption report.
Control Risks and Simmons & Simmons publish the
fourth International Business Attitudes to Corruption
report, highlighting the prevalence and cost of corruption,
and the lack of awareness of anti-corruption laws. The
report surveyed 350 senior business people from seven
countries around the world and collated their responses.
The report shows the following:
- Corruption remains a huge worldwide problem for
business
- More business people say corruption is likely to
get worse, not better
- Widespread ignorance of legislation on foreign bribery
- Companies are trying to fight back against corrupt
practices
http://www.control-risks.com/default.aspx?page=71 |
U.S. Governance Seen
From Europe. A Directorship interview with Siemens'
Munich-based CEO, Klaus Kleinfeld, on how U.S. and European
companies differ - and what they can learn from each other
- on corporate governance. American Executives and boards
should take a broader view of their responsibilities to
shareholders and keep in mind the interests of many "stakeholders,"
says Klaus Kleinfeld, the Munichbased CEO of Siemens.
But they should not necessarily embrace the German model
of including unions on their supervisory boards. Here
are highlights from a conversation conducted in New York
http://www.ethicsworld.org/corporategovernance/viewsandanalysis.php#usgovernanceseenfromeurope |
What Drives Ethical
Behavior? In its report, "Social Responsibility
and the Supply Management Profession: A Study of Barriers
and Drivers of Ethical Practices," the Institute
for Supply Management analyses its survey of 1,245 professionals
to determine what factors most influence employee behaviour
http://www.ethicsworld.org/ethicsandemployees/surveysandtrends.php#ism |
Social Accountability:
A Practical Guide to Implement Code of Conduct by
Rajesh Chhabara
The supply chain sustainability compliance regime that
has emerged since 1990 has improved the lives of some
workers in many parts of the world. But increasingly,
buyers and suppliers alike recognise that it is far from
perfect. Environmental and labor abuses persist, even
along the supply chains of the most progressive brand
owners. Global market pressures force buyers to seek ever
lower costs and ever tighter delivery schedules. And importantly,
suppliers remain unconvinced that compliance brings any
real financial benefit beyond new contracts. The reasons
for this failure are legion and complex. But one important
factor is the lack of buy-in among suppliers, their insufficient
training and their underdeveloped internal processes and
management systems. Rajesh Chhabara's new book Social
Accountability: A Practical Guide to Implement Code of
Conduct, tackles this in a direct, non-ideological and
business-like manner. http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=4531 |
New TI Bribe Payer's
Index 2006
"It is hypocritical that OECD-based companies continue
to bribe across the globe, while their governments pay
lip-service to enforcing the law. TI's Bribe Payers Index
indicates that they are not doing enough to clamp down
on overseas bribery," said David Nussbaum, Chief
Executive of Transparency International. "The enforcement
record on international anti-bribery laws makes for short
and disheartening reading." http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/bpi_2006#pr |
Five Most Crucial
Ethical Issues in America Identified in Business Ethics
Outlook 2006-07
This week, The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa
Clara University released the Business Ethics Outlook,
an agenda of the five most crucial ethical issues facing
American business: Business and Personal Information;
Private Equity and Business Ethics; Fooling with the Free
Market; What is the Role of Business in...Immigration,
Global Warming, Free Trade, Health Coverage; Different
Countries; Different Values
Center Executive Director Kirk O. Hanson said, "These
are the issues shaping the character of American business
in the coming year. If we don't face the implications
of these issues, we will do damage to the country's moral
leadership in the world."
The Business Ethics Outlook was developed in consultation
with a group of scholars and executives www.scu.edu |
'The Materiality
Report' Aligning Strategy Performance and Reporting
This report, prepared by AccountAbility in association
with BT Group plc and LRQA, was launched at the BSR Conference,
in New York, 9th November 2006, 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, in
Breakout Session IV 'Living in a Material World: Making
Reporting Count';: http://www.bsr.org/BSRConferences/2006/Sessions.cfm
. |
Ethics Resource Centre:
Ethical Culture: What We Know?
In her July 2006 Fellows Meeting presentation on ethical
culture, Linda Trevino, Chair, Invited Academic Fellows,
said that ethical culture is one way to think about the
broad organizational context that influences employee
ethics-related attitudes and behaviors. Ethical culture
has been defined as
shared assumptions, values, norms, beliefs, and traditions
that guide ethical behavior in the organization - or -
perceptions of "how we do things around here"
in relation to ethics. It is acceptable - indeed, it is
a responsibility -- for an employer to attempt to manage
the ethical culture in order to influence such attitudes
and behaviors in its employees. It is critical to consider
both formal and informal systems when studying organizational
culture, as it is embedded in both. Read the rest of this
summary at:
http://www.ethics.org/resources/culture_summ_lt.pdf |
|
Ethics Resource Centre: Ethics Guide for Jobseekers
and Employers
This new brochure is aimed at educating job seekers
and employers about ethical behavior during the interview
process. Produced by Pat Murphy, ERC Academic Fellow
from University of Notre Dame, the guide's co-sponsors
include the ERC Fellows Program, members of the Ethics
Curricula group specifically, and the Business Roundtable
Institute for Corporate Ethics. View and download the
guide at: http://www.ethics.org/fellows/pdfs/interview.pdf
|
Why we can no longer
practice 'business ethics as usual'
In this article, Claus Dierksmeier argues that business
ethics must be reconnected to economic philosophy in order
to provide helpful perspectives for the globalized economy
http://csr-news.net/main/why-we-can-no-longer-practice-%E2%80%98business-ethics-as-usual%E2%80%99/2006/09/12/ |
| New Website: csr-literature.net
- The online bibliography in business ethics (Beta version)
csr-news.net, one of the leading news services on corporate
social responsibility (CSR) on the web, has launched a
new tool: csr-literature.net - a bibliographical online
database in business ethics. This user-friendly web interface
covers some 1.500 monographs and 3.500 journal articles.
It enables searching keywords (in titles and abstracts)
and browsing by authors and journals. http://www.csr-literature.net/ |
ARE YOU AN ETHICAL
SHOPPER?
A new guide book to ethical shopping has been published
today to help consumers understand the impact of all their
purchases, from shampoo to whisky. The Good Shopping Guide
analyses 700 products in 85 sectors reporting on the ethical
credentials of everyday brands. Martin Hickman discusses
the book and its scope in more detail for The Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article1616696.ece |
THE DENIAL INDUSTRY
A new book by George Monbiot - Heat, exposes how one of
the world's biggest oil companies is funding around 124
organisations that conduct studies to challenge the advocates
of action against global warming. ExxonMobil makes most
of its money from oil, therefore it
has the most to lose from a global drive to reduce the
pace of climate change. The strategy has 'set back action
on climate change by a decade', and involves other businesses
like Philip Morris, which would also suffer if other issues
of the same social significance were widely acknowledged
and addressed - such as the dangers of passive smoking.
Monbiot's film on this issue will be shown tonight at
10.30pm on BBC 2's Newsnight. http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1875762,00.html |
SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED
ENTERPRISES (SMES) AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
A DISCUSSION PAPER
by Tom Fox, International Institute for Environment and
Development (IIED).
"The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR),
broadly defined as the overall contribution of a business
to sustainable development (SD), should therefore be equally
valid for large and small enterprises. But the focus in
discussions on CSR tends to be on the largest companies;
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often overlooked."
http://www.iied.org/SM/CR/documents/CSRandSMEs.pdf |
MNC CODES
OF CONDUCT: CSR OR CORPORATE GOVERNANCE?
Paper Krista Bondy, Dirk Matten and Jeremy Moon on the
assumption that Codes of Conduct are used primarily as
a tool for CSR and suggest that codes are not primarily
tools for CSR but tools of corporate governance more generally
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/ICCSR/pdf/ResearchPdfs/40-2006.pdf |
"A
Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and
a Very Large Rabbit," a fable about business
ethics by Marianne Jennings
Inspired by the mythical pooka character in the Pulitzer
Prize-winning play (and award-winning movie starring Jimmy
Stewart) Harvey, the book A Business Tale focuses on Edgar
and Ari, a pooka who shadows Edgar, muttering the words
"Wouldn't be honest. Wouldn't be right," whenever
Edgar is tempted to follow his richer and more successful
friends up the corporate ladder by bending the rules.
The fable brings the events, people, and their choices
full circle to provide the same sort of motivation and
simplicity that Who Moved My Cheese? did for coping with
change. And like Who Moved My Cheese? A Business Tale
not only weaves a page-turning narrative but also provides
a ten-step action plan for winning the race in the long
run. http://www.mariannejennings.com/index.html
|
LIVING SYSTEM: Making
Sense of Sustainability by Bruce Nixon
LIVING SYSTEM is a radical new book about sustainability
in the broadest sense - climate change, the inability
of the Earth to meet human needs if we carry on as now,
and equally important, global social and economic justice
and an end to violence. http://www.brucenixon.com/livingsystem.html |
The CIPD have issued
a factsheet entitled "Corporate Social Responsibility"
(June 2006). CSR is about how organisations conduct their
business in an ethical way, taking account of their impact
economically, socially, environmentally and in terms of
human rights looks at the CIPD/Department of Trade and
Industry CSR competency framework (a template to help
managers understand CSR and integrate it into their organisations)
The factsheet may be viewed at http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/corpsocres/csrfact.htm?IsSrchRes=1 |
| The Triple Bottom
Line by Andrew Savitz Do not be deterred by the unfortunate
title of this forthcoming book, writes Alison Maitland.
In just 250 pages, rich in anecdotes, Savitz makes a lively
and cogent case that no company or manager can afford
any longer to ignore the world around them. Many of the
reasons companies face "the age of accountability"
are familiar, but it is useful to see them pulled together:
our shared sense of vulnerability, fostered by climate
change and natural disasters, coupled with the awesome
power that global corporations have accumulated; the goldfish
bowl in which companies operate; their increased exposure
through networks of business partners and global supply
chains. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4156540e-0bc3-11db-b97f-0000779e2340.html
|
| Change the World
9 to 5, produced by advertising agency JWT and charity
We Are What We Do, recommends 50 office actions, from
photocopying on both sides of the paper to remembering
to turn off the lights, which could make a real impact
on climate change. http://money.guardian.co.uk/workweekly/story/0,,1820417,00.html |
|
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF KPMG'S 2005-2006 INTEGRITY
SURVEY:
Nearly three out of four employees reported that they
had observed misconduct in the prior 12-month period,
with half of employees reporting that what they had
observed was serious misconduct that could cause "a
significant loss of public trust if discovered."
Between 2000 and 2005, employees reported:
Consistent levels of overall misconduct, with 74 percent
reporting in 2005 that they had observed misconduct,
compared with 76 percent in 2000
Consistent levels of serious misconduct, with 50 percent
in 2005 characterizing the misconduct they had observed
as serious, compared with 49 percent in 2000
http://www.ethicsworld.org/ethicsandemployees/surveysandtrends.php#kpmg |
|
SAM PUBLISHES SUSTAINABILITY YEARBOOK 2006
Sustainable investment company SAM has published its
Sustainability Yearbook 2006. The publication is an
annual publication on sustainability trends and corporate
sustainability performance from 58 industry sectors.
It has been prepared in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) in order to present SAM Research's annual sustainability
assessment of over 1200 global companies and results
from PwC's dialogue with company CEOs. The Yearbook
provides an overview of SAM Research Corporate Sustainability
Methodology, relevant sustainability trends and resulting
corporate challenges. It also presents statistics on
sectors and issues based on the SAM Corporate Sustainability
Assessment 2005 and results from PwC's dialogue with
CEOs on governance, risk management and compliance.
http://www.sam-group.com
|
Corporate Social
Responsibility? or Complete Sidelining of Reality?
Can big business be part of a sustainable future? or is
the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) a
contradiction in terms? This new report explores how CSR
has evolved, what corporations get out of it, and what
a truly social responsible corporation would look like.
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=2670 |
Effective Code Standards
on Raising Concerns and Retaliation By Emily Heard
and William Miller, Internatuinak Business Ethics Institute
More and more companies are adopting formal standards
on reporting misconduct and non-retaliation. However,
an examination of code documents from 100 multinational
companies by the International Business Ethics Institute
revealed these standards to be often ineffective, containing
language that is counterproductive to an environment of
open communication. In fact, the Institute found that
only 31% of standards examined were deemed to be effective
http://www.ethicsworld.com/corporategovernance/corporateethicscodes.php |
Fostering a Culture
of Trust: Implications of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines,
In the Institute for Corporate Ethics latest Bridge Paper,
Academic Advisor Timothy Fort, David Hess, Robert S. McWhorter,
and Dean Krehmeyer interpret the 2004 Amendments to the
U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines from both an ethical
and legal perspective, providing executives and directors
with insights needed to meet both the spirit and the letter
of these provisions.
http://www.corporate-ethics.org/pdf/fsg.pdf |
Undermining Freedom
of Expression in China
Amnesty International (AI) reveal significant shortcomings
in the IT sector in its new report,. The report compares
the corporate responsibility rhetoric of Yahoo!, Microsoft,
and Google to their actual actions of complicity in undermining
human rights in China. Concurrently, AI is also launching
a new website, irrepressible.info as a portal for combating
Internet censorship by posting repressed content http://www.csrwire.com/PressRelease.php?id=5976 |
Two business ethics
blogs:
http://www.businessethics.ca/blog/
http://www.ethicalleadershipgroup.com/blog/ |
BT Better Business
Game
Experience what it can be like to manage social and environmental
issues in a business - are you up to the challenge? The
game's contents are drawn from general business dilemmas
across all industries, and are not solely based on BT
experience or policies. http://www.btplc.com/Societyandenvironment/Businessgame/index.htm |
REPUTATION, RELATIONSHIPS
AND RISK - A CSR PRIMER FOR ETHICS OFFICERS
Article by Mark Rowe giving an overview of some global
trends that have been driving CSR's rise to prominence
a number of factors are bringing the fields of CSR and
business ethics closer together. http://www.bentley.edu/cbe/documents/ReputationRelationshipsAndRisk2.pdf
|
"Whistleblowing
Rules: Best Practice; Assessment and Revision of Rules
Existing in EU Institutions" The study consists
of a 50 pages English language main body, plus summaries
also in French and German several charts and Annexes,
including a benchmarking. The importance and meaning of
Whistleblowings is explained from its context. A best
practice and requirements for EU improvements are derived
from international precedence as well as the good management
experience (risk and quality management).
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/cont/site/calendrier/documents/3mai06/etude.pdf |
| 2006 Corporate Governance
and Climate Change: Making the Connection." This
is the title of a first-ever study conducted by CERES,
a US-based coalition of environmental groups and investment
funds. Its report assesses how 100 leading companies are
tackling the growing financial risks and opportunities
arising from climate change. http://www.ceres.org/news/news_item.php?nid=154
|
Managing The Business
Case For Sustainability:The Integration Of Social, Environmental
And Economic Performance Edited by Stefan Schaltegger
and Marcus Wagner, Centre for Sustainability Management
(CSM).
This book compiles insights on a large number of aspects
of the link between sustainability performance, business
competitiveness and economic success in an attempt to
provide a comprehensive and structured view of this relationship.
The book provides an unrivalled body of knowledge on the
state of theory and practice in this field and identifies
prospective future fields of work. http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/catalogue/buscase.htm |
| Insight Investment analyses
how the Food Industry has responded to the growing obesity
problems http://www.insightinvestment.com/Responsibility/Articles/obesity_how_is_the_food_industry_responding.asp |
Rewarding Virtue:
effective board action on corporate responsibility
Boards have responsibilities for both corporate governance
and corporate responsibility. But it is not always clear
how these responsibilities overlap. Working with FTSE
Group and Business in the Community, Insight has produced
a report outlining the challenges boards face in providing
effective governance of corporate responsibility. The
Executive Summary of the report is available here. http://www.insightinvestment.com/responsibility/rewardingvirtue.asp
|
Does Globalization
Help or Hurt the World's Poor?
Pranab Bardhan in The Scientific American writes: Globalization
and the attendant concerns about poverty and inequality
have become a focus of discussion in a way that few other
topics, except for international terrorism or global warming,
have. The financial press and influential international
officials confidently assert that global free markets
expand the horizons for the poor, whereas activist-protesters
hold the opposite belief with equal intensity. Yet the
strength of people's conviction is often in inverse proportion
to the amount of robust factual evidence they have. Read
the article at http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0004B7FD-C4E6-1421-84E683414B7F0101 |
Analysis Advocates
Strategic Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility
McKinsey Quarterly provides in-depth analysis of its January
2006 survey documenting increasing executive interest
in CSR, a finding correlated by an American Society for
Quality poll. http://www.wbcsd.org/includes/getTarget.asp?type=DocDet&id=MTg3MTY
|
ABOVE THE CLOUDS:
A GUIDE TO TRENDS CHANGING THE WAY WE WORK
A Project Inspired by EFQM with commentary from the worlds
of business, the not-for-profit sector and academia
'Above the Clouds' is the result of a future studies project
carried out by the European Foundation for Quality Management
(EFQM), a not-for profit foundation that promotes excellence
in European business. The project aimed to identify trends
that will have an impact on the world of work over the
coming decade. Work here is defined in terms of methods,
organisation and future challenges. http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/catalogue/clouds.htm
|
STRATEGIC CORPORATE
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: STAKEHOLDERS IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
One way of looking at corporate social responsibility
(CSR) is as a set of questions, the answers to which are
constantly evolving as the discipline continues to define
itself. According to Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
(Sage Publications 2006), questions include: "Who
defines the boundaries between private profits and public
good?" and "Can the interests of firms, owners,
and other stakeholders be aligned, or are they inherently
in conflict?" The book seeks to clarify confusion
around CSR through a hands-on approach, providing resources
(many of them Web-based in recognition of the transitory
nature of the field) and provoking thought through a wealth
of case studies.
http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MTgyOTk |
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT
Edited by Rory Sullivan and Craig Mackenzie, Insight Investment,
UK
This book brings together some of the leading practitioners
and commentators in the field of responsible investment;
it reviews and critically analyses the emerging 'engagement'
and 'enhanced analysis' approaches to social, ethical
and environmental (SEE) issues in investment. http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/catalogue/respinv.htm |
BUSINESS ETHICS LINK LIBRARY
BELL (The Business Ethics Link Library) is a comprehensive
starting point for research in corporate ethics and social
responsibility. The database provides access to codes
of ethics for U.S. companies and trade and professional
associations, ethics sites at college and university business
programs, industry information resources, and company
promotion of social responsibility covering such topics
as arts assistance, environmental clean up, charitable
giving and community programming. http://libnet.colorado.edu/Bell/
|
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
TEMPLATE
In 2004 the ERC Fellows Program undertook an effort to
review what best practice companies were doing in the
area of ethics and compliance when their company was considering
a new acquisition. In creating this document, the Fellows
gathered existing best practices from both ERC and EOA
selected member companies.
Read more information about and view the template at:
http://www.ethics.org/fellows/publications_matemplate.html |
BUSINESS UNPREPARED
AS FAIR TAX FOLLOWS FAIR TRADE INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
Corporate tax planning must come out of the shadows and
be subject to the same standards of transparency and accountability
as corporate environmental and social performance. This
is the central finding of SustainAbility's new report,
Taxing Issues - Responsible Business and Tax. However,
the report also finds that most companies are resistant
to greater scrutiny of their tax planning, and that there
is dramatic polarisation between those who see tax as
simply a cost to be avoided, versus those who acknowledge
stakeholder interest in the issue and recognise tax as
part of their social contract with significant ethical
issues. http://www.sustainability.com/insight/liability-article.asp?id=450
Mallen Baker discusses this issue in Ethical Corporation
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=4168 |
Social Funds Two Sides
of the Same Coin: Surveys Track Growth of Interest in
CSR and SRI
This article looks at the McKinsey Quarterly Global survey
of Business Executives and their responses to questions
regarding ethics and CSR.The top three individual issues
that can have a positive or negative impact on shareholder
value in the next five years, respondents focus more on
risks than opportunities. For example, under ten percent
of respondents rated opportunities of demand for more
ethically produced products among the top three issues.
On the other end, job loss to offshoring, political involvement
contributions, and environmental issues including climate
change ranked at the top of the list of concerns for respondents.http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/1918.html
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract_visitor.aspx?ar=1741&L2=39&L3=29 |
"A billion to
gain?" - ING sponsors study on microfinance
An increasing number of international financial institutions
see microfinance both as a form of corporate social responsibility
and as a new market. It is expected that in the long term,
microfinance can grow into a 'mature' commercial activity.
This is one of the most important conclusions of the study
called 'A billion to gain?'. This study is the first to
systematically map out the current activities and future
plans of international financial institutions in the area
of microfinance.
Download the report at http://www.wbcsd.org/web/projects/sl/ing_a_billion_to_gain.pdf |
| GOVERNANCE OF INTEGRATED
PRODUCT POLICY IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND
CONSUMPTION Edited by Dirk Scheer and Frieder Rubik,
Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOW), Germany
This book provides a detailed analysis of the example
of integrated product policy (IPP) which aims to improve
the environmental performance of products and services
through their life-cycle. http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/catalogue/ipp.htm |
Ethical Corporation
Releases its First Business-NGO Partnerships Report
The report is based on 100 interviews with business, NGOs,
governments, trade unions, consultants, partnership "brokers,"
think tanks and academics. Respondents spoke on condition
of anonymity.The research compares attitudes on partnerships
in the US and Europe. According to the report, while US
companies are avid philanthropists, giving generously
and usefully to all kinds of charitable causes, European
companies have taken the lead in meaningful engagement
with NGOs, say both US and European observers. One well-known
UK partnership broker says: "European corporations
are more open to working with NGOs. In the US, NGOs are
seen as radical. [American] corporations don't spend nearly
as much time as they should on this." FREE copy of
the report, please contact the Ethical Corporation team
at ethicalevents@ethicalcorp.com
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=4079 |
BOOK REVIEW:ANCIENT
GREEK LESSONS ON GOOD LIFE AND GOOD MANAGEMENT
Columnist Simon London profiles James O'Toole's new book,
Creating the Good Life: Applying Aristotle's Wisdom to
Find Meaning and Happiness, which proposes that a "good
life" is one which is filled with activities that
most develop human beings' capacity for reason and encompass
friendship and community. The book suggests that "providing
the conditions in which employees can [develop their human
potential] is a clear moral responsibility of leaders
of work organisations."
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/cdb9785e-7cc6-11da-936a-0000779e2340.html |
|
Business Ethics and the 21st Century Organization
examines the impact of business ethics on management
and managers today. It features a mix of international
contributors including our own Philippa Foster Back.
Published by BSi Business Information on 1st December
2005.
Further information and order form http://www.bsi-global.com/Risk/CorporateGovernance/bip2067.xalter |
BOOK REVIEW: GOOD
COMPANY, BEST PRACTICE
John Plender reviews Keeping Better Company: Corporate
Governance Ten Years On in which author Jonathan Charkham
highlights the different approaches of the US, UK, Japan,
Germany and France. Charkham's key lessons from the past
decade are that enterprise matters more than corporate
governance, boardroom behaviour is more important than
formal compliance with government regulation and judgement
is vital in applying government rules. While the US model
emphasises regulations to make securities markets work
more efficiently, the UK approaches more emphasis on the
stewardship role of shareholders while limiting the powers
of chief executives.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/05efb532-8634-11da-bee0-0000779e2340.html |
NEW INTERNATIONAL
INTERNET PLATFORM ON BUSINESS ETHICS IN PRACTICE AND ACADEMICS
In January 2006, the Internet platform csr-news.net was
launched. The goal of csr-news.net is to post news on
business ethics. It is internationally oriented and will
bring together debates in academics and practice. www.csr-news.net
|
HARVARD BUSINESS
SCHOOL CASE STUDY (Jan 2006):
Nestle's Milk District Model (Economic Development for
a Value-Added Food Chain and Improved Nutrition)
http://www.nextbillion.net/multimedia/2005/12/07/nestle-s-milk-district-model-economic-development-for-a-value-added-food-chain-and-improved-nutrition |
ACCOUNTABILITY IN
THE 21ST CENTURY
Effective accountability is a pre-condition to addressing
our common agenda: sustainable development. Accountability
is the basis on which decisions are made, actions are
taken and outcomes achieved. Our single greatest challenge
is to reinvent accountability for the 21st Century. Tomorrow's
social organisation will be impacted by today's dramatic
changes in how people come together, through knowledge
and civil society networks, open-source standards and
e-communities. This special issue of the journal, which
marks AccountAbility's 10th anniversary, draws on a number
of high-level contributions to examine what accountability
innovations are needed for the 21st century, where are
they most likely to come from and how can they be encouraged
and made effective. http://www.accountability.org.uk/ |
HOW TO STRUCTURE
THE CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY FUNCTION
The definitive guide to organizing and embedding the corporate
responsibility function How to Structure the Corporate
Responsibility Function is the new independent research
study from Melcrum. For the first time, this unique study
gives a clear picture of how the most innovative functions
are structured and resourced for the best results. This
practical report provides you with exclusive benchmark
data from leading organizations and shows you how to restructure
the CR function to achieve maximum results. http://www.melcrum.com/offer/scr05a/ |
Exploring the Links
between International Business and Poverty Reduction:
A Case Study of Unilever in Indonesia: New report
from Oxfam GB, Novib and Unilever
Oxfam GB, Novib (Oxfam Netherlands), Unilever and Unilever
Indonesia (UI), have collaborated on a research project
to increase their understanding of the impacts of business
on the lives of poor people and to explore the potential
links between international business and poverty reduction.The
report explores how, and to what extent, the operations
of Unilever Indonesia have an impact on poverty - both
positive and negative - in Indonesia. It looks at the
impact of UI's entire value chain, from its interactions
with small-scale producers in the supply chain to those
with low-income consumers.
All relevant links can be found at: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/livelihoods/unilever.htm
|
|
Will ethics be trampled in the rush for compliance?
Simon Webley, Research Director of the IBE, asks whether
ethics programmes in an organisation could well be in
danger of being swamped by the new insistence on compliance
and accountability. Click here
to download a PDF of this article |
|
Institute for Supply Management issues "Principles
of Social Responsibility" for supply chain managers:
27 July 2005.
The ISM has said that social responsibility is defined
as a framework of measurable corporate policies and
procedures and resulting behavior designed to benefit
the workplace and, by extension, the individual, the
organization, and the community in the following areas:
Community, diversity, environment, ethics, financial
responsibility, human rights and safety. A copy of the
"Principles" can be down loaded from: http://www.ism.ws/SR/Principles.cfm |
Corporate Ethics,
Governance and Social Responsibility: Source: Ethics
Resource Centre.Comparing European Business Practices
to those in the United States:
This study, conducted for the Business and Organizational
Ethics Partnership Markkula Center for Applied Ethics,
looks at the similarities and differences between the
U.S. and European business environments. Though Europe
may lead in many social and environmental performance
measures, business operations in the United States and
Europe are not as different as many assume. Read full
study at:http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/hurst/comparitive_study.pdf
http://www.ethics.org |
New study finds link
between financial success and focus on corporate values.
A new study by the Aspen Institute and Booz Allen
Hamilton found that companies routinely identify values
as a top agenda issue, and public companies that report
superior financial results also report greater success
in linking values to operations in certain areas. CSR
Wire. For more information or a copy of the report, email
guterl_karen@bah.com
or jim.spiegelman@aspeninstitute.org.
http://www.csrwire.com/article.cgi/3511.html |
The art and science
of corporate tax avoidance. Three reports - by a US
tax watchdog, a pair of US academics, and a
UK socially responsible investment firm - find troubling
trends in corporate tax strategies. The SRI arm of Henderson
Global Investors surveyed board chairs and found less
than half of those responding have adopted formal tax
policies or reviewed tax strategy in the last year. In
annual reports and Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) filings, corporations tell shareowners of higher
profits than they report to the IRS and state agencies
in tax filings, according to recent reports released by
Citizens for Tax Justice
(CTJ). Corporations also use tax shelters to artificially
reduce debt in order to increase their attractiveness
to investors, according to a January 2005 study by finance
professors from Duke University and Pace University.
http://www.institutionalshareowner.com/article.mpl?sfArticleId=1630 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=633042 |
| Doing Business Ethically
Around the World The following link is a summary report
of a workshop that was held at the Ethics Officer Association’s
Annual Conference in October 2004 entitled "Doing
Business Ethically Around the World: Are There Workable
Standards?” The report is reprinted with permission
of the Ethics Officer Association |
|
Recruitment Corporate social responsibility
activity does count. Half of UK workers say they would
be "less likely" to work for a company if
it does not engage in CSR activity, according to a survey
by Oracle. Times http://www.oracle.com/global/uk/pressroom/2004/456.html |
