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HOW TO EMBED CORPORATE
RESPONSIBILITY ACROSS DIFFERENT
PARTS OF YOUR COMPANY
REPORT SUMMARY
Full report available at:
www.ethicalcorp.com/csr
October 2009
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• Five practical guides that you can share with other departments, covering:
• Procurement
• Human Resources
• Communications and Marketing
• Finance and Accounting
• Facilities, Logistics and Operations
❜❜
HERE’S WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR REPORTS
❜❜ “[The report] has helped to define what current good practice is,
enabling us to develop processes to exceed it.”
❜❜
– Oliver King, Sustainable Development Group, Faber Maunsell
“Ethical Corporation’s China report is a huge help for companies doing business in China,
or companies intending to enter the Chinese market…It gave me helpful insights and case studies and it
provides tools to maintain and improve your compliance standards in such a difficult market.”
– Tonnis J. Poppema, Director of Compliance, Hasbro International Holdings B.V.
“Whenever I need to research CR issues, I always include EC and its invaluable resources.
❜❜ The alternative is to be less informed than I could or should be…and I owe it to my company, employees,
customers and other stakeholders to be totally informed.”
❜❜
– Jeff Curtis, Director of HR Shared Services, MTS
“This is the only guide of real value we found that explores the value
of joining CR initiatives.”
– Nadine Exter, Author of CR Review, Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility Review
REPORT CONTENTS
➤ Acknowledgements
➤ Executive summary
This opening section is written for experienced CR managers. Its purpose is to highlight best practices and
effective tools and processes for convincing departments to embed CR, monitor company-wide progress, and
work with other departments to collect data and set meaningful indicators on social and environmental impacts.
Part I includes detailed analysis of strategies used by Tata, BT, Novo Nordisk, Alliance Boots, Man Group,
HP, Starbucks, PepsiCo and Vodafone
2. Human Resources Guide – how to embed CR, and improve productivity and staff morale
Includes detailed analysis of strategies used by: HP, Campbell Soup, Alliance Boots, Starbucks and Novo Nordisk
3. Communications Guide – how to embed CR in reporting, marketing, and internal and external
communications
Includes detailed analysis of strategies used by: BT, Vodafone, Starbucks, Man Group, HP and Novo Nordisk
4. Facility, Logistics and Operations Guide – how to embed CR into daily operations
Includes detailed analysis of strategies used by: Alliance Boots, HP, BT, Novo Nordisk and Vodafone
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How to embed corporate responsibility across different parts of your company
KEY FINDINGS
Our research indicates a number of key steps that companies are taking to embed corporate responsibility and sustainability
in different departments and functions. Companies who have proven to successfully embed responsible practices into their operations
recognise that the following basic steps must be met:
• Include corporate ethics, and a focused strategy to develop sustainable practices, in the company’s legal structures
• Get senior management on board as early as possible and try to develop CR champions at the top of the company
• For global companies operating in different countries and cultures, regional relevance to employees is crucial
– developing a ‘one size fits all’ approach will be less effective
• Spell out how CR programmes and a sustainable agenda benefit your colleagues: explain what’s in it for them
• Move from risk avoidance to taking advantage of the opportunities available from CR
By decentralising CR activities, CR professionals can access the diverse skill set required for a successful corporate approach to
responsible business. Ethical Corporation asked our delegates – a range of senior CR professionals and executives from multinational
companies – Which topics will you need to learn more about to succeed in your job? Results indicated that corporate responsibility
requires a very diverse skill- and knowledge-base.
KNOWLEDGE AREAS CR PROFESSIONALS NEED TO DEVELOP (level of need indicated per topic area)
Furthermore, 46% of respondents to our survey have a CSR team of between 2 and 4 people, while nearly half, 46%, have recently
experienced a budget reduction. A small team and budget makes it even more pertinent that other departments be accountable for
implementing corporate responsibility practices.
SIZE OF BUDGET
24% ■ over £30,000
■ £20,000 to £30,000
8% ■ £10,000 to £20,000
■ £5,000 to £10,000
20% ■ £1,000 to £5,000
■ under £1,000
20%
Source: Ethical Corporation survey, May/June 2009. Results from the 50% of
respondents willing to respond to the question, for the 12 months, beginning
June 2009.
28%
Ethical Corporation survey results indicated a significant division between CR departments, with a distinct disparity between CR professionals’
budgets: 48% falling under £5,000 and 24% budgeting over £30,000.
Order at www.ethicalcorp.com/csr
How to embed corporate responsibility across different parts of your company
Measurement and accountability are critical. Vodafone’s Joaquim Croca says “Reporting our efforts and committing to doing something in
the following year pushes everyone in the company.” Yet, only 32% of respondents to a recent Ethical Corporation survey have a
company-wide framework for monitoring social or CR impacts per department.
The next step for Alliance Boots was to split the company’s CR into four Novo Nordisk has revised their employee CR objectives in order to better-
strands: community, environment, marketplace and workplace. Because the reflect their job responsibilities. For example, they recognised that focusing
company seeks to respond to local requirements, they manage a process of the production department on patients, the end-users of the products, is an
ongoing stakeholder dialogue. They started a ‘CR Action Group’ in each appropriate way of tying CR objectives into production goals.
country that meets on a quarterly basis to review ongoing programmes.
Current year and five-year objectives are established, with responsibility
resting on operational staff and directors.
Ian Wood, performance and reporting manager in BT’s corporate
responsibility unit says: “Communicating with 100,000 colleagues across
the world is a challenge … You can talk about BT saving millions of tonnes
Many companies are making certification easier for their suppliers by joining of carbon, but if you can demonstrate the savings from someone turning off
multistakeholder initiatives: “If you can make it easier and less resource- the lights at a particular office then you are showing people that they too
intensive for suppliers to provide data, then you and they can concentrate can make a worthwhile change.”
on the real work of getting them to improve and make the corrective action
plans required” says Tom Smith of Sedex. Jorgette Marinez, senior
manager, global supplier CSR assurance, PepsiCo, global procurement says
that there was a collective “lightbulb” moment for a lot of companies. “To overcome the difficulties of language and cultural differences,” Bonnie
“Many of our peers were addressing the same issues as us … We were Nixon, HP’s director of sustainability says, the local human resources
asking similar questions in terms of labour standards, health and safety, department was able to help refine the sustainability message and ensure
environmental standards and integrity.” it was delivered in a sensitive and effective manner.
Read more about metrics, incentives, enforcement, and coordination of disparate data in Part I of the full report.
DEPARTMENT-BY-DEPARTMENT GUIDES
Everyone is taking about it, but what does corporate responsibility (CR) mean for an HR professional? A procurement manager? A marketing
expert? A floor or store manager? An accountant? Find out about winning approaches by companies that have had proven, positive impacts.
Raise corporate responsibility to the top of everyone’s agenda in your company. Share this information with other department managers,
and they will receive simple tactics and strategies that they can implement tomorrow.
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