Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Good practice in this area continues to evolve. Companies are moving away from philanthropic donations and ad hoc practices to more sophisticated and strategic ways of planning and delivering their community investment programs. There is greater emphasis on the business case—on creating “shared value” by aligning business goals and competencies with the development priorities of local stakeholders. Other trends include a focus on building social capital and local ownership through multi-stakeholder processes; factoring sustainability and handover strategies into project design; and measuring and communicating results to optimize the business value derived from CSR.
FEATURED RESOURCES
21 Feb 2013
The Mediation and Complaints-Handling Institution for Responsible Business Conduct deals with cases relating to non-compliance of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The Institution is the OECD’s Contact Point in Denmark and is responsible for raising awareness of what responsible business conduct entails. Read more..
2011
IFC's Sustainability Framework articulates the Corporation's strategic commitment to sustainable development, and is an integral part of IFC's approach to risk management. The Sustainability Framework comprises IFC's Policy and Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability, and IFC's Access to Information Policy.
September 2012
The genesis of this article occurred at the FSG-hosted Shared Value Summit in Cambridge, Massachusetts in June 2011 where sixty company representatives and co-authors of the Harvard Business Review article “Creating Shared Value,” Michael E. Porter and Mark Kramer, identified measurement as a key driver of shared value adoption. Nestlé, Intel, InterContinental Hotels Group, and the Rockefeller Foundation committed to work with and support FSG in developing this article on measuring shared value. Insights were drawn from a systematic literature review, in-depth interviews with featured companies, and FSG’s work on shared value with dozens of corporations
December 2012
Probing for deeper understanding and pushing for the intensification of its CSR intervention and development capacity, CCPS embarked on a two year long exercise during which the CSR awakening, understanding and implementation in countries in the sub-Saharan region have been investigated and documented. After a high level mapping exercise of 29 countries, 12 have been selected for in depth reports, namely, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya,
Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. These countries were selected, due mainly to, the relatively high relevance they have for GIZ’s engagement with the private sector.
2007
This report explores four key strategies companies can use to expand economic opportunity: 1) creating inclusive business models; 2) developing human capital; 3) building institutional capacity; and 4) helping to optimize the "Rules of the Game."
16 Sep 2012
The ISO 14000 family addresses various aspects of environmental management. It provides practical tools for companies and organizations looking to identify and control their environmental impact and constantly improve their environmental performance. ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 14004:2004 focus on environmental management systems. The other standards in the family focus on specific environmental aspects such as life cycle analysis, communication and auditing.
January 2013
The Future Role of Civil Society report is the outcome of an eight-month project, in collaboration with KPMG International and involving over 200 leaders and experts, looking at how trends in technology, politics, society, economics and the environment are affecting the evolution of civil society and its implications for stakeholders. The report presents the main global trends impacting the relationships between sectors, highlights the value that civil society provides and explores how the role of civil society might change over the coming two decades as a result.
2011
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are far reaching recommendations for responsible business conduct that 44 adhering governments – representing all regions of the world and accounting for 85% of foreign direct investment – encourage their enterprises to observe wherever they operate.
December 2012
To better understand the renewed hope, future prospects and potential pitfalls of Collaborating for a Sustainable Future, SustainAbility and GlobeScan surveyed 800 global experts in 74 countries representing business, government, NGO and academic perspectives.
October 2007
Doing Business with the World: The New Role of Corporate Leadership in Global Development shows how companies can contribute to global sustainable development through their core businesses in a way that is profitable for the companies and good for development. It offers a business perspective on key challenges and opportunities for the development of poor countries, as well as key messages for companies and governments on how to promote sustainable business solutions that benefit the poor and the societies and environments in which they live.
October 2003
Amidst the ongoing debate on how best to achieve good social and environmental practices in global supply chains, the World Bank Group commissioned a study on barriers to the achievement of better social and environmental performance in suppliers, and also on the options that hold the greatest promise for overcoming those barriers and enabling future improvement. Specifically, in the words of the Bank Group, the overall objective of the study is to “. . . contribute to a broader goal of removing unnecessary barriers to CSR compliance at the supplier level in global supply chains, enabling more suppliers to implement CSR standards more easily.”
March 2007
The publication is divided into three sections. The first contains those resources of most practical use to companies, e.g., checklists and guides. The second section contains codes, standards and guidelines developed by international agencies (some of these are specific to the mineral industry; others are of more general application). The third section comprises background material that provides the context for sustainable development and CSR.
June 2003
This report is the product of the first phase of an ongoing collaboration between Business for Social Responsibility and AccountAbility in association with Brody Weiser Burns. Supported by The Ford Foundation, the project and publication have explored the basis by which leading companies measure, manage, and report on their economic impacts - the most direct pathway along which business creates social and environmental outcomes - in particular in disadvantaged communities.
29 March 2007
In a series of four national roundtables organized by the Government of Canada during 2006, the actions of Canadian petroleum and mining companies active abroad were examined in relation to their demonstrating corporate social responsibility. The objective of the roundtables, held in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, was to generate a report to Parliament presenting “recommendations for government, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), labour organizations, businesses and industry associations on ways to strengthen approaches to managing the external impacts of international business activities to benefit both businesses and the communities within which they work.” Specifically, the roundtables looked at measures that could be taken during the following one to three years to enable Canadian extractive sector companies operating in developing countries to meet or exceed leading CSR best practices.