Summary
csr summary 2023
- Course
- Institution
- Book
corporate social responsibility summary with pictures 2023
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
More summaries for
-
Summary Winning Sustainability Strategies - Corporate Social Responsibility (6013B0501Y)
-
Summary Corporate Social Responsibility (Book and lectures)
-
Corporate Social Responsibility Summary (Lectures, Tutorials, Book), Grade 8,5/10
Seller
Follow
uvastudent7
Content preview
WINNING SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES. Benot leleux jan van der kaaij- Finding purpose, driving innovation and executing change
CHAPTER 1: introduction
- With many initiatives stuck in storytelling (i.e. good stories but little action) or
cherry-picking (i.e. some actions but with limited objectives) mode, the need for the
executive level to start thinking about transformation toward a more sustainable business
model is rising as rapidly as the levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere
- The effective combination of direction and speed, which generates impact in
sustainability programs, is dubbed Vectoring in this book because it is analogous to the
navigation service provided by an air traffic controller, whereby the controller decides on
a particular path for the aircraft, composed of specific legs or vectors, which the pilot
then follows.
- Sustainability programs, unfortunately, lack air traffic controllers or often pilots for that
matter. First, they tend to have weak direction, that is, with respect to the specific
sustainability issues (referred to as materialities) that will be most relevant and impactful.
- Second, we argue that the board of directors and CEO should assume the role of air
traffic controller.
- Vectoring is presented here both as a diagnostic tool and a prescriptive method. As a
diagnostic tool that has been developed based on clinical studies of actual business
situations as well as data analytics from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI),
vectoring offers a practical framework for identifying the relative positioning of companies
compared to their peers
- It is in that latter prescriptive role that vectoring becomes a key strategic tool, with
numerous applications, such as:
• Designing and executing new sustainability programs
• Embedding the SDGs into the company’s core strategy
• Assessing the impact of sustainability programs on competitiveness and valuation.
● Sources of Data and Methodologies
- Since 1999, RobecoSAM, a Zürich-based asset management company, conducts an
annual global sustainability assessment.
- A questionnaire featuring between 80 and 120 questions is sent to participants, covering
relevant economic, environmental and social factors
- After due processing, the end product of the RobecoSAM assessment is arguably the
globe’s most reputed ESG benchmark: the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).
- Benchmarked companies receive a sustainability score between 1 and 100 and are
compared to their industry peers
- The top 10%, that is, top decile, within each industry are selected for inclusion in the
DJSI World Index,
- The ten industries researched were chosen to generate a representative sample of the
industries addressed by MSCI’s Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).
, - The GICS is a four-tiered, hierarchical industry classification system that was
established in 1999 by MSCI and Standard & Poor’s (S&P) for use by the global financial
community
- In addition to the anonymized data from DJSI on participants from 10 industries, two
other sources of information were used extensively in the research.
1. Clinical case studies were conducted over the past decade with IMD business school
in the area of value creation from sustainability and innovation. In total, 13 such in-depth
studies were performed on companies such as Tumi, DSM, Renault and Unilever.
2. Practical examples and tools accumulated over 20 years of sustainability consulting
with large corporations throughout Europe have been used to emphasize both the
diagnostic and prescriptive application of the book.
● Limitations of the research
- The research data exclusively contains companies that voluntarily participated in the
DJSI. This means that a participation bias is to be expected, which should normally have
positively skewed the results, on the assumption that strong sustainability players would
be more incentivized to participate than laggards
- To the extent that a full peer industry review was not conducted in the identification of
representative companies, a selection bias may also exist.
- A final limitation to point out is due to the fact that the RobecoSAM questionnaires
evolve each year to address new issues and emerging sustainability trends.
Consequently, comparing results for specific industries at a criterion level, that is,
governance, climate strategy or operational eco-efficiency, from year to year was
sometimes not possible.
CHAPTER 2: patterns of frontrunners
- It is becoming ever clearer that for us to create a society that supports a healthy planet
with happy people, we must change our course drastically. Peter bakker President of the
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
- Corporate darwinism: corporate success was increasingly a matter of survival of the
most adaptive, emphasizing again the need for speed1 in the adoption of sustainable
practices. Feike Sijbesma, CEO of the Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living giant
DSM
- It is critical to understand the characteristics and patterns of sustainability leaders and
what enables them to justify and succeed in their approaches to sustainability
● Climate Strategy: An Example of Data Analytics
- To realistically assess the performance of companies on climate change, DJSI2
composer RobecoSAM developed a climate strategy criterion in collaboration with CDP,
formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project. Enables companies, cities, states and
regions to measure and manage their environmental impact
- For each criterion, companies receive a percentage of the maximum score; based upon
the full set of questions in the climate strategy criterion, participating companies are
awarded a score ranging from 0 to 100.
,- Comparing the average score on the climate strategy criterion with the marks of the top
decile performers over the three-year research period provides some interesting insights.
From the example in Table 2.1 on climate strategy, it is possible to infer that frontrunners
outperform industry averages by some 16%—a meaningful difference.
- sustainability champions outperform their industry averages by as much as 25%. That
situation makes it even more important to understand what these frontrunners’
executives and their sustainability departments are doing differently, and why.
● Sustainability-based transformations
Umicore: from mining bad boy to tesla partner
- Former mining company Umicore left its dark past behind to become a global leader in
the circular economy movement, touted around the globe for its battery recycling
technology
- This spectacular turnaround was more than 10 years in the making and turned Umicore
into a stock market darling, ultimately earning the company a place as the European
partner in Tesla’s Closed Loop Battery Recycling Program.
- What was behind the magic that engulfed Umicore? Focus and speed
- Umicore adopted a radically new business model. The old mining–refining approach to
developing material solutions was replaced by a leading-edge recycling-based model
that relied on chemistry and metallurgy
- The team succeeded in turning Umicore into a frontrunner in its industry in terms of
innovation and sustainability, redefining the playing field for all parties
● Raising the bar in chocolate
- So how is it possible then for a startup company, initially run by amateurs with hardly any
funding, to grow 50% year-on-year in a market dominated by global players such as
Nestlé, Mondelez, Lindt and Mars? That is what Tony’s Chocolonely, a Dutch chocolate
brand whose only purpose is to eradicate slavery from the chocolate value chain
- Focusing on the perceived health properties of antioxidants found in cocoa, their
plantation-to-plate value chain enabled Daintree to capitalize on higher-yield cocoa
beans while avoiding the old-style sustainability issues of smaller-sized farms.
● Identifying key success drivers
- Umicore may be seen initially as an outlier—a glorious accident—that neither proves nor
disproves the case for sustainability in business.
- To summarize some of the key findings, transformational companies have a much higher
sense of direction and accelerate execution by embedding sustainability into their core
businesses, not adding them as appendices. This combination of direction and speed→
vectoring
● Vectoring step 1: getting the bearing right
- Less is more when it comes to selecting objectives. “He/she that too much embraceth,
holds little,” or simply, “grasp all, lose all.”
, - Focus helps in delivering a clearer story to stakeholders. And evidence suggests that
shareholders react positively (by increasing the firm valuations) when companies deliver
on key sustainability issues
- Frontrunners are obsessively focused on a limited number of critical, relevant and
material sustainability issues
- Focus is the key to proper implementation and ultimately capturing value from the efforts
- Example: By focusing on climate change, and not dozens of other sustainability causes,
Bodegas Torres was named the World’s Most Admired Wine Brand by Drinks
International magazine in 2017
● Vectroing step 2: accelerating execution and getting momentum
- Once the appropriate materialities have been selected, the concern turns to activities
required to develop and roll out strategies to capture the opportunities that arise from
these sustainability activities
- Frontrunners rigorously implement sustainability programs that deliver value through
reputation, cost reduction and/or growth, usually all three simultaneously.
- Laggards, on the other hand, often limit their efforts at reporting activities as part of their
customary non-financial information cycle.
- Companies end up stuck in a reporting trap, occupied all year round delivering reports
and communication and failing to turn ESG benchmark results into actions
- Compliance and reporting are indeed formidable tasks today
- The direct benefits for sustainability programs can typically be found in areas such as
reductions in waste, energy and water conservation, minimization of natural resource
consumption and waste generating activities, leading to lower costs and, in some cases,
new business opportunities.
- Going back to the DJSI data sample, an analysis of the operational ecoefficiency
criterion sheds light on how well industries are capturing the low hanging fruit in
implementation
- The key focus of the operational eco-efficiency criterion is on inputs and outputs of
business operations and questions that include topics such as direct greenhouse gas
emissions, energy consumption, water consumption and hazardous waste
- The USLP (e Unilever Sustainable Living Plan) excelled not only through its clear
corporate focus but also by fully integrating the underlying management structures into
the organizational framework of Unilever.
- integrating the sustainability strategy into the existing reporting and management
responsibilities led to successful execution
● The business case for sustainability
- So how can such a business case be constructed? According to the Integrated
Reporting (IR) Framework,4 a business case for sustainability can be assembled from
four distinct building blocks:
• Cost savings from eco-efficiencies, for instance, by reducing waste, water usage or
energy consumption
• Revenue growth from sustainable innovations
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller uvastudent7. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.00. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
67096 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now