A presentation given to 400 business students and professors in Guadalajara, Mexico on September 19 2013. It covers: CSR definitions, trends now and in the future, company case studies, the business case for CSR and sustainability and the issues of the future. Looks at Marks & Spencer, Unilever, Siemens, General Electric company

1. From
CSR
to
Sustainable
Business:
What
are
companies
doing,
and
why
Toby
Webb,
Founder,
Ethical
Corpora7on
and
Stakeholder
Intelligence.
Lecturer,
Corporate
Responsibility,
Birkbeck,
University
of
London
Tecnológico
de
Monterrey,
Mexico,
September
2013
Tobias.Webb@stakeholderintel.com
Tobiaswebb.blogspot.com

2. What
is
CSR
today?
• CSR
IS
NOT
PHILANTHROPY
• Ethics
*
Integrity
*
Products
*
Services
*
Consumers
*
Investors
*
An7-­‐corrup7on
*
Suppliers
*
Tax
payments
*
Market
Ethics
*
Employees
*
Civil
society
*
Poli7cs
and
the
Environment…
and
more…
• CSR
is
not
about
how
you
give
your
money
away
• It
is
about
how
you
make
it
• “CSR
is
about
how
you
run
your
business
when
no-­‐one
is
watching”

3. What
are
the
CSR
trends
today?
• More
compliance
• BeWer
governance
• Improved
trust
• Cost
reduc7on
• Co-­‐ope77on

4. What
are
the
(addi?onal)
trends
tomorrow?
• Resource
constraints
(popula7on,
materials,
climate
change)
• Licence
to
Operate
• Collabora7on
for
systems
change
• Ins7tu7onal,
trade
and
poli7cal
improvements
• Impact
measurement

5. Who
are
some
of
the
leaders?
• Unilever
-­‐
Ten
year
journey
towards
sustainable
growth
–
The
Sustainable
Living
Plan
• Applies
right
across
the
value
chain
• Responsibility
for
own
direct
opera?ons
(social/enviro)
• Also
for
suppliers,
distributors
and
how
consumers
use
Unilever
brands
• Underpinning
the
Plan
are
around
60
very
tough
business
targets

6.
So
what
do
they
actually
want
to
do?
• Bring
safe
drinking
water
to
500
million
people
• Increase
propor7on
of
product
por^olio
that
meets
highest
nutri?onal
standards
(22%
in
2010
to
25%
in
2011)
• Halve
the
greenhouse
gas
impact
of
products
across
the
lifecycle
by
2020
• 2020:
Source
100%
of
agricultural
raw
materials
sustainably
(36%
in
2012)

7. Business
Benefits
of
Sustainability

8. Marks
&
Spencer
• Launched
Plan
A
in
2007.
100
commitments
to
achieve
in
5
years
• Now
extended
Plan
A
to
180
commitments
to
achieve
by
2015.
• 139
achieved
so
far
• Ul7mate
goal
of
becoming
the
world's
most
sustainable
major
retailer
• Sustainability
work
has
driven
profits
as
well
as
cut
costs
• 2012:
£135m
NET
BENEFIT
(29%
increase
year
on
year)

9. Launched
in
2007:
“Ten
years
of
incrementalism
leading
to
transforma?on”

10. Who
are
some
of
the
leaders?
• General
Electric:
Eco-­‐
Innova7on
as
business
strategy
• Ecomagina?on:
Mainstream
focus
on
business
innova7on
and
sustainable
industrial
products
• $2.3
billion
invested
in
“Ecomagina7on”
products
in
2011
• Reduced
GHG
emissions
30%
since
2004
• Reduced
wastewater
by
45%
since
2006

11. Who
are
some
of
the
leaders?
2011
-­‐
Siemens
reorganised
opera7ons
into
four
core
business
units:
• Energy
-­‐
efficiency
in
energy
produc7on
and
distribu7on,
including
oil,
gas
and
renewables
• Healthcare
-­‐
supplying
technology
(medical
imaging
equipment
and
healthcare
IT)
• Industry
-­‐
providing
sojware
and
technology
services
• Infrastructure
and
ci?es
-­‐
sustainable
technologies
(smart
grid
equipment
and
rail
vehicles)

12. Siemens
and
Green
Business
Strategy
• 2011:
Products
and
solu7ons
in
Environmental
Por^olio
generated
revenue
of
€29.9
billion:
41%
of
total
revenue
• Objec7ve:
Grow
annual
revenue
to
€40
billion
by
2014
–with
new,
innova7ve
products
and
excep7onal
growth
in
fields
like
renewable
energy

13. Why
do
they
choose
to
lead?
Unilever
Marks
and
Spencer
General
Electric
Siemens
• Securing
supply
• Customer
trust
• Low
carbon
future
• Urbanisa?on
(These
are
not
the
only
reasons!)

14. Why
do
they
engage
“stakeholders”?
• Employee
engagement
drives
innova7on
and
ideas
• NGO
partnerships
bring
science,
experience,
and
credibility
• Communi?es
have
increasing
power
&
influence
• Social
media
means
no
company
escapes
scru7ny
• Big
business
want
a
long
term
vision
from
Governments:
And
policies
and
incen7ves
that
enable
investment
and
longer
term
planning:
So
must
lead
by
example

15. How
do
they
engage
with
stakeholders?
• Dialogue
with
civil
society
• Consul?ng
experts
on
agriculture,
trust,
ethics.
urbanisa7on,
climate
change,
energy
futures
• By
using
guidance
and
standards
• Listening
to
their
employees
• Watching
trends
emerge
ISO
26000
Guidance
‘Standard’

16. How
do
CSR
and
Sustainability
improve
Business?
• Consumers
want
to
trust
brands,
not
all
the
product
detail
• Leading
companies
are
turning
sustainability
into
opportunity
all
over
the
world:
Water,
Telecoms,
Commodi7es,
Retail,
Mining,
Construc7on…
• 9
billion
people
means
less
resources.
Innova7on
will
be
essen7al.
The
Circular
Economy
will
be
vitally
important.
• Corporate
roles
in
changing
inefficient
systems
will
be
vital:
The
winning
companies
recognise
CSR
is
systems
change
• CSR
and
Sustainability
=
Smarter
business

17.
Harvard
Business
School
Professor
Robert
Eccles,
Harvard
Business
School

18. Is
CSR/sustainability
profitable?
London
Business
School
&
Harvard
Business
School
research:
• Firms
with
beWer
CSR
performance
face
significantly
lower
capital
constraints
• BeWer
stakeholder
engagement
and
transparency
around
CSR
performance,
are
important
in
further
reducing
capital
constraints
• That
the
rela7on
is
driven
by
both
the
social
and
the
environmental
dimension
of
CSR
"CORPORATE
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
AND
ACCESS
TO
FINANCE"
Available
at:
hGp://ssrn.com/abstract=1847085

19. CEOs
agree
with
all
this…
UN
Global
Compact
and
Accenture
CEO
study
2013:
ü 75
CEOs
1-­‐to-­‐1s
ü 1,000
CEO
responses
ü 103
countries
ü 27
industry
sectors
Found
two
clear
CEO
priori?es
for
the
future:
One:
“The
need
for
governments
to
intervene
to
align
global
markets
allowing
companies
to
compete
effec7vely
to
drive
sustainability”
Two:
“To
move
beyond
incremental
change
to
transforma7on
that
delivers
both
sustainability
leadership
and
value
crea7on”

20. In
conclusion…
• CSR
today
=
Sustainable
Business
tomorrow.
BUT:
• Sustainable
business
does
not
happen
without
Strategy
• Strategy
does
not
happen
without
good
Governance
• Good
governance
does
not
happen
without
Ethics
• Ethics
do
not
happen
without
Stakeholder
Engagement
• My
final
point:
Successful
sustainable
business
is
based
on
both
ethics
and
open
and
con7nuous
engagement
with
society

21. Thank you!
Tobiaswebb.blogspot.com