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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
2.27.2006 ET
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Business Leaders Launch Global Network for Excellence in Corporate Citizenship
Membership open to companies striving to achieve excellence by aligning corporate citizenship to business strategy and long-term value
(CSRwire) CHESTNUT HILL, MA - A new international consortium of global
businesses, lead by IBM and nine other world-class companies, is being
created to define excellence in corporate citizenship and help companies
manage related challenges, identify trade-offs, and balance countervailing
pressures. Known as the Global Leadership Network, its objective is to
improve citizenship performance and demonstrate the important role the
corporate sector can play in improving economic, social, and environmental
conditions in the world.
Founding member IBM along with General Electric, FedEx, Cargill, Diageo,
Omron, Manpower, CEMEX, 3M and General Motors were instrumental in the
creation and design of the project. They are now extending membership to
other companies interested in building corporate citizenship into core
business strategy. The network was formed in 2003 when IBM sought expert
research assistance from The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston
College and AccountAbility to assess how powerful global companies define
excellence in corporate citizenship. Under the direction of the two
international research centers, the network has:
created a framework for corporate citizenship performance excellence
defined the essential characteristics for performance excellence in
corporate citizenship
identified best practices and created a proprietary web-based
database
developed a simple, comparative scorecard to assess progress
produced a web-based self assessment and planning tool
The framework helps a company define its strategic position on corporate
citizenship through a process of consultation that helps align business
and citizenship goals. "Joining this global network will help companies
manage their broader accountabilities to ensure that they minimize the
risks they impose on stakeholders and that they maximize the opportunities
they generate for stakeholders," said Simon Zadek, CEO of
AccountAbility.
According to the project research team, corporate citizenship currently
focuses more on stakeholder expectations, through often unaligned programs
such as philanthropy, environmental management, standards and codes, and
social reports, and less on the process of strategic alignment and
execution. Instead, the GLN framework encourages a company to determine
excellence in corporate citizenship from a proactive business
perspective.
"Many citizenship systems appear to impose practices on companies with the
hope that a mix of carrots and sticks will encourage businesses not only to
comply with standards but to be happy about doing it," said Steven Rochlin,
director of research and policy for The Center for Corporate Citizenship at
Boston College.
The research reveals four critical performance elements that determine
corporate citizenship excellence:
Integration of corporate citizenship into business strategy.
Excellent performers identify the significant relationship between core
strategic goals, core values, key performance metrics and drivers, and
societal expectations for corporate citizenship.
Commitment to engage and learn from stakeholders. Most companies
pursue stakeholder engagement from a defensive, risk management posture.
Excellent companies view stakeholders as a critical constituency that
defines the citizenship agenda, drives learning, and provides feedback
which can lead to innovation around business processes and products.
Commitment to lead. Excellent corporate citizenship performers seek
to be the best in the areas of strategic alignment they define as most
important. Core to this aim is the effort to engage and influence others
to enhance their performance as citizens.
Formation of supportive corporate citizenship systems and processes
that constitute operational excellence. Leaders reinforce strategic
alignment by designing appropriate measures, incentives, training, and
operating systems that encourage excellent and aligned sustainability
performance.
GLN will be jointly managed by The Center for Corporate Citizenship at
Boston College and AccountAbility. Benefits to companies include:
Understanding gaps in corporate citizenship strategy
Aligning corporate citizenship with core business strategy
Responding to societal expectations that allow for learning and value
creation for the business and stakeholders
Discovering how other companies are managing these issues through a
database of case studies
Create leadership opportunities
Companies joining the network choose from a multi-tiered membership with
annual fees beginning at $7,500. The basic tier provides companies with
access to the on-line planning and assessment tool and automated reporting
system, best practice database and access to peers within other companies.
For additional fees companies will receive other services such as
personalized assistance and have access to special convenings and
peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
"The Global Leadership Network allows IBM to do significantly better in
the corporate citizenship area," said IBM Vice President Stanley S. Litow,
chair of the GLN steering committee. "It will allow us to use the kind of
web-based analytics we use in other elements of our work and enable us to
engage all the requisite players at IBM."
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