The challenge of global poverty is now on the agenda of the world's top CEOs. Discussions at the 2005 World Economic Forum confirmed the rise of international development issues in the corporate world during the past year. The shape of this new agenda and the potential and drawbacks for both business and society is analyzed in the 4th 'Annual Review of Corporate Responsibility', published today, by the progressive careers service Lifeworth.com.

Whereas the Indian Ocean Tsunami has focused recent attention on philanthropy, there has been a quieter change of tide in the opinion of key business leaders so many now see poorer regions of the world as places they can do business with while helping the local populations. Leading business strategists such as CK Prahalad report that some companies have seized opportunities by designing products and services that can be consumed by the world's poor.

The Review argues that business engagement with poverty and development is essential but is currently poorly informed and over-hyped. Much of the profitable business with lower-income markets involves products such as mobile phones, not the provision of basic nutrition, sanitation, education and shelter, so the current expansion of profitable business in the global South does not necessarily imply poverty reduction. The type of 'development' that is promoted by marketing consumer products to the poor is also questioned. The environmental impacts of changing consumption patterns need to be looked at, as well as the potential displacement of local companies and increasing resource drain from local economies, as larger foreign corporations become more active.

The Review argues that future work on how corporations can aid poverty reduction and development must address exploitative supply chains, tax avoidance, and anti-competitive practices, as these currently undermine corporations' economic contribution to development. "Although basic economic issues like tax and competition have been largely overlooked by mainstream work on corporate responsibility, a variety of initiatives over the last year indicate they will feature heavily in years to come" argues Lifeworth's Dr. Jem Bendell, who is co-author of the Review.

Corporate contributions to poverty reduction is just one topic that the Review explores from the perspective of how companies affect, or could effect, systemic changes to promote a more sustainable, just and peaceful world. Climate change, political lobbying, human rights liabilities, and the responsibility of media companies are all examined from this perspective. Professor Jeremy Moon, of the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, which supported the publication, explains that "the Review raises the challenge of how CSR can move from being mainly constituted by one-off causes and activities to more systematically addressing social threats and opportunities." As part of this challenge, the introduction to the review maps out a future agenda for those who work on corporate responsibility. "Readers can expect to be informed, stimulated and challenged" says Professor Moon. The Review, which incorporates writing from the academic 'Journal of Corporate Citizenship', is available for free from www.lifeworth.net

The Annual Review is published by Lifeworth, the progressive careers company, that is facilitating the development and effectiveness of a new profession of progressive business executives. Lifeworth offers companies specialist recruitment solutions in the field of corporate social responsibility, as well as providing individuals with career and life coaching, relevant insights through this Annual Review, and access to the latest job opportunities through its website and email bulletin. Visit www.lifeworth.com or email or call +447968189142 for more information.

The Annual Review is sponsored by Nottingham University Business School's International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ICCSR), which has an international reputation for its teaching programmes and for the quality of its research. Courses include an MA in CSR and the first and only MBA in CSR. The ICCSR also provides PhD supervision and offers a small number of scholarships for all courses. Further details can be viewed at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/ICCSR

The Annual Review incorporates the quarterly World Reviews of premiere academic Journal of Corporate Citizenship, which is published by Greenleaf. To order visit www.greenleaf-publishing.com

To be notified of other publications and research by lead author Jem Bendell, you can subscribe for updates at: www.jembendell.com

This news was circulated with additional help from CSRwire, the corporate responsibility news wire which delivers press releases and non-financial reports to a global syndicated news network and direct to a carefully targeted audience of 8,000 key media, investment, corporate, and analyst contacts. For more information click on www.csrwire.com or call +1-802-251-0110

Lifeworth

Lifeworth

Lifeworth Consulting is a social enterprise that promotes sustainable development through influencing enterprise and investment. We also run Lifeworth.com, the jobs portal for responsible enterprise. Reflecting on our year, in each of our specialist areas during 2010 we sensed people realising the need for far greater change than they currently seek in their own organisations, and some confusion about how to deal with that gap between awareness and action. We've been seeking to help.

We analyse, educate and advise on global changes in business-society relations and how to influence and respond to these changes in helpful ways (Enterprise Trends). Our activities and outputs in 2010 responded to this growing desire for transformation, working with the UN, GTZ as well as CSR networks in Asia to contextualise the key challenges for CSR and responsible investment in the coming years. We also analyse, educate, and advise on the specific practice of cross-sector relations, including partnerships between business and public interest organisations like the UN and NGOs (Engaging Change). We find that the desire to attempt transformational change counters some of the negative effects of growing demands for numerical scores on project effectiveness in challenging funding environment. Social change can be tough, and requires new ways to assess progress, although not ones that see a partnership's existence itself as the goal. We brought that perspective to our work with UN agencies and NGOs during the year, as well as through the teaching of courses and publishing of papers.

Our third work programme is the focus of our corporate strategy advisory work, where we help high-end brands to develop their approach to achieving social and environmental excellence (Authentic Luxury). It is topic we were busy with in 2010, but mostly with research, lectures and media. The companies in this sector are not moving as rapidly as we had imagined they might, given the strong business case for prestige brands to out perform on social and environmental issues. We worked with a couple of companies on their CSR strategies, but are yet to see wider demand for support to develop and execute ambitious and creative approaches.

Thanks for your interest in our work, and I hope you have success in making waves with your own. You can follow me on Twitter @jembendell.

-Jem Bendell, Director, Lifeworth Consulting

Here is that keynote on sustainable wellness:

Integrating Personal & Global Wellness: The Future of Luxury by Dr Jem Bendell from Wellness Summit on Vimeo.

More from Lifeworth