SAN FRANCISCO, California - On the eve of the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) releases a new report about partnerships between business and multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and World Bank. Next month, the World Summit will focus attention on how private, public and independent sector actors can work together to promote and achieve sustainability. The new report, entitled Working with Multilaterals, looks in-depth at how to minimize the risk and maximize the value involved in such collaboration and provides the reader with guidelines for forging and maintaining successful partnerships.

"Working with Multilaterals will help companies assess the reasons they enter into partnerships; the ways they do so, and the partners they seek out," said Mark Lee, BSR's Vice President for Governance and Accountability. "Successful partnerships bring benefits to companies, multilateral partners and, most importantly, the communities they seek to impact."

Co-authored with Simon Zadek, CEO of the Institute of Social and Ethical AccountAbility, the report explores the reasons, challenges and success factors involved in pursuing partnerships between companies and multilateral organizations. Through the use of case studies and models, Working with Multilaterals examines many of the positive developments and business benefits that partnerships can deliver. The report also warns that the growing importance of such partnerships raises key issues, particularly how business and multilateral partners can ensure proper accountability.

"Partnerships can bring enormous benefits," Zadek commented. "But as they come of age, they need to become properly accountable to their stakeholders. This needs practical tools for assessing risk and reporting performance, but it also takes real commitment."

A free slide presentation outlining the report's key findings is available at www.bsr.org/multilaterals. Working with Multilaterals can be purchased online at the BSR Store at www.bsr.org/store.

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Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) is a global organization that helps member companies achieve commercial success in ways that respect ethical values, people, communities and the environment. BSR provides information and advisory services and promotes cross sector collaboration to make corporate social responsibility an integral part of business operations and strategies. For more information, visit www.bsr.org.

BSR

BSR

Since 1992, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) has been providing socially responsible business solutions to many of the world's leading corporations. Headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and China, BSR is a nonprofit business association that serves its 250 member companies and other Global 1000 enterprises. Through advisory services, convenings and research, BSR works with corporations and concerned stakeholders of all types to create a more just and sustainable global economy. For more information, visit www.bsr.org.

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