This is a presentation on Corporate Social Responsibility links to corporate sustainability and growth over the long term presented 5 October 2013 at the Regent Business School's international conference entitled 'Not Business as Usual'

1. Regent Business School Conference
'Not Business As Usual'
Making Corporate Responsibility &
Sustainability Sustainable
William P. Kittredge, Ph.D.
President
Cervelet Management & Strategy Consulting
www.cerveletconsulting.com

2. Sustainability Defined
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3. What is Sustainable Development?
 Sustainable development is a form of economic growth
that recognizes the importance of environmental and
social objectives in long-term company financial
performance and survival
 Contrast neoclassical economic theory
 Sustainability leads to the institutionalization of
Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S)
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4. Sustainable Development
 Weyerhaeuser Forest Products, USA
 The Body Shop, England
 Saga Sports, Pakistan – Faiz Shah
 Bank of America, USA
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5. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
 Involves diverse partners
 Requires stakeholder identification & engagement, and
may require technical support
 Private sector generates responsible profits
 Society reaps the benefits of sustainable development.
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6. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
 “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes
to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things
differently.” - Warren Buffett
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7. Bank of America
 U.S. government lawsuit accusing Bank of America of
fraud
 The suit accuses BoA of a racketeering operation
 Bank of America settles with shareholder $2.43 billion
 Layoffs at Bank of America Corp – 2,100 jobs
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8. Evolution of CSR
 Compliance
− Establishment of standards
− Cerfitications
 Triple Bottom Line (TBL)
− “making a business case” for CSR
− Social, environmental, & financial impacts
 Responsible Competitiveness
− Market forces engaged
− Companies rewarded and punished using CSR
standards
source: Responsible Business Guide: A Toolkit for Winning Companies
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9. Sustainability & CSR
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Arts &
Culture
Employee
Voluntarism
EducationHealth
Disaster
Relief
Community /
Livelihood
Development
CSR
Initiatives by
Group Companies
Environment
CSR

10. Corporate Responsibility &
Sustainability (CR&S)
 Implementation in line with organizational goals, mission
and vision – strategic plan implementation
 CR&S - a comprehensive framework developed and
adopted by the organization
 No generic framework fits all situations
 Role of public authorities and regulatory bodies
 Transparency and credibility of CR&S
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11. CR & S: Who Pays; Who Benefits?
 Old assumption – companies with CR&S underperform
 Research suggests – organizations adopting CR&S
enjoy higher rate of returns
 CR&S provides more robust governance structure &
accounts include environmental and social impacts
 Enhanced measurement protocols and reporting system
 Together, generate social trust
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12. Ensuring Real Sustainability
 Build a business case for CR&S as opposed to the
normative case for sustainability
 Identify and distinguish sustainability and greenwashing
 Commitment to transparency and TBL disclosures
 Develop, implement and integrate operations in
consonance with TBL philosophy
 Commitment to multi-dimensional measurement &
reporting
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13. Transparency Initiative
 Adopting transparency in operational and reporting
processes
 Social expectation shifts from ‘why do you report?’ to
‘why don’t you report meaningfully and understandably?’
 Research indicates correlation between economic, social
and environmental indicators
 Externality impact of environmental degradation becomes
company economic liability – BP's Gulf spill
 Poor social performance e.g. high work place injuries also
incur economic impacts – loss of skilled employees
reduces productivity & morale
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14. 14
CR&S Framework

15. CR&S Lifecycle
Six stages of CR&S lifecycle are
 Initiation
 Implementation
 Organisational growth
 CR&S process repetition
 CR&S goal update
 Updated CR&S implementation
N.B There exists a ‘Growth Lag’ between CR&S process
repetition stage & the second organisational growth
phase
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16. 16
CR&S Lifecycle

17. How to respond?

Adopt sustainable practices to improve processes and
productivity at the same time reducing negative
environment impact

Build a business case for CR&S as opposed to the
normative case for sustainability

Identify and distinguish sustainability and greenwashing

Develop, implement and integrate operations in line with
sustainability policy and reporting framework

Sustainability reporting, disclosure and assurance
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18. How to respond?

Do something, make a start

Set and realise realistic CR&S goals
− Company resources
− Business lines

Acknowledge that this is an iterative process, not an end
point.

Companies and those who own and manage them have
more power than the average citizen
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19. How to respond?

Select a CS&R model that is relevant to your business,
and its social, political, and cultural environment.

Remember you are changing corporate culture

Secure commitment of senior management.

Make use of the 'workbooks' and 'toolkits' that are
available – step-by-step guides streamline the process,
making results easier to achieve.

Train key personnel – use 'train the trainers' model

Don't be afraid
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20. Seattle | Bangkok | Karachi | Islamabad
www.cerveletconsulting.com
From Sustainability to Sustainability…
William P. Kittredge, Ph.D.
President
Cervelet | Management & Strategy Consulting
wkittredge@cerveletconsulting.com
(084) 717 7900