Sustainability Reporting for SMEs

While this blog was intended as a place where I could review books that other people have written (and I apologize for a long silence, as I have not managed to make the time both to read AND review some great books in recent months), I will break the mould by making a temporary role-switch. This time, instead of a review written by me of a book by somebody else, it's the other way around. Please find below a great review written by Debbie Griffiths of Ideal Word Ltd, a CSR and Sustainability communications and consulting firm, based in the UK. Ideal Word practise what they preach as an SME and have published six fabulous own CSR reviews for their own company -  the latest one being their 2012 CSR Review . 

 

Here is my new book:

 

Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage through Transparency

Author: Elaine Cohen
Publisher: part of the DōShorts series by DōSustainability
Publication Date: February 2013
Page extent: 97 pages
Formats and ISBNs: pdf 9781909293380 epub 9781909293373 print 9781909293366

Here is Debbie's review, first published on her blog, Ideally Speaking, on 11 February 2013.

" 

Sustainability Reporting for SMEs by Elaine Cohen was sizzlingly hot off the press when I bought a limited-edition hard copy at the Smarter Sustainability Reporting conference last week. Published by DōSustainability, the book is intended to be downloaded as a DōShorts 90-minute e-book for your commute.

 

As one half of an ethical micro-enterprise that has been publishing CSR reviews for the past six years, I was instantly attracted to the title. At last, a respected name in the industry was providing advice for people in my position. Also, Elaine Cohen runs her own SME, so she knows exactly what she’s talking about.

 

That said, I agree with her assertion that the book would be equally valuable for sustainability managers in larger companies whose success depends on the transparency and accountability of their supply chain – a very hot potato in the UK food chain right now! Anyone wanting to encourage their SME suppliers to report on sustainability issues would do well to start them off with this book.

 

Elaine gives clear descriptions and definitions that would be helpful to SMEs doing this for the first time, along with real-life case studies and practical how-to guidance. One of the things I found most illuminating was the fact that the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework and the UN Global Compact Communication of Progress were tools that could easily and usefully be used by SMEs. I’d always thought they were for large companies, not one of my size.

 

The ‘Roadmap to Transparency’ chapter is my favourite and I’ve gleaned many ideas that I want to put into practice to take our sustainability reporting onto a higher level. I also got a lot out of the ‘Guidance for Developing a Sustainability Report’ chapter.

 

My only concern is whether the book’s title is appealing enough for a more mainstream SME audience? Elaine talks about the importance of giving sustainability reports an eye-catching title and says she wanted to call this book: ‘Make More Money: Sustainability Reporting for SMEs’. I think she should have gone with that if she wanted to reach a wider variety of SMEs, way beyond those of us who are already converted to the cause.

 

To read an extract of the book, or to download or rent a copy, visit: www.dosustainability.com

 

Debbie Griffiths is a sustainability consultant, copywriter and co-founder of Ideal (www.idealconsulting.co.uk ), a values-led business specialising in wordsmithing, branding and CSR.

 

"

 

Many thanks, Debbie for this great review! I hope this short book will also be useful to the many many SMEs out there who would benefit from Sustainability Reporting (and make more money) but don't quite know where to start.

 

 

Elaine Cohen, CSR Consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict.
Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices and Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: competitive Advantage through Transparency  Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen on Twitter or via my website www.b-yond.biz/en

Dilemmas in Responsible Investment

Dilemmas in Responsible Investment

By: Celine Louche and Stephen Lyndberg

ISBN: 978-1-906093-51-8

Publisher: Greenleaf Publishing

This review first appeared on CSRwire.com on 21st December 2011

Book Description

Dilemmas in Responsible Investment examines the problems responsible investment (RI) practitioners face daily. It emphasises the importance of asking the right questions as well as getting the right answers; and the importance of process as well as product. The authors pay attention to the diversity of opinion and variety of approaches available. They also raise fundamental questions about the very purpose of investment and the responsibilities of investors, both economic and societal.

Although dilemmas in RI are not always easily resolved, Louche and Lydenberg believe that they are also a source of valuable and necessary debate about the appropriate role of corporations in society and the ability of the financial markets to appropriately serve the societies in which they operate. Such dilemmas provide a valuable framework for public debate and can encourage the emergence of innovative answers and approaches.

Commentary

Social Responsible Investment sounds easy enough.

Step 1: Negative screening, positive screening, decide and place your cash where it will do what you want it to do.

Step 2: Review the financials with set values in mind and pick your portfolio.

Step 3: Against sin stocks, for the environment, what could be simpler?

When you read Dilemmas in Responsible Investment, you realize that it isn’t as simple as it sounds. While written for responsible investment practitioners, the book has much to teach anyone with an interest in how money makes the sustainable world go round.

Dilemma 1: Conventional Money Manager & Responsible Investment

You are a conventional money manager and have become interested in the responsible investment market. You advertise your responsible investment services and four different types of potential clients approach you.

A single working mother, passionate about sustainability issues with a modest sum to invest; a wealthy investor, who is toying with the idea of directing his investments towards a more environmentally friendly portfolio; a CFO for a small church with an endowment to invest and a focus on fairness and societal justice; and the head of the board of trustees for a large pension fund, pressured by retirees not to invest in companies that manufacture landminess.

How do you prepare for these meetings? You can either start with one general presentation for all four clients or tailor your response to each one's specific needs right? Or you can target your presentations with a focus on ethical issues or sustainability issues, highlighting business risk/opportunity elements and, therefore, potential consequences for your clients' return on investment.

Dilemma One is a taster for the series of progressively more specific and detailed dilemmas or case studies (12 in total), which teach us the detailed considerations that come in to play when responsible investment is the subject. This first dilemma shows how each potential responsible investor comes with certain expectations, a greater or limited understanding of responsible investment options and the need for investment practitioners to develop customized investment products to accommodate different needs.

Dilemma One may not sound that complicated, however, so let’s consider some other dilemmas that come up:

1. A client has read about a manufacturer of electronic games in China which has abusive labor conditions, and wants you to sell the stock. However, the company in question denies the allegations and the facts are not altogether clear. Sell, buy time to investigate or tell your client not to believe everything he reads?

2. Ten years ago, you sold a large successful company that was criticized for poor labor conditions, poor environmental record, discrimination in the workplace and more. In the two years, the company has apparently turned things around and is now talking CSR. Do you continue to stay away or recommend your clients to invest?

3. You want to develop a Responsible Investment product that will have global appeal. However, responsible investment standards are different in several countries and many have conflicting demands or standards. How do you balance local values and practices in a single new investment product?

4. Your client, an environmental foundation, wants you to hold back on any investments, which include use of nanotechnology. She fears that use of nanotechnology can be potentially harmful with unpredictable consequences for human health and the environment. Scientists are divided on the issue – there is no clear cut case against nanotechnology. Do you immediately sell all nanotechnology-related stocks or do you try to persuade your client that it is premature to exit?

This is but a small selection of the interesting questions posed in the field of responsible investment.

In the book, Dilemmas in Responsible Investment, Louche and Lyndenberg dissect these issues from multiple angles and offer possibilities for action and the implications of each. A fascinating read, like I said before, for anyone even remotely interested in understanding the connections between sustainability, ethics, financial services and our global economy.

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen  on Twitter or via my website www.b-yond.biz/en

Innovative CSR

Innovative CSR : From Risk Management to Value Creation


Edited by Céline Louche, Samuel O. Idowu and Walter Leal Filho

Published by Greenleaf Publishing , May 2010, ISBN 978-1-906093-35-8

This review first appeared on CSRwire.com on 4th August 2010

Description

This book aims to explore, inspire and support creative, innovative and strategic CSR. ‘Innovation’ in this book means new products, services and technologies and, in addition, new organisational and institutional systems, structures and new business models that empower the organisation to advance strategically in an ever more competitive business world. With contributions from a crème de la crème of scholars from 12 countries, Innovative CSR gathers together a cornucopia of innovative practices that will be essential reading for academics and practitioners alike. The book introduction can be downloaded here.

Commentary

Insights abound in this packed volume of academic papers from scholars in 12 different countries around the world and how they perceive the modern practice of CSR and, in particular, the ways in which CSR can be leveraged to create strategic value for businesses. It is rare to find an academic textbook that is utterly riveting, highly readable and well-structured, providing a wide range of case studies and commentaries on the practical aspects of CSR in a multitude of companies and organizations. This book does it superbly. Each paper is a gem. Each paper builds effectively around the central theme of strategic CSR innovation, exploring different dimensions of innovative and strategic practice on the part of corporate entities around the globe, offering new ways of thinking about the ways in which CSR is, and sometimes isn't, leveraged to deliver creative, strategic, triple bottom line value for businesses, society and environment.

Part I, "CSR and competitive advantage", encompasses six chapters, each addressing the strategic dimensions of CSR. Highlights include a paper proposing a framework for creating a dynamic link between CSR and strategy, offering a new way of analyzing materiality, with case studies demonstrating the application of this framework at Aveda Corporation, Herman Miller and Toyota. The paper concludes that firms must focus CSR efforts in three areas – market based, regulatory/standards based and operational based actions – in a context specific way in order to create value-adding strategies for CSR. Another paper offers astute insights into the reasons Companies settle for convergent (me-too) CSR instead of divergent (innovative) CSR – I refer to this in a blog post on the CSR Reporting blog. You can also read a fascinating account of an Italian company, Beghelli SpA, the Italian market leader in emergency lighting systems, who has diversified its business along sustainability principles and reaped significant business benefit. This study of Beghelli is based on 5 strategic variables proposed back in 1996 by Burke and Lodgson, quite an interesting model, and in the case shown, serves to support the importance of leveraging firm-specific resources for strategic CSR initiatives.

Part II, "CSR and value creation", examines the ways CSR can create value for a firm, its stakeholders and society. My favorite piece in this section is about corporate social responsibility as a brand building tool which offers another framework proposed by Simmons and Becker-Olsen in 2006 which establishes 4 key components of an effective strategic CSR program: clear motivation, appropriate initiative, right timing and right communication. The study cites both appropriate initiatives which add value, such as the company Gas Natural which established a relationship with the Barcelona city government to power the city's bus fleet with more environmentally-friendly natural gas, and less appropriate initiatives, such as Pepsi's support for a new highway construction in Mexico City, in which Pepsi's logo appeared on police booths along the new highway, thereby creating a negative association, confusing to consumers between the brand and the police force. A key conclusion of this paper is that strategic fit influences purchasing decisions, something many companies would be advised to note. "Programs that do not strategically fit with the business or are perceived as reactionary can lead to brand equity dilution".

Part III, "CSR and Innovation", focuses on the innovative aspects of CSR. This section is headed up with a fascinating study of 129 global innovative solutions and an analysis of these using a 4-point innovation scale developed by Mark Kramer and the Skoll Foundation in 2005 in order to evaluate the innovative aspects of CSR solutions against 13 different dimensions. A key finding is that Companies tend to develop solutions that adapt existing systems rather than change the systems – only 7% of initiatives studied can be regarded as "really" innovative. Other papers in this section include a very interesting sustainable innovation model for SME's and an analysis of the value that consultants contribute to CSR innovation.

All in all, despite the academic nature of this book, the sometimes rather tedious descriptions of methodologies applied, and the often repetitive introductory sections to each of the different papers penned by different academics, this book is a delight. The deep-dive into core CSR concepts provide original ways of thinking about how companies have and can make CSR a business-builder rather than a series of bolt-on projects. An essential understanding of what is strategic and what is innovative in CSR terms is a prerequisite, I suggest, for any company engaging in CSR practices. This book is a must-read for anyone considering these themes.

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen  on Twitter or via my website www.b-yond.biz/en