Corporate Social Responsibility - Amazon Web Services · Corporate Social Responsibility Seminar Topic: This material provides an in-depth examination of what corporate social responsibility

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Seminar Topic: This material provides an in-depth examination

of what corporate social responsibility is. This program discusses the benefits, framework, and defines the gap between shareholders and employees.

This material is intended to be a guide in general. As always, if you have any specific question regarding the state of the law in any particular jurisdiction, we recommend that you seek legal guidance relating to your particular fact situation.

The course materials will provide the attendee with the knowledge and tools necessary to identify the current legal trends with respect to these issues. The course materials are designed to provide the attendee with current law, impending issues and future trends that can be applied in practical situations.

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Author’s Email Address: [email protected]

Author’s Website:

Author’s Mailing Address:

6539 N. Newgard 3N

Chicago, IL 60626

Author’s Phone Number: (773) 299-8476

About The Author

Chipo C. Nyambuya is an Independent Legal Consultant developing a

Corporate Social Responsibility practice as the principal of Aligned Value

Strategies, LLC. She began her career as a corporate counsel in the financial

sector and then transitioned to a career as an advisor for rule of law and

governance projects in international development. She promotes an

integrated approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. Her approach allows

corporations, SMEs and other organizations to establish and develop effective

and successful Corporate Social Responsibility programs while still focusing

on how to optimize their core missions and profitability.

Ms. Nyambuya currently works for the British Consulate General in

Chicago, while also working on short term rule of law and governance

projects with international development organizations. In recent years she

has consulted for startup companies on internet law and technology and for

not for profit organizations. Ms. Nyambuya serves on the boards of

Survivors’ Truths and Minority Legal Education Resources, Inc. and is a

volunteer for several organizations, including the Constitutional Rights

Foundation Chicago.

She received her J.D. from the Ohio State University College of Law,

Columbus, Ohio and her A.B. with distinction, from the University of

Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.


Corporate Social Responsibility

Introduction

Define and be clear what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means for

your client.

1. Client looking to operational ways to make visible impact as global

citizens. Ultimately, they want to reflect that impact in their

communities of interest as they engage in socially responsible and

sustainable practices.

2. Clients that want to provide opportunities to attract and retain talent by

providing opportunities for employees to apply CSR/shared value

principles.

All ultimately with an eye to distinguish their brand in the

marketplace and to optimize their profit margins, ROI and developing an

edge over their competitors.

In short, you need to affirm the point that for your client's program to

be successful; their CSR program is "[CSR] sic should be the topic in every

board room in every company, large and small, around the world. It's not about

smiling children and flowers and clear ocean waters. It's about efficiency, and

longevity, and commodity prices, and profitability."

and that you are here to help your business client achieve their CSR

goals retain these talents and ultimately mature CSR as their business


practice. As it matures, accountability for performance, value and impact

on the ROI for CSR programs will be necessary to ensure value for the

efforts and investments made.

Corporate Social Responsibility isn't about giving money away and

adopting the latest cause of activists. CSR and sustainability are

approaches to business operation and execution that build employee

engagement, improve environmental performance, create positive social

impact, enable operational efficiency, reduce cost, foster innovation,

strengthen relationships with customers and consumers and ultimately . . .

create business advantage.

Dave Stangis, VP for Corporate Responsibility with Campbell Soup

Company, responding to University of Michigan Professor Aneel

Karnani's infamous editorial in The Wall Street Journal, "The Case

Against Corporate Social Responsibility."

BENEFITS

What are the benefits to you and your to take on clients in CSR

counseling. The benefits are manifold, including but not limited to:

Demonstrate an increased value to existing clients

Develop expertise in the field, resulting in you expanding your brand

and positive flow through benefits to enhance your reputation

As a large going concern, to potentially dominate the segment of


the market

Provide holistic services to clients—enabling you to cross-sell your

services to your clients.

Be a pioneer in developing a new market

Increase your resource utilization by energizing your work force as you

tap into, develop and strengthen their latent talents and skills.

DEFINE THE GAP

In current practice, CSR covers a broad range of questions and issues.

As corporations start to adopt this relatively new concept, appreciate

that many of your clients are overwhelmed by the complexities of the

questions they encounter.

Why are you and your firm particularly suited to fill this gap? You are

uniquely positioned to shepherd corporations through CSR advising because:

You have the talent and skill sets to address the issues corporations

face as they explore and integrate CSR in their internal practices.

You have the insight to counsel corporations on how they can

develop CSR and make it an integral part of their profit making model.

You are currently structured to help corporations leverage existing

resources to grow their business, help implement large scale change

management and efficient processes to do so.

You are already equipped to respond to and focus on the complex

questions and to derive the answers corporations need answered as


they navigate the waters into doing well by doing good.

As you proceed, be mindful of the goals of corporate management -

to maximize shareholder value.

Develop strategies that serve that duty in light of incorporating social

responsibility into business practices.

The first overarching challenge to overcome is the allocation of the resources

available to the corporation.

Clear definition of the CSR shared value that is then

communicated to shareholders

o Help client define goal, strategy to meet the goal in the short

medium and long term, the investment, and a matrix that

will measure the client's performance.

o Develop client's communication strategies that reflects the

total maximized value to shareholders in the short medium

and long term

Many of your clients have already come to realize CSR requires the

inclusion of communicating an ethical corporate ethos to shareholders and

employees and working to secure their buy-in to that ethos and illustrating

how their corporation reflects it in its operations.

49% of CEOs cite complexity of implementation across functions as the

most significant barrier to implementing an integrated, company-wide

approach to sustainability. Competing strategic priorities is second with

48%.


88% of CEOs believe that they should be integrating sustainability through their supply

chain. Only 54% believe that this has been achieved within their company. An almost

identical performance gap is seen for subsidiaries

FRAMEWORK/STRATEGY

CSR Advising

Specifically, CSR takes into account the positive social impacts on your client's following

business operational functions.

Initial Process Considerations

SWOT analysis of each CSR Practice Area in the Client's organization:

o Risk assessment and analysis;

o Business/economic/profit/ROI implications

o Legal implications

o Marketing implications

o Reporting mechanisms and resources to assist in how to counsel

your clients in each topical area

o How to counsel your clients on which topical areas in which to

proceed and why (i.e. how to sell your services)

Strategic partnerships

Community engagement community relations

Brand building

Donations; philanthropy; foundations


Pro-bono

Risks of green washing; blue washing,

Risk management and risk assessment

Social media and its impact – great, but means you have to be available all the

time and you have to know how to manage your audience/constituency;

have a clear strategy/message

Human Capital Management

Executive Compensation

Health insurance coverage and costs

Health insurance rules

Flex work hours

Harmonization of work policies and benefits (i.e. workforce worldwide enjoys

same benefits regardless of where situated—i.e.

McDonalds model) Working conditions

Hiring/Recruitment practices

Diversity and Inclusion (Age, gender, sexual orientation and disabled)

o What are your recruiting practices? How can you modify them to

promote and increase diversity?

o How diverse is your current workforce? Diversity retention?


o Why diversity? Why is it important?

o How can you make your workforce more diverse?

o What are the barriers to diversity? (Geographic, cultural, etc.)

Product Sourcing, Development and Distribution

Product Offerings Customers/Clients rights

Clients/Customer disclosures

Transparency

Customer Service

Environmental Sustainability — The Life Cycle Approach (Cradle

to Cradle/Cradle to Grave; recycling, up cycling); Total Cost of

Ownership/acquisition/production

Building/renovation materials

Energy/Electricity/power

Recycling programs (batteries, technology,

commodities)

Water usage

Waste management

Property management/Real Estate leasing/acquisition

policies and practices Food Services

Travel services

Change from black to white roofs or green roofs — savings of

$2trillion across the country per year at minimal cost

Ethical Sourcing


Identify environmental sourcing goals (recycled products)

Sourcing from Minority/Women Business Enterprises (M/WBE) Supplier Audits:

Ensure suppliers' ethics (manufacturing practices, retailing, labor/employment

practices, etc.) align with your CSR policies

Disposal of procured products (either in-house or via

suppliers)

Supply chain management

Fair Trade

WTO

Transparency (bid request and selection process,

confidentiality considerations)

Corporate Governance and Ethics

Corporate Reporting procedures

Corporate Lobbying Rules

Whistleblower Rules

Fiduciary Responsibilities/duties: lobby to re-define

what this means in the particular industry?

Transparency

Codes of Conduct

Guidelines for Executive Compensation

Political Action Committees (PACs)

Establishing and funding considerations

Identifying alternative lobbying mechanisms

PAC's agenda Who determines the agenda of the organization's PAC


PAC's code of conduct and rules of operation

Transparency (i.e. disclosure on what activities and policies the corporation

have in place and whether they raise long term regulatory, reputational risks to

the client's profitability)

Tax policy/taxation

Shareholder's Rights and Management Accountability

Management and Benefit Compensation Disclosures

Power to dictate when and whether the organization engages in

more CSR programs

Power to dictate Board and management composition

Stakeholder/shareholder relations and dialogue

Transparency

Key Reporting Mechanisms and Measurement Matrices

Each practice area has key matrices organizations would be interested in. To

fully advise your clients, you should assist your clients to prepare these matrices

to measure their performance against their CSR goals. You will need to evaluate

and review the following recognized protocols to advise your corporate clients

or to create the matrices which best capture the activities, policies and

procedures that mark your clients' CSR goals and objectives which clients will

use to measure their CSR performance that they will then report to stakeholders

and constituencies. Additionally, you can use these tools to clarify the benefits

you provide through your CSR services to your clients. An example is attached as

Exhibit XX.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

ISO 26000 and Other ISO certifications

NCQA


Ecometrix

LEED

Xanterra's Environmentally Preferable Procurement

tracking database Carbonostics

Ceres

Carbon Disclosure Project

Another major consideration is corporate registration or changing of corporate

form. Two new forms which will begin to have increasing scope is the B

Corporation and the L3C. You should research these forms to best advise your

clients on what corporate form is best for them as they proceed into CSR and

whether their current form or the forms of their subsidiaries may best be served

by registering as a B Corporation or as an L3C—depending on where your client

is situated in the market.

RESOURCES

Stanford University Social Innovation Review The Economist

Harvard University CSR Initiative

Worldwide Ethical Alliance

-Xanterra Electronics Waste Recylcing Policy and Protocol CSR news

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/

http://www.matternetwork.com/

www.sustainability-indexes.com

EXHIBIT X

Employee Benefits (Medical Insurance)


Review the organization's mission statement should include , e.g., "helping the

world stay world healthy" or "helping those who are in need". I am not sure if

this is there a fee for service or managed care, but there should be the following

considerations:

• how does organization determine who will be covered or

included (i.e. who are the customers, define the patient

population, what is the eligibility criteria)

• What are the products/services offered

• What is the provider network

• Use criteria (i.e. will patients be required to have a medical

home or will they be able to see anybody at any time and of

course)

• What are your fiscal issues that need to be addressed

• What is the source(s) of revenue

• how is revenue allocated?

• how will costs be managed?

• Who are your investors and how are they selected?

Rewarded?

• Are your organization's goals and objectives linked/aligned

to its mission statement, values (integrity, quality,

innovation, etc).

• Who will monitor or provide oversight for performance

(quality of care); What are the standards used to determine

quality performance or best practices?

• What health services are covered, delivered

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Corporate Social Responsibility - Amazon Web Services · Corporate Social Responsibility Seminar Topic: This material provides an in-depth examination of what corporate social responsibility