Managing business impacts on sustainable development

Corporate responsibility and the SDGs

Norma SchönherrVienna University of Economics

and Business

Welcome

• The GLOBAL VALUE project• Corporate social responsibility and the new role of business

• Challenges for measuring and managing impacts• Tools and methods to measure and manage business impact

• Brainstorming session

2015 – an eventful year

• Adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)(New York, in September 2015)

• A new CSR Strategy & Non-financial Disclosure Directive in Europe(Implementation starting in 2015)

• Negotiation of a new Climate Agreement(Paris, in June 2015)

• Financing for Development Conference(Addis Ababa, in July 2015)

The GLOBAL VALUE project

One of the largest EU-funded research projects to date addressing business impacts on sustainable development.

Will create and test a framework and toolkit for multinational companies for measuring impacts in three phases

Will shed light on systems of governance, explore responsible competitiveness and assess the complementarity of public and private sector activities

Coordinated by:

André Martinuzzi, Norma Schönherr & Adele WimanInstitute for Managing Sustainability | WU Viennacontact@global-value.eu

In collaboration with:

Eleven partners | three continents | three industries

The GLOBAL VALUE project

A new global SD agenda

Holistic approach

Improved results-measurement

Institutional framework

Multi-sector partnerships

Equity as a key component

Big social challenges

Poverty

Food security

Health

Education

Gender

Resources & eco-

systems

Biodiversity

ClimateChange

Resilience

Water

Energy

Land

Governance

Peace

Account-ability

Inequality

Housing & Transport

Socio-economics

Human Rights

Decent Work

Product sustainability

Innovation

A new definition of CSR

• “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society.” (COM(2011) 681).

• “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis”.(COM(2001)366).

The role of business is changing…

… opening new avenues for complimentarity and collaboration

• In sustainability measurement and reporting• In jointly tackling impact in developing countries• In more productive business-development partnerships

… and presenting new challenges for impact measurement and management

• confusing landscape to navigate • generally accepted quality standards are lacking

Grand challenges for measuring and managing impacts

Governance

Measurement

Management

• Sphere of responsibility• Values• Expectations

• Pathways of impact• Scoping• Dealing with complexity

• Data managment & analytics• Stakeholder engagement• Decision making

Measuring impacts

Philanthropic CSR (doing good and talking about it)

Quality-oriented CSR (using management systems to avoid doing bad)

Innovation-oriented CSR (rethink your business and strive for innovation)

Impact-oriented CSR (consider impacts and create shared value)

easy to start, communicateand evaluate; very common

credibility gap; no real change;not a lot of literature at hand

Systematic; well establishedstandards and frameworks

difficult to communicate;not a strong stimulus for innovation

strong links to competitiveness,and technological leadership

innovation barriers and risks;new business models required

PR and Marketing

Quality Management

Innovation Management

Strategic ManagementIncr

easi

ng p

ositi

ve im

pact

on

soci

ety

and

the

envi

ronm

ent

Incr

easi

ng p

ositi

ve im

pact

on

the

Com

pany

and

its

com

petit

iven

ess

Stimulates innovative business models,Organizational learning and change; increases societal trust

Requires new assessment and management methods

Outlook

• Companies will be held responsible for impacts of their business & their partnerships

• This requires a clear scope on what they are responsible for and what not

• They will need a clear picture of the whole system

• They will have to deal with ambiguities, trade-offs and systemic links

• Impact thinking will have effects on leadership, management education and general management

Introduction of speakers

Wolfgang MeyerDeputy Director of the Center for Evaluation (CEval)

Sonja SiewerthAssociate Analyst at Systainalytics

GLOBAL VALUE delivers value…

Questions

Interested in Global Value? Watch videos of the project team answering your most pressing questions at www.global-value.eu

How to get involved? Join the Expert Crowd at www.global-value.eu/expert_crowd

Want to support Global Value? Invite others to join, and follow us on www.global-value.eu