A GlobeScan brief exploring best-practice solutions to common challenges of corporate reputation management.
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We hope you have enjoyed this 6-part blog series exploring best-practice solutions to common challenges of corporate reputation management. As a complement to these blog postings, we have summarized the key points in a brief entitled Building Resilient Corporate Reputations: A GlobeScan Brief on Reputation Best Practice, which is available for download here. To wrap up this series, I’d like to discuss the importance of moving beyond the gathering of stakeholder intelligence to proactively engaging with stakeholders more deeply. This … “Moving from stakeholder intelligence to proactive engagement”
On December 5th, along with our colleagues at SustainAbility, we hosted a webcast on Extended Leadership: How to Accelerate Progress in Sustainability to 2020, featuring Miguel Pestana, VP of Global External Affairs & Media Relations at Unilever. As indicated by their top ranking in the GlobeScan-SustainAbility Leadership Survey 2011-2013, Unilever is at the forefront of corporate sustainability leadership. Led by Mark Lee, Executive Director of SustainAbility, and Chris Coulter, CEO of GlobeScan, this webcast explored how Unilever stays atop sustainability rankings … “Extended Leadership: How to Accelerate Progress in Sustainability to 2020”
This article was originally published on GreenBiz.com, as part of our Proof Points blog series. 5 December 2013 – To those of us seemingly surrounded by climate burnout and indifference, it is perhaps comforting that important places in the world are experiencing their first big wave of green consumerism. This is the picture that emerges from GlobeScan’s latest 20-country consumer poll that tracks climate concerns and low-carbon behavior. Results show low-carbon consumer behavior is surging in emerging economies such as China, India, Indonesia and Mexico. Asked … “Green Consumers Alive and Well, but Living in Emerging Economies”
I recently attended another interesting and enjoyable BSR Conference, this year focused on the Power of Networks (and conveniently for the GlobeScan San Francisco team – located in our own fair city!). At the conclusion of the conference I left having spoken to many interesting people who are doing fabulous and formative work in the sustainability arena. My own personal network is always expanded, and I am buoyed by the efforts of these people who are leading their companies to … “A Sustainability Conference, Without Sustainability Professionals?”
Last week, my colleague, Abbie Curtis, and I enjoyed a fantastic couple of days at Sustainable Brands London. Monday started with insights on declining trust in brands and the rise of feminine values, and Tuesday ended with lessons for intrapreneurs and how to be a successful change agent. There was an abundance of research, advice and case studies in between. I’ve just selected 3 lessons for organizations that are trying to cement their position as sustainable brands. These stood out … “3 Lessons for Brands from Sustainable Brands London 2013”
In my previous post, we looked at the importance of maximizing value by integrating intelligence streams, and developing an integrated framework that includes key indicators across primary research, secondary research, and media monitoring. The next goal for any corporate reputation strategy is to really go beyond the data and to apply the insights to drive better decision making. While regularly benchmarking and tracking a company’s reputation is a valuable exercise , the simple collection of data and monitoring of … “Are you converting data into true business intelligence?”
Against the backdrop of one the world’s most severe typhoons and landmark levels of atmospheric CO2, the 19th Conference of the Parties has kicked off this week in Warsaw, Poland. COP19, intended to lay down the groundwork ahead of a new global climate change agreement in Paris in 2015, needs significant progress by politicians, business leaders, opinion formers and scientists if they are to reach consensus. The general population is unlikely to hear much about the conference via mainstream media … “Attention COP19: Global Public Supports Major Action To Tackle Climate Change”
This article was originally published by Sustainable Brands on November 13, 2013 Last month, BBMG, GlobeScan and SustainAbility released The 2013 Aspirational Consumer Index, a report that confirms the rise of nearly 2.5 billion consumers globally who are uniting style, social status and sustainability values to redefine consumption. According to the report, more than one-third of consumers globally (36.4%) identify as Aspirationals, defined by their love of shopping (78%), desire for responsible consumption (92%) and their trust in brands to act in the … “Can Aspirationals Help Make Sustainable Consumption Cool?”
In my last post, I outlined the importance of gathering stakeholder intelligence from a wide diversity of audiences that can impact your reputation. The aim should be to capture the complexity of the company, starting with the most important markets and audiences, and scaling up over time. In this post, I want to talk about how to maximize value by integrating intelligence streams. With the massive popularity and impact of online and social media, companies need to frequently monitor how … “Are your intelligence streams integrated?”
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Last night I attended a forum on Radical Collaboration, hosted by The Crowd. Here’s my perspective on how to build ‘open innovation’ with stakeholders, from what I heard in the great TED style talks, panel Q&A and our stimulating round table discussion: 1. Have a common goal. In her talk, Jenny Holdcroft (Policy Director at global union IndustriALL) explained that the success of the Bangladesh Accord depends on companies and unions working towards a common goal to transform the industry. In areas … “8 ways to build open innovation and collaboration with stakeholders”
This article was originally published on GreenBiz.com, as part of our Proof Points blog series. 5 November 2013 – Ask sustainability executives about the most important leadership challenges facing their companies today and they’ll probably point to the task of integrating sustainability into core business functions. Not surprisingly, only one in five companies in a new survey reports having significant levels of integration of sustainability across the business. The findings, from the 2013 BSR/GlobeScan State of Sustainable Business Survey, tell us two things: Sustainability … “Survey Reveals Sustainability is Stalled at Most Companies”
Building upon the last post in this blog series on Building Resilient Corporate Reputations, we looked at the importance of an aligned organization. We also advocated using a customized approach to reputation management to ensure your company is asking the right questions to the right people. The next key step is for organizations to obtain a 360 degree perspective of their reputation, from people who know the organization well, but also from those who don’t. Many companies shortchange their reputation … “Is your reputation measurement system inclusive enough?”
Full Report of the BSR/GlobeScan State of Sustainable Business Poll 2013, released at the BSR Conference 2013
BSR/GlobeScan Survey Flags Integration of Sustainability within Companies as Core Challenge San Francisco—October 30, 2013—Results from one of the world’s largest annual surveys of corporate sustainability executives underscore the importance of collaboration among business and external stakeholders to address climate change, among other key issues, in order to improve sustainability performance. This year, more than 700 business leaders from BSR’s global member network responded to the fifth annual BSR/GlobeScan State of Sustainable Business Survey 2013—the largest survey response to date. … “Survey of Corporate Sustainability Executives: Progress on Climate Change Requires Collaboration”
In my previous post, I discussed the importance of understanding the external operating environment for best practice reputation management. It is equally important that companies understand the internal operating environment, to understand which approaches to reputation management will work best within the company’s culture. For a reputation management strategy to be successful and sustainable, it is critical that there be cross-functional buy-in and engagement across the business – people need to believe in the process and see reputation as “everyone’s … “Is your company aligned and are you asking the right questions?”
Drawn from our new brief, Building Resilient Corporate Reputations, this new blog series explores best-practice solutions to common challenges and shortcomings of corporate reputation management. Whether you need to begin, to evaluate or to re-design your reputation management system, the brief and blog series will help you to assess how fit-for-purpose your current reputation approach may be. Femke de Man, Director, Reputation, introduces the findings in the video below. As society becomes more globally interconnected and expectations of business increase and expand … “What are the best practice solutions to improve reputation management systems?”
Study finds largest consumer segment globally seeks style, status and sustainability NEW YORK CITY – 03 October 2013 – A new study by GlobeScan, SustainAbility, and BBMG confirms the rise of nearly 2.5 billion consumers globally who are uniting style, social status and sustainability values to redefine consumption. According to the report, The 2013 Aspirational Consumer Index, more than one-third of consumers globally (36.4%) identify as Aspirationals, defined by their love of shopping (78%), desire for responsible consumption (92%) and … “2.5 Billion Aspirational Consumers Mark Shift in Sustainable Consumption”
The final blog in our series on stakeholder engagement (part 1 | part 2) looks at the psychosocial factors that underlie group brain storming, and why collaborative forums are emerging as an effective tool for business. We know that collaboration between individuals is particularly effective when attempting to generate unique and constructive solutions to problems. Group brainstorming has been shown to produce more high quality and relevant ideas compared to individual efforts1, 2. Exposure to others’ ideas has been shown … “Why are online Collaboration Forums effective for engaging stakeholders?”
We’re starting this week’s blog with a brief history of stakeholder engagement on corporate responsibility. Looking back to the eighties, corporate stakeholder engagement on sustainability was initially oriented towards governments and environmental compliance. Push-back on infrastructure and development from communities was the main catalyst for public consultations, which were largely local, box-ticking exercises. As we moved into the 1990s, the rise of a more empowered civil society culminated with the Battle of Seattle protests at the WTO meeting as the … “What is the future of stakeholder engagement?”
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The first blog in our series on stakeholder engagement starts with the basics – why does stakeholder engagement matter? We’ve identified three key trends that help answer this question and give direction on how business can gain more value from stakeholder relations. First, companies are having to manage the rapidly changing dynamics of the relationship between business and society. They are being increasingly compelled to engage in dialogue and collaborate with their stakeholders, rather than simply communicating to them. While … “Why does stakeholder engagement matter?”
This GlobeScan Stakeholder Intelligence eBrief explores the issues and reputation affecting the IT industry, drawing on a decades worth of public opinion research.
This article was originally published on GreenBiz.com, as part of our Proof Points blog series. 5 September 2013 – A trend that continues to surprise me is the public’s continuing low level of recognition about companies’ efforts to improve their social and environmental performance and give back to communities. In one survey, the proportion of respondents across 14 countries who have heard some or a lot about these efforts barely has changed in the past seven years, and more than 1 in … “Why Firms Fall Short on Touting Their Sustainability Work”
GlobeScan’s Communication on Progress for the UN Global Compact outlines our efforts in making the Global Compact ten principles part of our business strategy and day-to-day operations.