Last month, GlobeScan held its second annual roundtable discussion on stakeholder engagement in Johannesburg. Corporate Affairs, Stakeholder and Government Relations leaders at a number of leading South African companies attended the workshop. A good cross-section of industry sectors was present which made for a lively and very informative discussion. Anneke Greyling, GlobeScan’s Country Director for South Africa, opened proceedings with a discussion of the business case for stakeholder engagement and some of the challenges companies commonly face in building an … “Building Effective Stakeholder Intelligence and Engagement Strategies”
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Each year, donors around the world spend over US$200 billion in aid for emergency response and global development. They do this with the intention of improving the lives of individuals and communities suffering from abject poverty, food insecurity, poor health, violations of their human rights, violent conflict, or natural disaster. Yet despite the commendable efforts of the global community, there are still millions of people around the world that remain vulnerable. In a recent blog called Managing Confirmation Bias in … “Letting People Speak: Tales of Traveling Through India to Listen to the Poor”
The Challenge of Confirmation Bias People tend to confirm their beliefs by seeking out information that aligns with how they see the world and disregard and devalue information that contradicts their view. This cognitive phenomenon, called the confirmation bias1, is an information processing error that causes the mind to become narrow and rigid in its awareness, creativity, and foresight. Combined with our inherent tendency to be overconfident in our estimates2 and excessively optimistic about outcomes3, this narrow frame of mind is … “Managing Confirmation Bias in Stakeholder Engagement”
A few weeks ago, we at GlobeScan successfully facilitated our first collaboration forum in Brazil for the beverage company Brasil Kirin. This online dialogue brought together stakeholders and experts from all regions of the country to talk about the material issues facing the company, understand the different perspectives and priorities of each stakeholder group, and to help set strategic priorities for the coming years. Brasil Kirin first developed its materiality matrix in 2013 and will now use the results of … “Brazilian Dialogue to Discuss Materiality: Our Latest Collaboration Forum”
Gail Klintworth is the Group Customer Director and Responsible Business Lead at Old Mutual plc. In this role, Gail helps the business units deliver on their customer, brand and digital growth strategies and the critical strategic objective of becoming “the recognised financial services leader in Responsible Business.” Gail joined Old Mutual from Unilever, where most recently she was its Chief Sustainability Officer. In prior roles, Gail led Unilever’s global Savoury category, a number of global brands and was CEO of … “Recognizing Leaders: Gail Klintworth, Old Mutual Group”
In a new article in The Cornerstone Journal of Sustainable Finance & Banking, I note that trust is “strategically important” to organizations—and once lost, extremely difficult to recapture. Trust in financial institutions, while deeply negative in many regions, is still quite high in Africa— suggesting a compelling opportunity for the banking sector to play a meaningful role in continued development on that continent. While an Executive Summary of the Journal is available to read free of charge, you will need to … “Profiting from Trust – Opportunities to (Re-) Define a Positive Social Role For Financial Institutions”
More than seven years on from the financial crisis, concerns about trust and confidence in banks and financial institutions show no sign of diminishing. With the latest series of scandals, allegations and billion-dollar fines, questions are being asked about whether the industry has learnt any lessons. As regulators call on banks to ‘raise their game’ to regain the public’s trust, we ask what can be learnt from our public opinion and stakeholder research about the roots of distrust, the opportunities … “Seven Years On From The Financial Crisis: Trust In Banks Remains At All Time Low”
Most would agree that some corporate giants have taken great strides toward sustainability in recent years. But experts in the field still cite too few companies doing so. Instead, our latest GlobeScan/SustainAbility Leadership survey finds that experts believe that other non-governmental actors have been driving the sustainable development agenda since the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. The business sector is not seen as the driver, with few exceptions. What, if anything, can we learn from those few companies that … “Who are the Sustainability Leaders (Besides Unilever)?”
M&S Stakeholder Transparency Study Highlights This is the last blog post of a series of three uncovering key insights from the recent stakeholder study on transparency that GlobeScan conducted for Marks & Spencer (M&S). After defining what corporate transparency really means and assessing the state of corporate performance in this area, we are now closing our blog series with a deep dive into M&S’ response to the survey findings. Here are three ways in which M&S is using stakeholder feedback … “Three Ways M&S Is Improving Its Transparency”
Full Report from the M&S Stakeholder Transparency Study.
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Highlights Report from the M&S Stakeholder Transparency Study.
2015 marks nearly two decades worth of the tracking and analysis of the evolution of the sustainability agenda, and of the leaders and institutions most responsible for driving it forward. This 2015 Sustainability Leaders, a GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey, provides an overview of perceived corporate sustainability leaders from 1997 to 2015 and the perceived progress that various institutions have made since the Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, along with expectations for the next 20 years. The infographic (PDF … “Infographic: The 2015 Sustainability Leaders”
On June 18, GlobeScan CEO Chris Coulter hosted a webinar titled “Trust, Expectations and Leadership: Global Societal Trends on Business” exploring GlobeScan Radar’s latest global public opinion survey of 24,000 people across 24 countries. We shared our latest tracking of trust in institutions, expectations for responsible business, reputation of industry sectors and consumer views of corporate leadership. Chris also drew on findings from our latest GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey findings, Collaboration Forums, Aspirationals, and work with Marks & Spencer. Professionals focused on … “Webinar Recap: Trust, Expectations and Leadership: Global Societal Trends on Business”
Following our first blog post in which we drew on the Marks & Spencer (M&S) Stakeholder Transparency Study findings to define what transparency really is, we are now delving deeper into the stakeholder findings to assess how transparent large companies are perceived to be today. There is a strong business case for corporate transparency. Benefits of transparency clearly outweigh the risks. When asked to list them, online survey respondents cited nearly one-third more benefits than risks. In today’s wired world, … “M&S Stakeholder Transparency Study Highlights: How Transparent are Global Companies Today?”
Infographic from The 2015 Sustainability Leaders: A GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey
We recently had the opportunity to conduct a stakeholder study on transparency for the Plan A team at Marks & Spencer (M&S). Combining an online survey with global stakeholders and a series of in-depth interviews with a selected group of experts, the study aimed to identify stakeholder expectations on transparency and help M&S prioritise its transparency efforts. In this first of a series of three short blogposts, we are drawing on the survey findings to define the notion of transparency. … “M&S Stakeholder Transparency Study Highlights: Corporate Transparency Defined”
I was delighted to attend the Start Network’s annual conference Start for Change. During the event, we announced a new partnership between Start Network and GlobeScan, aiming to make progress toward the creation of a global humanitarian aid movement and to make strides toward enhanced engagement with stakeholders. The Start Network focusses on collaboration within the humanitarian aid system across three areas: Financing for emergency response (Start Fund) Strengthen civil society capacity (Start Build) Innovation through partnerships and learning (Start Beta) … “Start for Change: Collaboration to Future-Proof the Humanitarian System”
During the May 7th webinar, Robert Blood from SIGWATCH, along with Chris Coulter and I, discussed the changing place of NGOs in the mix of strategic stakeholders (click here for the full recording and presentation slides from the webinar). As Chris proved, stakeholder engagement has solidified its position as a strategic management tool for companies that are serious about thriving in our overpopulated, uncertain and volatile world. He convincingly made the case that there is an expectation that these collaborations … “Three Reasons Why NGOs Have Lost Some Attractiveness as Partners for Companies”
Nigel Topping is the CEO of We Mean Business – a coalition of organisations working on climate change with thousands of the world’s most influential businesses and investors. Previously, Nigel was Executive Director of CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). GlobeScan co-CEO Chris Coulter recently interviewed Nigel to gain insight on the value We Mean Business puts on stakeholder intelligence to help build recognized leadership in an uncertain world. From your perspective, what are the most pressing challenges facing the … “Recognizing Leaders: Nigel Topping, We Mean Business”
Consumer engagement is now the primary focus of green marketing – harnessing the innate CSR values that most consumers have and creatively engaging them to actively purchase from brands and companies that have differentiated, positive CSR performance, write William Ratcliffe of Collected Conscience and Chris Coulter of GlobeScan in a recent article for WARC’s Admap magazine. This article outlines three best practice strategies for engaging with consumers on issues around sustainability and the environment, at a time when people have … “Consumer Engagement is Now the Primary Focus of Green Marketing”
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Full report from The 2015 Sustainability Leaders: A GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey
On May 28th, GlobeScan and SustainAbility hosted a webinar to discuss the results of the 2015 edition of the GSS Sustainability Leaders Report. After 21 years, the GlobeScan/Sustainability Leaders Report is the longest-running survey of its kind examining experts’ views of the current state of sustainability leadership. In our latest survey, we analyzed the viewpoints of over 800 sustainability experts to answer a number of pressing questions, including: Which companies, NGOs and national governments do experts believe are leading the sustainability agenda? … “Webinar Recap: The 2015 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Leaders Report”
Findings from a new study exploring corporate, NGO and governmental leadership in sustainable development 28 May 2015 Values are paramount to achieving sustainability leadership according to the findings of a new study exploring three different angles of perceived leadership in sustainable development across corporate, NGO and governmental organizations. Opinions of expert stakeholders from 82 countries show that integrated sustainability values including beliefs of executive leadership are a key measure of corporate reputation. However, an increasing number of experts maintain that … “Values Paramount to Achieving Sustainability Leadership”
In California, every day comes with a reminder — take nothing for granted. Last month, California Gov. Jerry Brown implemented water restrictions for the first time in the state. Water is on the top of the mind for Californians today, with wells going dry across the state. But California isn’t alone as concern about water issues is on the rise globally. Research shows significant increases in perceived seriousness of water scarcity over the last year, according to GlobeScan’s latest international Radar survey. … “Are our Minds Water-Logged?”