New findings from The 2012 Sustainability Leaders: A GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey.
GlobeScan regularly tracks the level of trust that people around the world have in different institutions—in global and national businesses, governments, NGOs, the media, and others. Our recent research show that trust in business to operate in the best interests of society remains low—and finds that, while trust has increased somewhat in recent years, business continues to suffer from a significant trust deficit compared to the non-profit sector.
To investigate further, we asked people around the world to say what business had done to earn their trust recently. The word cloud derived from their responses starkly illustrates the cynicism that many feel, with the most common response, by far, being that companies have done “nothing” to earn trust. Those who are able to name a trust-building accomplishment most commonly cite the benefits to society that come from employment and from higher-quality products and services. This lack of awareness highlights how difficult it is for corporate CSR initiatives to “cut through” to the wider public: words such as “social,” “charity,” or “environment” are much less prominent in the cloud.
However, the picture diverges sharply between the world’s major industrialized economies, where cynicism about the motives of business dominates, and emerging economies, where the increased corporate activity associated with rapid economic growth also raises the profile of companies’ social investment, infrastructure projects, and environmental initiatives, as well as job creation.
Next week’s Featured Finding will look at trust in NGOs.
Finding from the GlobeScan Radar, Wave 2, 2011
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
Recent GDP figures from some of the world’s major economies suggest that prospects for a return to sustained growth in the global economy remain uncertain. But many have also questioned whether a return to pre-crisis rates of economic expansion is even desirable, given the apparent link between GDP growth and negative environmental consequences such as rapid natural resource depletion and increased carbon emissions.
GlobeScan and SustainAbility’s regular tracking of specialists in sustainability around the world suggests that experts are split on whether economic growth can be reconciled with sustainable consumption. Those polled recently were divided on the question, with 40 percent agreeing that there was an “inherent conflict” between economic growth and sustainable consumption, and 43 percent disagreeing.
The findings reveal a difference in perspective on either side of the Atlantic. The North American experts polled are more optimistic that aspirations for growth can be reconciled with sustainable consumption, with 51 percent disagreeing that there is an inherent conflict between the two, and only 34 percent agreeing. In Europe, by contrast, experts are much less sure, with those who see a fundamental conflict between the two goals (44%) slightly outnumbering those who think they are reconcilable (40%).
Either way, with anemic growth rates in most of the G7 economies, the challenge for responsible companies is more likely, for now, to be focused on how to remain profitable yet sustainable in a flat economy.
Finding from The 2011 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
First white paper on sustainability leadership from The Regeneration Roadmap.
The last year has seen an increased profile for activism of all types. Sometimes this has manifested against the practices of corporations (such as the ongoing Occupy movement) while at others the targets are governments, as with the Arab Spring and Wikipedia’s online protest against proposed US anti-piracy legislation.
GlobeScan and SustainAbility recently polled an international panel of experts in sustainability on what they considered the most effective activist tactics to be. As the chart above shows, the panel (drawn from businesses, NGOs, government and academia) rated tactics that focus on key business value drivers as the most effective in influencing corporate behaviour: product boycotts (or on the flip-side, preferential purchasing) for their impact on sales and shareholder activism for its effect on access to capital. The most confrontational tactic – civil disobedience – is seen as the least effective by some distance, while the more collaborative method of dialogue with companies is rated the second-least effective.
With experts also rating socially responsible investors – a group in a particularly strong position to shape companies’ business value drivers – as the most important audience for businesses and government to pay attention to, the pressure on companies to respond to different agendas as they move towards sustainability looks likely to increase.
Finding from The 2011 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
While problems such as the ongoing crisis in the Eurozone, climate change, and unrest in the Middle East preoccupy governments around the world as 2012 begins, GlobeScan’s regular monitoring of global concern over a range of issues highlights that it is more immediate and everyday problems that are often at the forefront of citizens’ minds.
In GlobeScan’s annual tracking research, corruption once again emerges as one of the global problems considered to be most serious. It is also the problem that citizens are most likely to cite when asked which global problems they have discussed with their friends and family over the past month.
As this map shows, corruption tops the list of “most talked about” problems in a range of developing and emerging economies, including Peru in South America, Ghana and Egypt in Africa, Turkey in Europe, and India and Indonesia in Asia. Corruption is also often cited as a barrier to getting to grips with many of the other global problems that, as GlobeScan’s tracking shows, preoccupy many global citizens.
Taking a strong and public stand against corruption will be an important element in what businesses need to do to demonstrate their relevance to citizens’ lives, help build public trust, and maintain their social licence to operate.
Finding from the GlobeScan Radar, Wave 2, 2011
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
At the end of 2011, the external environment for business has rarely been more challenging. With the Eurozone crisis unresolved, the economic headwinds that have been afflicting most of the world’s industrialised economies continue to blow – and recent data on Brazil’s economy in the last quarter suggest they may be spreading to the BRIC economies that until now have been enjoying buoyant economic growth. At the same time, pressure to regulate to ensure environmental and social responsibility is on the rise.
GlobeScan’s tracking of public respect for business across a number of sectors illustrates that at a time when consumers have little to spend and jobs are scarce, businesses are finding it hard to retain public esteem. In nine of the twelve sectors that GlobeScan tracks, respect has fallen across twelve developed and developing economies, with falls particularly sharp for food (with prices on the rise), banking (suffering from diminished consumer trust since the bailouts in 2008) and oil (thanks to a combination of high prices and environmental impact worries).
To regain consumer respect, these sectors will need to show in 2012 that they are able to deliver affordable products and services in tough economic times, while keeping one step ahead of consumer expectations on social and environmental responsibility.
Finding from the GlobeScan Radar, Wave 2, 2011
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
Sustainability experts strongly believe that companies have a duty to practice “choice editing” for consumers, the lastest GlobeScan/SustainAbility tracking reveals.
GlobeScan and SustainAbility regularly poll a panel of experts in sustainability issues across businesses, NGOs, government, and academia on emerging trends in sustainability. The panel was polled during September about their perspective on sustainable consumption, and the results reveal that while experts feel strongly that sustainable consumption is achievable, they have doubts about the degree to which it is compatible with economic growth, and also feel that companies have a duty to hasten the transition by restricting the choices available to consumers. Nearly four in five (78%) think that businesses have a duty to offer sustainable product lines instead of, rather than as well as, unsustainable ones.
With sustainable options still associated with premium pricing in many sectors, this perspective is likely to be challenging for companies, particularly during hard economic times, but it reflects how the terms of the debate are shifting. Another challenge is that GlobeScan consumer tracking also reveals that many people are skeptical about the claims that companies make for the responsible credentials of their products, citing “greenwash” as a major barrier to adopting more responsible consumer behavior. Sustainability champions within businesses will need to address both these issues if “choice editing” is to become a reality.
Finding from The 2011 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Survey
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
Full Report of the BSR/GlobeScan State of Sustainable Business Poll 2011, released at the BSR Conference 2011
Fact Sheet for the BSR/GlobeScan State of Sustainable Business Poll 2011, released at the BSR Conference 2011