A number of recent media reports, including in The Economist and Financial Times, have raised the subject of the declining state of our democracy. Some have likened recent actions by so-called “established democracies” as resembling those of autocratic states – such as the recent banning of social media in Turkey and the US government’s blanket on-line surveillance of citizens worldwide. How have all these news reports affected people’s sense of freedom and democracy in this post-Snowden age? Is there a … “Democracy by the Numbers: How Personal Freedoms are Perceived in the Digital Age”
At the 2014 Mining Indaba Sustainable Development day, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane (Founder and Chair of the board for African Monitor and Former Archbishop of Cape Town) gave a keynote address setting the tone for a proceeding panel discussion on mining and community relations, stressing the need to bring morality into business decisions with the understanding that profitability needs not to be the only consideration. A common thread running through the discussion that followed was the need for effective, transparent and … “Mining and Community Relations: Conflict and Resolution in South Africa”
Our 2014 predictions blog identifies seven key trends that we think will have particular impact across the sustainability, reputation, brand nexus. We share our forecasts for key consumer and stakeholder trends, examine the challenges that these represent to business, and anticipate how organizations are likely to respond. 1. Social inequality a rising concern. Evidence from GlobeScan’s stakeholder and consumer surveys supports the notion that social and economic inequality will be key issues of global concern this year. We will continue … “Our 2014 Predictions for the Nexus of Reputation, Brand and Sustainability”
Final report from the 2013 AB InBev Well-Being and Responsibility Forum, moderated by GlobeScan.
NEW YORK CITY – 25 April 2013 – A study by The Regeneration Roadmap – a joint project by GlobeScan, SustainAbility, and BBMG – finds that nearly 9 in 10 consumers globally (86%) say “ingredient transparency is extremely important or very important” for companies to address as part of their products, services, or operations, including 88% of consumers in emerging markets and 84% of consumers in developed markets. However, only 57% regularly “check the list of ingredients before purchasing” products, highlighting the gap between interest and action … “Consumers Rank Ingredient Transparency Among Most Important Issues For Brands”
During Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, President Barack Obama touched on a wide range of topics including the economy, unemployment, climate, inequality, and immigration. But how far do these concerns mirror those of ordinary Americans? GlobeScan’s most recent opinion polling suggests President Obama was wise to make economics and unemployment the centrepieces of his speech. The 17 percent of Americans who cite unemployment and underemployment as the biggest threats to their nation will have felt reassured to hear … “Progress on economy and broken political process likely to be key to Obama’s second-term agenda”
GlobeScan’s four practice leaders sat down to identify key trends to watch out for in 2013 in the areas of reputation, brand, sustainability and engagement. See the top three trends each have identified across GlobeScan’s core areas of expertise. Corporate reputation management, while constantly evolving, is set to undergo even greater changes in the next few years. The following trends are likely to drive this accelerated evolution. Femke de Man Director, Reputation Practice Lead Read Bio | Email Femke … “2013 GlobeScan Practice Area Trends”
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.
Previous Featured Findings have looked at the gap between the public’s enthusiasm to find out more about what companies are doing to be responsible, and their strong skepticism about the claims that companies make about their own attempts to be more responsible and sustainable.
What may be of even greater concern to companies is that their own employees often perceive a credibility gap around CSR. In a survey of more than 1,500 employees of large companies across 12 countries earlier this year, we found that a majority (58%) feel there is a gap between what their employer says about CSR and how the company actually behaves. Just one-third (35%) disagree that such a gap exists.
Revealingly, employees in developing economies were more likely to perceive this gap than those in Western economies such as the UK, US, France, and Canada, where opinion was more evenly split.
These findings suggest that better employee engagement should be a priority for companies looking to win hearts and minds with CSR. With company employees frequently cited by the public as a trusted source of information about corporate behavior, corporations need to pay greater attention to demonstrating to their own staff that their commitment to social and environmental responsibility is serious and has the support of senior management.
Finding from the GlobeScan Radar, Wave 1, 2012
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
When BP posted a $1.4bn loss this week (once oil price fluctuations are taken into account), many analysts pointed to the role played by the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The company announced this week that a further $847 million has been set aside to pay the costs incurred by that disaster.
Yet GlobeScan’s Radar 2012 global public opinion data indicates that BP’s response to the spill may be allowing it to recover lost ground in public esteem faster than many had predicted. The British firm emerges at or near the top of the list of firms considered to be environmentally responsible. Globally, BP is one of the top twenty most-mentioned corporations when people are asked to name a large company that is a leader in environmental issues.
In the UK, moreover, BP is the firm most frequently mentioned as being environmentally responsible (6%), and in the US it is the second most frequently mentioned (5%), behind only General Electric. Note that no company is cited by more than 4% of global respondents (due to the wide diversity of national firms mentioned) and 44% of people globally, and that higher proportions still in the UK and USA could not name, or chose not to name, an environmentally responsible company.
This uptick in public perception is welcome news for the embattled company, trading as it does in a market driven by more than tangible assets. The reasons given by respondents for naming BP as a responsible company indicate that it has benefitted from low expectations for corporate responsibility in general, and oil company behavior in particular. The unstated assumption is that companies will not clean up their mess, but will “cut and run” once profits are threatened.
While many undoubtedly still see the company as an environmental villain, these figures suggest that paying substantial compensation to those affected by the spill, and pouring resources into the clean-up effort in the Gulf of Mexico—and being seen to do these things—has enabled BP to cut through public cynicism and start to rebuild its reputation.
Finding from the GlobeScan Radar, Wave 1, 2012
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)