Our recent polling for the BBC World Service showed a very mixed picture of the state of freedoms today, especially in established democracies following Edward Snowden’s allegations of widespread surveillance by the US Government. In order to better understand how different nationalities and groups rate their freedom, GlobeScan’s Advanced Analytics Team applied some statistical techniques to reveal deeper insights into how perceptions differ across the 17 countries included in our latest poll of 17,000 people. The first analysis we performed … “A Deeper Look at Freedom: How Perceptions Differ Across Countries and Groups”
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”
After months of street protests that had culminated in violence, the Ukrainian parliament voted to impeach President Viktor Yanukovych on February 22nd. Yanukovych had previously sacrificed closer ties with Europe in favour of a pro-Moscow stance and his removal from power provoked a strong military, diplomatic and economic backlash from Russia, as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s project of a ‘Eurasian Union’ of former Soviet states to rival the EU was dealt a potentially terminal blow. But Russian unease is also … “Departure of Ukraine’s Yanukovych Holds Lessons for Putin”
This article was originally published on GreenBiz.com, as part of our Proof Points blog series. 21 February 2014 – Who do you trust to interpret data for your business decisions? If you’re a CEO, it may be the members of your executive team; if you’re a mainstream investor, you may look to Bloomberg or the Dow Jones Index to decipher the data on Wall Street. But what if you’re a sustainability professional? With companies producing increasingly transparent sustainability reports, each with extensive … “How Much Do Stakeholders Trust Corporate Sustainability Ratings?”
Originally published for K Magazine, GlobeScan CEO, Christophe Guibeleguiet, takes a look at how Asian consumer attitudes to business in society are changing and the need for companies to balance opportunity with responsibility. Divided into a 3-part blog series, future posts will look at health and safety issues, and the rise of ‘Aspirational’ consumers. One of the defining features of the early 21st Century has been the apparently inexorable rise of China, and with it, a shift in the balance … “Redefining Sustainability in Asia: Extending Corporate Leadership”
Two themes formed the backdrop to the World Economic Forum’s 2014 gathering in Davos, Switzerland that ended this week: the return of the global economy to a semblance of stability and the continuing shift of power from West to East. This mixture of economic flux and stability feeds through into our research, with peoples’ views in the institutions that affect their lives, the environment and how they think of certain countries all affected. One of the messages to emerge from … “Davos 2014: Can Rising Public Trust Help Leaders Reshape a Changing World?”
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”
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?”
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?”