Environmental Reporting Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports November 2008 Contents Executive Summary Executive Summary

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Environmental Reporting Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports November 2008 Contents Executive Summary Executive Summary Environmental Reporting Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports November 2008 Contents Executive summary Executive summary . 1 Keyfindings ..................................................................... 2 Background to the research . 6 01 Introduction ................................................................... 8 01.1 Methods .................................................................... 9 01.2 Limitations to the research . 14 02 Themes ...................................................................... 16 03 Findings ...................................................................... 18 Environmental reporting is still in its infancy compared to 03.1 Environmental terms . 19 financial reporting, but with more media and public scrutiny 03.2 Industry sectors . 21 on corporates’ green policies and credentials, it is essential 03.3 Themesbysector ............................................................. 24 that companies communicate – and are appraised on – 03.4 Environmentalawards .......................................................... 30 these matters consistently and clearly. 04 Conclusions ................................................................... 36 Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 04.1 Summary of the findings . 36 Sustainability Reports investigates the terminology, 04.2 Discussion .................................................................. 38 thematic content and length of Britain’s leading corporate Worksconsulted .................................................................. 41 reports on sustainability. In the sample we analysed there are many excellent examples Tables and Charts of good, evidence based reports but a number of key issues Table 01: FTSE 100 constituent sectors . 12 need to be addressed within CR reporting as a whole. Table 02: Carbon intensity of FTSE 100 sectors . 13 Longer corporate responsibility (CR) reports do increase Table 03:Themesandtermsanalysed ................................................. 17 the likelihood of winning ‘sustainability’ awards; corporations Table 04: Sustainability defined . 20 fail to define critical reference terms; and heavy polluters Table 05: Logistic regression of award winning companies . 34 are not necessarily heavy communicators – these are the Chart 01: Frequently used terms in FTSE 100 sustainability reports . 18 key findings of the report. Chart 02: Mean page count of FTSE 100 sustainability reports, by sector . 23 As regards FTSE 100 companies, some of the world’s Chart 03: Average coverage of themes by sector . 25 leading businesses, the stakes could not be higher. Now Chart 04: Industry sector coverage of themes . 26 is the time to develop a more rigorous consensus on how these issues should be communicated and appraised in Appendices the public domain. A: FTSE 100 index constituents . 43 We hope that this research will provide the foundation B: Companies reporting on sustainability issues within annual report and accounts . 46 for an informed and fruitful discussion about how the C: Companies using web-only CR reports . 47 CR report needs to mature as a format. D: Carbon intensity of FTSE 100 industry sectors and subsectors . 48 E: Award winning FTSE 100 companies . 49 Gavin Ingham Brooke Ana Catalano Managing Director Research Consultant Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports © Spada Limited 2008 1 Key findings > The top five most popular environmental terms responsibility attempt to distance modern practices from used in CR reports are: the ‘soft,’ ‘touchy feely’ connotations of the early usage of ‘social responsibility’ or CSR. 01. Corporate responsibility > The quantity of reporting does not increase along 02. Environment a linear trajectory from low to high carbon sectors. 03. Waste Our research challenges the widespread assumption that the depth and breadth of environmental reporting 04. Emissions increases along with the severity of an organisation’s 05. Sustainability impact on the environment. Instead, findings reveal that length of environmental reporting and carbon intensity do The prominent coverage given to these particular terms “Of the 79 organisations not increase along a straight line. For example, Financials, reflects current widespread concerns about the impacts that use the term a low carbon sector, devote greater resources to reporting of significant, man made changes to the environment. ‘sustainability’ in their than Industrials, a medium to high carbon sector, with CR reporting, only two > The vast majority of organisations fail to define reports averaging 19 pages compared to 13 pages what they mean by environmental terms and respectively. These results provide some evidence that define what they mean concepts. For example, there is substantial literature complex sets of dynamics influence reporting decisions. In by it in the first instance” about the meaning and content of ‘sustainability’, a other words, not only industry sector and carbon intensity concept which is not easy to grasp and defies a standard, but also the level of maturity of a company, its long term universal definition. Of the 79 organisations that use the vision, strategy, and leadership play a part. term ‘sustainability’ in their CR reporting, only two define > Instead, the level of public scrutiny an organisation what they mean by it in the first instance. “complex sets of dynamics faces is a more likely predictor of the amount of influence reporting > There has been a shift from ‘corporate social reporting than carbon intensity or sector. Related to responsibility’ (CSR) to ‘corporate responsibility’ the previous finding, our research shows that consumer decisions” (CR). The term ‘corporate responsibility’ is used over facing sectors devote greater resources (in terms of ten times more often than ‘social responsibility’ and writing, at least) to environmental reporting than those over thirteen times more often than ‘corporate social companies with low levels of public awareness. For responsibility’. We hypothesise that this shift reflects the example, the high carbon intensity sectors Oil and Gas need for corporations to go beyond societal/stakeholder and Utilities are leading the pack in terms of the spread impacts and address the company’s total effect on and depth of their discussion of environmental issues; society and the environment. This change may be yet, another high intensity sector, Basic Materials, is intentional, as people who work in the field of corporate clearly trailing. Why? Whilst recognised companies like 2 Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports © Spada Limited 2008 3 BP and National Grid must face up to increasing necessary to mitigate climate change effectively. This consumer scrutiny, the relatively unknown Kazakhmys issue is predicted to become even more crucial in the is confronted with far less public pressure. future. Accordingly, we predict that companies will be faced with the need to develop good quality reporting > Companies that write longer sustainability reports “For every one page which addresses these aspects of sustainability. increase in a sustainability are more likely to win environmental awards. Whilst the average page count of a sustainability report is 21 report, the odds of a FTSE pages, the sustainablility reports of winners of the 100 company winning an Business in the Community (BITC) Top 100 award are award increase by 3%” an average 25 pages in length, reports of Global 100 award winners are an average of 26 pages, and those of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Leaders are an average 30 pages in length. This correlation is statistically significant even when industry sector and carbon intensity are held at constant. For every one page increase in a sustainability report, the odds of a FTSE 100 company winning an award increase by 3%. For every five page increase, the odds increase by over 15%, and for every ten pages odds increase over 30%. While this finding does not prove causation, is there any truth in a cynical view that producing a hefty report may be more likely to impress those people doling out the awards than substance? > Resource and supply chain are amongst the least discussed environmental issues, despite their growing prominence on the sustainability agenda. “we predict that companies The least covered themes across industry sectors are will be faced with the concepts related to resource and supply chain, falling need to develop good behind themes such as waste and recycling, quality reporting which sustainability, and renewable energy. Whilst energy efficiency has delivered significant carbon and cost addresses resource and savings for business, more fundamental changes are supply chain” 4 Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports © Spada Limited 2008 5 Background to the research This research was prompted by the long term growth and We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those integration of environmental sustainability in the workplace, who have given generously of their time to furnish many and the associated challenges posed to effective corporate of the insights that have gone into this report. We would accountability – particularly, environmental reporting. As a especially like to thank Simon Pringle, Head of Sustainable communications consultancy, Spada seeks to understand Business Practice, PIPC, for graciously providing his expert these challenges in order to help its clients incorporate this advice and consultation. new form
Recommended publications
  • Do Ethical Consumers Really Love Green Brand? a Comparison of Chinese and Korean Consumers*
    Han-Suk Lee / Journal of Distribution Science 14-12 (2016) 23-30 23 Print ISSN: 1738-3110 / Online ISSN 2093-7717 http://dx.doi.org/10.15722/jds.14.12.201612.23 Do Ethical Consumers Really Love Green Brand? A Comparison of Chinese and Korean Consumers* Han-Suk Lee** Received: November 11, 2016. Revised: November 24, 2016. Accepted: December 15, 2016. Abstract Purpose – As socially responsible consumption increases, green marketing emerges as a new philosophy in marketing. A number of companies are now putting forth green marketing strategies. But there is no single definition of “green brand” that can be used interchangeably. In this paper, we attempt to explore the meaning for “green brand,” especially in Information and Technology products. Research design, data, and methodology – The author developed qualitative and quantitative research design. In particular, the paper approaches this topic from the Asian consumers’ perspective and applies ethical concepts to green brand research. For this, Chinese and Korean consumers were used as consumer segmentation variables to investigate their ethical perspectives. Results – Qualitative research showed that there are several attributes and benefits we need to consider for green brand. Quantitative study showed positive correlations of the two variables: the higher the consumer ethics are, the more they prefer green brands. Conclusions – The current study shows that consumers clearly have a certain propensity toward green brand equity. Thus, marketers should consider the consumers’ evaluation about green brands. This paper also proposes that ethics have a close relationship with green brand equity, and companies may use ethics in marketing strategy management. Keywords: Green Brand, Environmental Sustainability, Asian Consumer, Ethical Perspective, Brand Equity.
    [Show full text]
  • Deception in Environmental Advertising: Consumers’ Reactions to Greenwashing
    DECEPTION IN ENVIRONMENTAL ADVERTISING: CONSUMERS’ REACTIONS TO GREENWASHING By STACI ANN STOKES B.A., Kansas State University, 2007 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Journalism and Mass Communications College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2009 Approved by: Major Professor Charles Pearce Abstract The present research explored whether consumer reactions to a deceptive environmental ad differs from consumers’ reactions towards a similar true green ad. The deceptive ad used in this study violates all FTC regulations for acceptable environmental claims. The practice of deceptive environmental advertising, known as greenwashing, is an increasing problem for consumers and advertisers as environmental products and services are offered at an increasing rate in the marketplace. Undergraduate college students participated in the experiment testing four hypotheses. As predicted, consumers were not able to identify a greenwashed ad as deceptive. Similarly, a measurement of consumers’ perceived overall ethics associated with the ad revealed low ethical concerns towards both greenwashed and true green ads. Attitudes towards greenwashing were also measures, and, as hypothesized, consumers have equally positive attitudes towards greenwashed and true green ads and brands. Additionally, stronger levels of environmental concern decreased the consumers’ ability to detect deception in greenwashed ads. Implications indicate that consumers cannot perceive
    [Show full text]
  • Corporate Environmentalism: How Green Is It Actually? Emma Rotner Connecticut College, [email protected]
    Connecticut College Digital Commons @ Connecticut College Environmental Studies Honors Papers Environmental Studies Program 2016 Corporate Environmentalism: How Green is it Actually? Emma Rotner Connecticut College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/envirohp Part of the Environmental Studies Commons Recommended Citation Rotner, Emma, "Corporate Environmentalism: How Green is it Actually?" (2016). Environmental Studies Honors Papers. 14. http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/envirohp/14 This Honors Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Environmental Studies Program at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Environmental Studies Honors Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. Corporate Environmentalism: How Green is it Actually? Presented By: Emma L. Rotner To the Department of Environmental Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Environmental Studies Advisor, Jane Dawson Second Reader, Maria Cruz-Saco Connecticut College New London, Connecticut May 5th, 2016 Acknowledgments A special thanks to my advisor, Jane Dawson, for her constant support and guidance throughout this process, and for fueling my passion of environmental justice, beginning when I was a freshman in her introductory environmental studies class. Thank you to Maria-Cruz Saco for taking the time to be my second reader. I would also like to thank the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment for making my research possible, for bringing me together with a group of like-minded and passionate individuals, and for encouraging me to take risks in order to make a difference in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Green Brand Positioning in the Online Environment
    International Journal of Communication 10(2016), 1405–1427 1932–8036/20160005 Green Brand Positioning in the Online Environment HUI-JU WANG Fo Guang University, Taiwan The online environment has been influential in building corporate brands. This study explores green brand positioning in the online environment via content analysis and network analysis approaches. Using the techniques of centrality measure and structural equivalence, the study offers a network perspective on content and structural relationships of green brand positioning in corporate websites. This study extends brand positioning knowledge to online green branding contexts and offers researchers a new approach to explore the structural relationships among positioning elements. The results have significant implications for green brands’ development of e-business positioning strategies. Keywords: green brand positioning, online environment, content analysis, network analysis Introduction In recent years, because of the enormous amount of environmental pollution that is directly associated with industrial manufacturing around the world, leaders in business, government, and society have been paying more attention to environmental sustainability. Companies are being forced to change their behaviors to comply with society’s environmental concerns and governmental eco-regulation. More and more companies are willing to act in socially responsible and environmentally aware ways, such as by introducing eco-friendly products and reducing the environmental impact of existing products. Being a green brand offers companies an opportunity to achieve a competitive advantage. Green branding has been an important academic research topic over the past years, and it has extended to several issues such as green brand equity (Chen, 2010), green brand association and perceptions (Montoro-Rios, Luque-Martinez, & Rodriguez-Molina, 2008), green brand competitiveness (Darnall, 2008), and green brand positioning (Hartmann, Ibáñez, & Sainz, 2005; Haung, Pan, & Lin, 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Consumer Perceptions of Green Brands and Actual Corporate
    ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH Labovitz School of Business & Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth, 11 E. Superior Street, Suite 210, Duluth, MN 55802 Consumer Perceptions of Green Brands and Actual Corporate Environmental Performance James Cordeiro, State University of New York, Brockport Joon Yong Seo, State University of New York, Brockport Recent media has spotlighted the gap between corporate green brand reputation and actual environmental performance. Some firms have green brand reputation that is substantially greater than their environmental performance, while others experience the opposite. We examine the determinants of the gap between individual corporate green brand reputation and environmental performance. [to cite]: James Cordeiro and Joon Yong Seo (2014) ,"Consumer Perceptions of Green Brands and Actual Corporate Environmental Performance", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 42, eds. June Cotte and Stacy Wood, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 443-444. [url]: http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1017722/volumes/v42/NA-42 [copyright notice]: This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in part, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at http://www.copyright.com/. Consumer Perceptions of Green Brands and Actual Corporate Environmental Performance James J. Cordeiro, SUNY Brockport, USA Joon Yong Seo, SUNY Brockport, USA EXTENDED ABSTRACT er,” and “the firm has environmentally friendly products.” An ob- Consumer perceptions of the firm’s greenness may not always jective measure of corporate environmental performance is adopted line up with reality, that is, the firm’s actual sustainability efforts and from the 2012 Newsweek Green Ranking Score, which is a compos- their consequences.
    [Show full text]
  • Business Aviation and the World's Top Performing Companies
    BUSINESS AVIATION Part V Fall 2013 And The World’s Top Performing Companies WWW.NEXACAPITAL.COM WWW.NBAA.ORG +1 202 558 7417 +1 202 783 9000 NEXA Advisors thanks the National Business Aviation Association and JETNET LLC for their generous support of this project. This is the fifth in a series of NEXA Advisors studies on business aviation and shareholder value. The prior studies exam- ined various aspects of U.S. business aviation and interrelationships with the key drivers of shareholder value. Business Aviation: the World’s Top Performing Companies raises the issue to the global level, examining business aviation’s contri- bution to the top performing companies in the world. WWW.NEXACAPITAL.COM WWW.NBAA.ORG +1 202 558 7417 +1 202 783 9000 World Leader in Aviation Market Intelligence WWW.JETNET.COM © 2013 NEXA Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved. NEXA Advisors • Business Aviation • 1 Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 5 Trade Economics 101 5 Distance and Business Mobility Challenges 5 Business Aviation Growth Tracks GDP Expansion 6 The Time Saving Benefits of Business Aviation 7 NEXA Advisors Business Aviation Value Methodology 8 The UBV Framework 9 What We Found 10 Global Business Aviation Overview 10 Regional Summaries 14 Best of The Best 20 Conclusions 22 NEXA Report Authors and Further Information 23 ABOUT NEXA ADVISORS 24 NEXA Advisors • Business Aviation • 2 Executive Summary There is now ample proof that business aviation creates value in ways unique to American enterprise. Over a broad range of uses, according to prior studies on the matter, business aircraft can materially improve a company’s ability to create shareholder value and subsequently shareholder returns.
    [Show full text]
  • Green Marketing Strategy Designed As the Result of the Research
    GREEN MARKETING The Context of Indonesia and Philippines Maria Yosephine Dwi Hayu Agustini Co-Authors: Sentot Suciarto Athanasius Berta Bekti Retnawati Anna Marie R. Baloran April Joan J. Bagano Ana Lisa R. Tan PREFACE This book is specifically designed to present the so-called effective green marketing strategy designed as the result of the research. The effective green marketing strategy is created based on green marketing practices and the management’s experience, issues, challenges, and opportunities in marketing the green products of the selected companies in Indonesia and Philippines. The strategy may not be generalized since there is no single green marketing strategy that is fit for every company (Ginsberg & Bloom, 2004). It however provides an insight toward green marketing strategy in a particular context that can be the basis for developing the similar one in different context. The initial motivation of the research is to contribute to providing knowledge on green marketing in the context of developing countries. The green marketing strategy is outlined and presented in diagram for better visualization of the strategy and its connection to the concept underlying the strategy formulation. Drawbacks may still exist and thus constructive suggestions are gratefully accepted for the strategy is in its best formulation. ii CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................. ii CONTENTS .. ........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Finding the Green in Today's Shoppers Sustainability Trends and New Shopper Insights
    Finding the green in today’s shoppers Sustainability trends and new shopper insights Contents Executive summary 4 Overview of study and methodology 5 Who is the Green Shopper? 7 Insights into Green Shoppers’ behavior 11 Opportunities to engage the Green Shopper 13 Summary of recommendations 15 Appendix A: Sample questionnaire 23 Appendix B: Green lifestyle behavioral test 25 Appendix C: Sample green products 26 Finding the green in today’s shoppers Sustainability trends and new shopper insights 3 Executive summary Overview The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) enlisted Deloitte* to conduct a study to examine the behavior of consumers related to the purchase of sustainable products. We conducted a direct study of more than 6,000 shopper experiences in 11 major retailers of varying formats to understand the characteristics of the green shopper and to examine their shopping responses to sustainability issues. We will examine the characteristics and the behaviors of this shopper in greater detail to understand the emerging green shopper and the market opportunity to serve them. What did we learn from this study? “Green Shoppers” may not fit the granola stereotype. Demographically, they are diversely spread along all income ranges, age brackets, education levels and various household sizes. On average green shoppers are a little older, tend to have higher income, and more education, but you will find substantial numbers of green shoppers can be found distributed across the consumer population. Green shoppers are a great customer target, representing a high value segment who buy more products on each trip, visit the store more regularly, and demonstrate more brand and retailer loyalty in their purchasing behavior.
    [Show full text]
  • The Myth of the Ethical Consumer – Do Ethics Matter in Purchase Behaviour?
    Journal of Consumer Marketing The myth of the ethical consumer – do ethics matter in purchase behaviour? Marylyn Carrigan, Ahmad Attalla, Article information: To cite this document: Marylyn Carrigan, Ahmad Attalla, (2001) "The myth of the ethical consumer – do ethics matter in purchase behaviour?", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 Issue: 7, pp.560-578, https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760110410263 Permanent link to this document: https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760110410263 Downloaded on: 22 November 2017, At: 13:25 (PT) References: this document contains references to 59 other documents. To copy this document: [email protected] The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 150449 times since 2006* Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: (1994),"From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing", Management Decision, Vol. 32 Iss 2 pp. 4-20 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/00251749410054774">https://doi.org/10.1108/00251749410054774</a> (2001),"The relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 13 Iss 5 pp. 213-217 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110110395893">https:// doi.org/10.1108/09596110110395893</a> Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:616458 [] For Authors If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society.
    [Show full text]
  • Consumer's Intention to Purchase Green Brands
    Current World Environment Vol. 10(3), 879-889 (2015) Consumer’s Intention to Purchase Green Brands: The Roles of Environmental Concern, Environmental Knowledge and Self Expressive Benefits ANEES AHMAD* and K. S. THYAGARAJ Department of Management Studies, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad-826004, Jharkahnd, India. http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.10.3.18 (Received: October 07, 2015; Accepted: November 26, 2015) Abstract Companies are striving to minimize environmental impact through sustainable business practices. Consumers have become more aware of environmental issues and many companies have recognized the relevance of green marketing in gaining competitive advantage. As a part of green marketing strategy, companies are developing green brands. This paper focuses on the effect of consumer’s concern for environment, environmental knowledge and self expressive benefits on attitude and intention to purchase green brand. Data were collected from 270 Indian consumers. The results of this research show that environmental concern, environmental knowledge and self expressive benefits would positively influence attitude which in turn positively influences intention to purchase green brands. The influence of consumer’s knowledge of the environment on purchase intention was found to be non-significant. Hence, investing resource to promote environmental concern, to impart environmental knowledge and to communicate self expressive benefits will be helpful in increasing purchase intentions of green brands. Key words: Environmental Concern, Environmental knowledge, Self expressive benefits, Environmental marketing, Environmental consumer behavior, Green brand, Green consumerism. INTRODUCTION corporate image4,5,6,7. Green product and green process innovation drives firm’s competitive Environmental issues are increasingly advantage2. Sustainability and continuity of business gaining importance among societies worldwide1.
    [Show full text]
  • GREEN BUSINESS Reducing Carbon Footprint Cuts Costs and Provides Opportunities by Lisa Swallow and Jerry Furniss
    GREEN BUSINESS Reducing Carbon Footprint Cuts Costs and Provides Opportunities by Lisa Swallow and Jerry Furniss ontana businesses are discovering that The businesses interviewed for this article have adapted engaging in sustainable business practices to the emerging, green business model and the rewards are increases worker productivity, reduces proving to be substantial (see sidebars, pages 5-9). costs, preserves the environment, offers opportunities,M and provides competitive advantages. Balancing Economic, Social, Sustainability – or going green – is becoming a top priority and Environmental Goals for many of the state’s business managers and owners who Sustainable development, or “meeting the needs of have developed green business strategies, implemented green the present without compromising the ability of future business programs, and hired sustainability coordinators to generations to meet their own needs” was the theme of oversee them. From small operations to high-tech startups Our Common Future, the 1987 report prepared by the World and major corporations, Montana’s business sector is using Commission on Environment and Development. Known recycled and renewable materials, making investments in as the Brundtland Commission (so named after its chair, energy efficiency improvements, developing innovative Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland), the group technologies to solve environmental problems, and examined escalating concerns about deteriorating global attempting to reduce its carbon footprint. ecosystems and the potential
    [Show full text]
  • Perceptions on the Strategic Value of Corporate Social Responsibility – Journal Some Insights from Global Rankings”, Journal of International Studies , Vol
    Ogrean Claudia “Perceptions on the strategic value of corporate social responsibility – Journal some insights from global rankings”, Journal of International Studies , Vol. 7, of International No 2, 2014, pp. 128-140. DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2014/7-2/11 Studies c Papers Perceptions on the strategic value © Foundation of International of corporate social responsibility – Studies, 2014 © CSR, 2014 some insights from global rankings Scienti Ogrean Claudia “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu Romania [email protected] Abstract. Due to the tremendous challenges of nowadays, most of the global companies Received : May, 2014 behave (or, at least, declare to behave) as responsible global citizens. But, the real bat- 1st Revision: tle on the ! eld of CSR seems now to be played in terms of perceived legitimacy of September, 2014 companies – through the lens of their stakeholders. As CSR increasingly become a ba- Accepted: October, 2014 rometer re\ ecting a company’s relationships with its stakeholders, the paper aims to identify, based on a comparative analysis: the companies that have the best perceived DOI: images (in terms of admiration, reputation and brand value) as re\ ection of their ap- 10.14254/2071- proaches towards CSR; the strategic value of the global winners’ CSR involvement as 8330.2014/7-2/11 perceived through external lens – consumers, executives, directors and analysts. Q e results will enable a better understanding of the real role CSR plays within the global companies, while the conclusions are making suggestions on the better capitalization of the strategic value of CSR. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Stakeholders; World’s Most Admired Compa- nies for Social Responsibility; Global CSR Reputation Winners; Best Global Green Brands.
    [Show full text]