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Lundquist Assessing CSR Online Awards online CSR communications based on 2011 stakeholders’ needs 26 January 2012

Austria’s top companies fall behind European peers in online CSR communications: CSR Online Awards 2011: about half of companies don’t offer a formal account of their social and environmental ’s first study of online CSR impacts. communications 4th edition at European level OMV, EVN and have best online 220+ companies evaluated in Europe: rankings CSR communications for Austria, Europe 100, Germany, Italy, Nordic The CSR Online Awards, conducted annually by region, Switzerland and UK communications consultancy Lundquist, comes for the 79 evaluation criteria first time to Austria to examine how the country’s largest 100 points maximum companies communicate corporate responsibility online. 25.5 points average score for the top 20 Austrian companies The study reveals that only a limited number of Austrian 312 responses to survey from CSR experts in 37 companies make corporate social responsibility (CSR) countries an integral part of their online communications strategy.

The study assessed the corporate websites of the 20 largest companies in Austria using an evaluation protocol of 79 criteria, totalling 100 points. The criteria were drawn up on the basis of a survey of more than 310 CSR professionals, sustainability experts and rd stakeholder representatives in 37 countries. 3 Lundquist CSR Online Awards Seminar – Venice The CSR Online Awards Austria 2011, published The 3rd Lundquist CSR Online Awards today, findsOMV as the best company for online CSR Seminar held in Venice on 27-28 October 2011, communications, scoring 59 points. EVN came second brought together representatives from more than 50 with 53.5 points, ahead of VERBUND in third position companies across Europe to recognise the winners with 47. of the CSR Online Awards 2011. The seminar featured internationally renowned speakers, Rounding out the top 10 (in descending order) were company case studies and discussion of the future Zumtobel, Telekom Austria, Österreichische Post, of corporate responsibility on the internet. See the , , Raiffeisen Bank and Lundquist website for details and photographs. . The average score was 25.5 points.

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CSR Online Awards 2011: evaluating the Results of the research: the challenge of effectiveness of corporate responsibility managing, collecting and communicating communications CSR information

The Lundquist CSR Online Awards has examined The CSR Online Awards 2011 Austria evaluated how Europe’s biggest companies are communicating how the 20 biggest Austrian companies (based on corporate responsibility online on the basis of the needs membership of the benchmark ATX index) use the of key users and stakeholders. The study found that web to communicate their environmental and social many firms arefailing to build trust in online audiences commitment and performance as well as ethics, because they don’t use the web to communicate governance and stakeholder dialogue. The study the critical and compelling evidence behind their found that most of these firms fail to report to a great commitments to responsibility or sustainability. extent on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues: a limited circle of Austrian companies invest The CSR Online Awards has a dual objective: first, to in sustainability communications and only a handful assess how companies communicate CSR to a wide adopt proactive and engaging online communications range of stakeholders through the corporate website for wider audiences and seek to build relationships and, second, to promote a wider and more efficient use through interactivity, ongoing engagement, dialogue of the Internet for sustainable development. and effective use of social media.

The study comprised seven country and regional “Only top ranking Austrian companies are doing rankings – Austria, Europe 100, Germany, Italy, Nordic a decent job of inserting a range of social and region, Switzerland and UK – for a total of more than environmental content into their corporate websites,” 220 companies analysed. said James Osborne, head of CSR communications at Lundquist. “But in an environment of deep suspicion about claims to corporate responsibility or sustainability, all companies need to build a dynamic and interactive CSR Online Awards 2011: facts & figures relationship with online audiences - even in social media 220+ companies evaluated across Europe - by providing a candid, credible and engaging account of their activities, updated on a regular basis.” 20 biggest Austrian companies assessed Each site evaluated twice (top performers a third The average score of the 20 Austrian companies taken time) into consideration was 25.5 points. This was well below the average of 50 points in the Europe 100 ranking, 6 hours on average spent analysing each which considered the 100 biggest companies in the corporate website region (members of the FTSE Eurotop 100 Index). It 1,320 hours of evaluations was also lower than the 49.2-point average for the top 34,800 judgements made 30 companies in Germany any 39 points for the top 20 Swiss firms. No Austrian companies were part of the Hundreds of best practice examples identified Europe-wide study. Team of 7 people dedicated to the research Chart 1: Austrian average and max score in three macro-areas of evaluation protocol

Each website was assessed using a set of 79 evaluation 58 criteria (vs. 77 in 2010), drawn up on the basis of a survey Contents 11.9 of more than 310 CSR professionals, sustainability 29.8 experts and stakeholder representatives from 37 countries. The criteria were grouped into 12 sections 18.5 User 9.2 and three macro-areas: Contents, User experience experience 12 and Ongoing engagement.

22.5 Maximum score Ongoing 4.4 Austria average engagement (overall average 25.5/100) 8 Europe average (overall average 50/100)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Source: Lundquist CSR Online Awards 2011

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The average Austrian score in the all-important content with engaging, multimedia content and opening section was 21%, a bit lower than the overall average themselves up to dialogue.” Top performers in… of 25.5% for the entire evaluation protocol (see chart 1). The highest scores in this area were registered Overview: OMV (7.5 points out of 9.5), Zumtobel (7) for conventions & associations (30%) and the core and EVN (5.5) environment (24%) and social (20%) sections as well Reporting: OMV (10/12), EVN (8) and VERBUND (6) as for reporting (20%). However, many companies lack the critical information that demonstrates an honest and Environment: EVN (8/8.5), OMV and VERBUND open attitude to corporate responsibility, rather than a (6.5), Zumtobel (5) more limited, disclosure-driven approach (see boxes). Ethics & governance: OMV (3.5/6.5), EVN (3), Tel- ekom Austria and Voestalpine (2.5) Socially responsible investment: OMV (2/6) and EVN (1.5) Disclosure-based content provided… Interactivity: Österreichische Post and Voestalpine About half of companies publish a code of ethics (2/8) 50% present an environmental commitment Dialogue & contacts: VERBUND (7.5/9.5) and EVN (6.5) 40% communicate their social commitment through initiatives and case studies

…but critical content missing Challenge for the future: reporting and 70% of firms present no climate change strategy social media No company gives social investment data The CSR Online Awards 2011 found in general that non- 90% do not show the CSR team’s position within the company organisation financial reporting – whether in a standalone report or integrated into the annual report – has become standard

practice for almost all of Europe’s biggest companies. As regards the two other macro-areas, Austrian companies performed more strongly on user Among the 100 companies assessed in the European experience (on average 50% of points available). But ranking, for example, all provided some form of social the greatest weakness (average 20% of points available) and environmental reporting on their corporate website was found in ongoing engagement, with a lack of news and four out of five had a CSR section at the first level of and resources, interactive functionality, use of social navigation of their corporate website. media and information about stakeholder engagement (see box). These aspects are critical to constructing In Austria, the scenario is completely different. Only 40% a compelling account of a company’s CSR, building a of companies have a CSR section at the first level of their relationship with stakeholders and providing them with website. Furthermore, 40% of the top 20 companies much sought-after regular updates. don’t publish a non-financial report online (although a few of these present some non-financial information in their annual report); another 40% offer their CSR report only as a PDF with 15% providing an interactive online Weaknesses in ongoing engagement: version (see chart 2). 80% of websites have no social bookmarking or sharing tools Only OMV opted for a web-based report, integrated Only 10% of companies explicitly present their social within the corporate site’s CSR section, an increasingly media accounts through a dedicated page common format among Europe’s biggest companies and an optimal solution that saves users having to No company provides a calendar of CSR events navigate both the corporate website and the report. 80% give no evidence of feedback received from stakeholders By contrast, the CSR Online Awards found that a majority of the biggest companies in Europe are presenting their non-financial reports online (as HTML versions or web- “Providing some information about non-financial based reports), rather than only in PDF. performance is a great step forward compared with the past, but it’s not enough to build trust among stakeholders,” said Joakim Lundquist, founder of Lundquist. “To be credible online, companies need to be proactive and responsive, reaching out to audiences

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Chart 2: Breakdown of Austrian non-financial reporting by format (including “integrated” reports) CSR Online Awards 2011: top five in Austria Web-based (5%) 1 OMV 59 points HTML version 2 EVN 53.5 (15%) None or report not presented 3 VERBUND 47 (40%) 4 Zumtobel 45.5

PDF only 5 Telekom Austria 45 (40%) Top performers in online CSR communications

OMV, with 59 points, achieved the first position in the Source: Lundquist CSR Online Awards 2011 inaugural Austrian ranking. The company provides its stakeholders with comprehensive non-financial content But the shift in Europe towards online reporting is thanks to a web-based report and a wide offering of not always catering to the specific needs of online dialogue channels. audiences that have emerged from our surveys of CSR professionals and experts. Index page of OMV’s Sustainability & HSSE section A number of companies are greatly reducing the information provided in the corporate website section and focusing their online strategy almost entirely on the HTML version of their report. But this choice clashes with the assumptions behind the CSR Online Awards, such as the need for an ongoing relationship with stakeholders and the integration of corporate responsibility within the wider online communications strategy.

“Given the evidence that few stakeholders read reports and the message we’ve received in our surveys from users of this information, companies adopting this solution www..com have been penalized in our research,” commented Karim Bruneo, CSR consultant at Lundquist. “A once- EVN finished in second place with 53.5 points thanks a-year report is unlikely to be the most effective online to a well-organised Responsibility section. Useful channel for a wide range of stakeholders.” content includes CSR targets – with information on how far the company got in reaching previous goals – and Among changes made to the evaluation protocol in 2011, environmental content. The website presents a high more importance was placed on the presence of CSR- degree of navigability as well. related corporate social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.). Index page of EVN’s Responsibility section

Among Austria’s top companies, only 40% indicate to website users that they have corporate social media accounts and, of these, only two (VERBUND and Voestalpine) have a dedicated page presenting their social media presence. In Europe, by comparison, 60% of the top 100 companies flag their social media accounts via the corporate website and 22% signal they use some of them specifically for CSR. About a quarter of websites have a social media page.

www.evn.at

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VERBUND achieved 47 points to rank third. The While previous surveys have captured the scepticism company provides its online audiences with broad and mistrust with which many people treat companies’ responsibility content and an adequate level of dialogue social and environmental claims, this year’s study and contacts. The website has a respectable degree of sought to identify aspects that make online content usability. more authoritative, credible and reliable in the eyes of its users. Index page of VERBUND’s Responsibility section Chart 3: What gives greatest confidence when assessing online CSR information? (% of 166 non-corporate responses, two choices allowed)

Guidelines 43%

Performance data 38%

External assurance 32%

Partnership with NGOs 25%

External experts’ 24% perspectives Quantitative targets 22% Membership of 13% sustainability indexes

Other 4%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Source: Lundquist CSR Online Awards 2011 www.verbund.com Key findings Fourth place in the Austria ranking was taken by Zumtobel, which achieved 45.5 points, just ahead of >> Half of respondents check corporate websites Telekom Austria with 45. Österreichische Post came in for CSR-related information at least several times sixth position with 30.5 points. Wienerberger achieved a week, more than one in six doing so on a daily the seventh position with 29 points, Voestalpine ranked basis eighth with 28 while Raiffeisen Bank and Strabag >> The most important aspects for establishing trust closed out the top 10, respectively with 24 and 22 points. and confidence in website users is adoption of international guidelines and frameworks, CSR Online Awards Survey 2011: Building performance data and information about trust in online audiences external assurance >> Although the survey shows how online audiences The Lundquist CSR Online Awards Survey 2011 was are diverse with differing preferences, users conducted to understand how CSR professionals – repeatedly indicated the importance of data, people who work regularly on corporate responsibility targets, case studies, governance and policies, and sustainability issues – use the internet to get as well as information about the environmental information and exchange views. Following last year’s impact of a company’s products or services focus on stakeholder engagement and social media, the >> Almost half of respondents are very keen to have 2011 questionnaire examined what elements of online an ongoing flow of information from companies communications help build trust and confidence in about their non-financial performance: they are users. looking for companies to respond to issues in the media or public debate and publish updated A total of 312 people answered the survey, an increase environmental data, press releases and case of 22% from 2010 and bringing to more than 800 studies and be active in social media the number of responses received over four years of >> There is widespread interest in stakeholder surveys. The questionnaire launched on 23 May 2011 dialogue, how it influences the decision-making drew responses from 37 countries with 58% coming from process and in hearing stakeholder points of continental Europe, 14% from the US and Canada, 10% view from the UK and Ireland, 7.4% from Nordic countries >> and 10% from the rest of the world. YouTube is emerging to become one of the most used social media channels for CSR – second A full 71% of respondents worked outside of major after LinkedIn – although Twitter is widely used corporations, being journalists, sustainability by the most intense social media users; use of consultants and sustainability rating analysts as well Facebook for CSR is growing too as people working in academia, think tanks, industry associations and NGOs. A summary of the survey results will be sent to all respondents who requested a copy and published on the Lundquist website (www.lundquist.it/research).

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Methodology and approach Developing the evaluation protocol

The evaluation criteria are based on a survey sent to CSR professionals, sector experts, stakeholder Assumptions behind the research representatives as well as CSR managers of companies included in the study. The CSR Online Awards are underpinned by a series of assumptions about the essential ingredients for The aim of the annual survey is to identify the essential communicating on the internet. These “pillars” of online information these users look for online and monitor CSR communications are the result of many years’ work trends in the use of website content and social media. with leading European companies on their web strategy and our annual surveys of CSR professionals, experts Answers to the 2011 survey (excluding CSR staff and and stakeholders. other corporate ‘insiders’) were analysed to revise existing criteria, create new ones and to calibrate the Six pillars of online CSR communications allocation of points so as to reward sites that best respond to user needs.

Feedback from the previous editions of the CSR Online Comprehensive: Awards was also taken into consideration when revising A website must satisfy all the requirements of its key criteria. users, eliminating their need to go elsewhere for infor- mation A total of 79 criteria were used (77 in 2010), divided Integrated: into 12 sections and giving a total of 100 points. The A website must work as a whole and communicate evaluation protocol was divided into three macro areas: a coherent, interconnected story across its different sections (About us, CSR, corporate governance, IR, >> Content (seven sections totalling 46 criteria and careers, etc.) and in related off-site channels (in social 58 points) media in particular) >> User Experience (two sections of 13 criteria for Open: Website content must be open to feedback, discussion 18.5 points) and debate, including via social media, with companies >> Ongoing Engagement (three sections with 18 demonstrating that outside opinions are heard and criteria totalling 22.5 points) taken into consideration User friendly: This split reflects the fact that the most important Users must be able to find what they are looking for aspect of online communication is content, but also through intuitive and jargon-free navigation, and that success involves using the internet effectively to content must be organised in an optimal way for on- make CSR information easily available and to facilitate screen reading interaction between website owner and user. Engaging: A website should employ a range of multimedia tools – An extra point was available to reward useful information including video, animation, images, (info)graphics – to or interesting features of websites that were not covered draw the audience in, tell a dynamic story in the criteria. Concrete: Users want fact, relevant evidence as well as pertinent A penalty point was subtracted in the event of negative and credible data, not self-promotion, empty commit- aspects that were not adequately penalised in the ments and marketing messages criteria, including out-of-date information, links to old reports and contorted navigation.

The evaluation protocol used in the CSR Online Awards is the same for all country and regional rankings, meaning that all results are directly comparable.

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Website assessments Macro area/Section Criteria Points The CSR Online Awards judges the quality of Contents online corporate communications of publicly traded Overview 7 9.5 companies, organised into a series of national and Reporting 6 12 regional rankings. Lundquist draws on recognised Environment 7 8.5 stock indexes to draw up its rankings and no company can opt in or out of its own accord. Social 12 12.5 Ethics & governance 6 6.5 In 2011, the focus has been concentrated on Europe SRI 5 6 with the creation of a new flagship ranking of the 100 Conventions & associations 3 3 biggest companies in the region. After two stimulating and eventful editions, we have discontinued the TOTAL 46 58 “Global Leaders” ranking, which included a selection of companies from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. User experience Navigability & usability 8 12.5 This is because we believe that with the mainstreaming Visual communications 5 6 of environmental, social and governance disclosure, TOTAL 13 18.5 CSR information should be provided by all large companies and not be the preserve of a few “leaders”. Ongoing engagement To maintain a global outlook and capture wider trends, we will also undertake a ranking of top U.S. companies Interactivity 7 8 later in the year. News & resources 6 5 Dialogue & contacts 5 9.5 The rankings were defined as follows: TOTAL 18 22.5 >> In Europe, all members of the FTSE Eurotop 100 Commendable information 1 1 Index as of 27 May 2011 (the index contained 106 securities and 100 companies, although Unilever Penalty point 1 -1 was counted as two separate entities: for the purpose of our research, Unilever was counted GRAND TOTAL 79 100 as a single company having a single website)

Source: Lundquist CSR Online Awards 2011 >> In Austria, the 20 members of the benchmark ATX index as of September 2011, according to Changes to the criteria in 2011 the Vienna Stock Exchange website >> In Germany, the 30 components of the benchmark As in past years, substantial changes were made to DAX index as of June 2011, according to the the evaluation protocol to make it better reflect user Deutsche Börse website preferences and to keep pace with trends in online >> In Italy, the 50 largest companies by market communications. capitalisation in the FTSE Italia All-Share Index as of the close of trading on 9 June 2011 Above all, an effort was made to reward those companies >> For the Nordic region, the 40 members of providing the most critical information and reduce the the OMX Nordic 40 Index as of June 2011, as weighting of criteria that add less value or have become published on the NASDAQ OMX website more common practice. >> In Switzerland, the 20 members of the benchmark Eight criteria were deleted from the protocol in 2011 and SMI index as of June 2011, as published by the 10 new criteria were introduced, adding a net two new SIX Swiss Exchange website criteria. >> In the U.K., the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation in the benchmark FTSE 100 Index The definition was revised for another 13 criteria while as of the close of trading on 9 June 2011 the scoring of a number of others was amended in light of responses to the survey. In total, about 220 websites were evaluated (+22% from 2010). The criteria were used to evaluate the English language version of the corporate websites of these companies with the exception of the Italian ranking, which evaluated the Italian version of the sites.

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The seven Italian companies included in the Europe By contrast, some companies are focusing their online ranking were evaluated in English only. strategy almost entirely on the HTML version of their report. In many cases, the content of the website section The assessments were carried out over a period is reduced to a minimum as a result. In line with our stretching from late June to September 2011, with methodology, companies adopting this approach tended the official closing date of August 1 communicated to to receive low scores in our evaluations: we recognise all companies in the research (October 7 for Austria). that that they may have otherwise commendable online Each company’s website was evaluated twice by two CSR reports. different Lundquist analysts. Top-ranking companies were evaluated a third time.

The assessment was restricted to the CSR (or equivalent) section of the website to reflect the fact that this is a point of reference for users interested in these issues. Content outside of this area (for example, in corporate governance, investor relations or career sections) was evaluated only if there was a direct link from the CSR section to the relevant page or document.

Although this rule may seem restrictive, it aims to reward those websites that fully integrate CSR-related information, for example with cross-links. Given the size of many corporate websites, users should find the necessary “signposts” to find the information they are looking for. In the same way, the content of mini- sites was evaluated only in cases where users were clearly directed there in association with CSR-related information.

Where companies had more than one section of the website (at the same menu level) dealing with CSR- related issues, all of these sections were evaluated. For example, some companies split their information between Citizenship and Environment sections.

The contents of CSR reports (interactive or in PDF) were excluded from the assessments because the research aims to understand how corporate websites are used to communicate CSR to a broad audience and not to assess reporting per se.

As above, content was evaluated whenever a direct, specific link was provided to the relevant page or pages in the report as a way to guide users to further information (generic links to the report homepage or to entire sections were not considered). PDF documents now allow links to specific pages.

Report contents were evaluated directly only in the case of web-based reporting, when the report was fully integrated within the CSR section of the corporate website: this reporting format involves offering only one online source of non-financial information (hence no conflict between report content and website content and generally no change in the menu structure and page layout, no change in the basic URL of the corporate site, no need to open another window or tab in the browser).

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Classification CSR Online Awards 2011 - Austria

2011 Company 2011 Score Position

1 OMV 59 2 EVN 53.5 3 VERBUND 47 4 Zumtobel 45.5 5 Telekom Austria 45 6 Österreichische Post 30.5 7 Wienerberger 29 8 Voestalpine 28 9 Raiffeisen Bank 24 10 Strabag 22 11 RHI 17 12 Mayr-Melnhof 16.5 13 VIG 14 14 = Andritz 13.5 14 = Lenzing 13.5 16 conwert Immobilien 12.5 17 CA Immo 12 18 11 19 10.5 20 Schoeller-Bleckmann 6

Full disclosure: Lundquist has provided CSR services or reports in the past two years to the following company included in the CSR Online Awards 2011 Austria ranking: Strabag.

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CSR reports & consulting services

Developing your online CSR communications strategy

Lundquist has supported leading European companies Stakeholder perception audits in a variety of industries on their corporate responsibility communications, providing services ranging from CSR- Orientation in CSR communications and online reporting specific benchmarking and action plans to website architecture and content strategy. Page-by-page analysis of CSR site & architecture proposals Message and content development CSR Online Awards Report Web-based reporting The complete findings of the CSR Online Awards 2011 Copy & corporate voice analysis are presented in a report (150+ pages) analysing Online content creation the latest trends in online CSR communications, Social media strategy illustrated with more than 250 best practice examples. The report explains the evaluation protocol’s 79 criteria and provides the results of the 2011 rankings plus Extracts from CSR Online Awards Report and assessment complete answers to our survey of 312 CSR experts.

Developing your CSR website

In order to develop your online CSR communications towards international best practice, a tailored analysis draws on the 79 criteria to provide concrete suggestions for improvement, even for companies not included in our 2011 rankings.

In-depth focus reports are available on critical aspects such as online reporting, ongoing engagement and social media. The wealth of data generated by the research allows for detailed benchmarking by industry or country.

About Lundquist Contact

Lundquist is a strategic communications consultancy James Osborne specialising in online corporate communications. Our Head of CSR communications extensive research programmes provide intimate knowledge [email protected] of international best practice and user requirements, Tel: (39) 02 4547 7681 / 2 underpinning consulting services covering financial and non-financial content strategy, the corporate website and social media. To order a copy of the full CSR Online Awards Report 2011 Drawing on our expertise in corporate responsibility, or for information about a website assessment, write to: investor relations and employer branding, we assist you [email protected] in managing communications challenges. Ultimately, we support your endeavours to promote transparency and www.lundquist.it accountability through effective use of the web. www.lundquist.it/blog Measure, Manage, Change. www.twitter.com/Lundquist

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