tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967581409895223685.post2358933476657500267..comments2024-02-01T05:57:20.741-08:00Comments on Business in a Sustainable Society: Canada's Top Performers in CSR: Use of MeasuresMike Valentehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12992260402129018501noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967581409895223685.post-12642334421699782042010-08-03T08:06:04.049-07:002010-08-03T08:06:04.049-07:00Hi Toby,
Thanks so much for jumping in here. I c...Hi Toby,<br /><br />Thanks so much for jumping in here. I completely understand that you're likely very constrained by the availability of data given that your role was never meant to be the collection of new data; clearly a very arduous task.<br /><br />I guess it partly comes down to what Corporate Knights wants to be or considers it to be. Is the organization acting as a mechanism to consolidate and compare existing data provided by the firm or does it want to take perhaps a more ambitious role associated with determining these measures and then discreetly pressuring companies to use them. I realize that this is a radical change that likely requires substantial resources that you don't have. <br /><br />Although i haven't seen much on this, I believe there is an opportunity to consider the firm's CSR performance using a backdrop of carrying capacity on the ecological side and stakeholder perspectives on the social and governance side. <br /><br />For the former, could we not come up with an allowable ecological footprint based on the company's socio-economic contribution? For instance, Loblaw provides food to the masses, which should afford them a certain ecological footprint as a percentage of Canada's allowable footprint relative to other countries, the product of which matches the limits of the Earth's carrying capacity. Could we devise a formula based on the social and economic contribution of the company that spits out their maximum ecological footprint? <br /><br />I wonder if it might be worthwhile to team up with Ivey where some of my students could work under my and your supervision to work ont this (very low cost). <br /><br />On the social side, we may need to simply start with evaluating companies based on whether they are in fact considering the social implications of their business and how complex this consideration is. Do they recognize that their actions have implications for the health system and for social equity in developing regions? Are they looking at this? <br /><br />Just some thoughts for now. But please contact me if you think we might be able to partner with an eager group of University of Western Ontario students come the fall. <br /><br />MikeMike Valentehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12992260402129018501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967581409895223685.post-62891543677897134462010-07-27T14:44:10.940-07:002010-07-27T14:44:10.940-07:00Hi Mike,
Thank you for taking the time to put down...Hi Mike,<br />Thank you for taking the time to put down this thoughtful analysis. We share your concerns on the potential for gaming criteria and the risk of missing the forest for the trees. <br /><br />At this point, we recognize that a company's supply chain is crucial to its impact, and we are committed to finding a way to objectively measure this impact going forward, as data availability allows.<br /><br />We do believe that the 12 indicators used for the TSX 60 assessment represent the best objective and obtainable metrics for measuring a company's "responsible" business practices--a term we prefer to "corporate social responsibility." <br /><br />Two of the key aspects that have held back the "CSR" movement from becoming a more core part of financial markets and CEO's priority lists are its scatter-gun approach (what John Elkington has referred to as carpet-bombing with metrics), and subjectivity.<br /><br />From a ranking point of view, and recognizing the imperfections of our methods, we believe monitoring and transparently publishing performance on a focused set of objective and obtainable responsible business metrics offers the best chance of overcoming these key barriers and moving the ball forward with regard to corporate practices. <br /><br />Please feel free to contact me with any specific ideas you may have for how we can make the ranking better within these constraints. <br /><br />Cheers<br />Toby Heaps<br />toby at corporateknights.caToby Heapshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16321800387169528955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967581409895223685.post-82082633444791047232010-07-26T13:14:35.873-07:002010-07-26T13:14:35.873-07:00Great post Mike. As I read this, it is easy for me...Great post Mike. As I read this, it is easy for me to sympathize with Corporate Knights as the problems they are grappling with are probably similar to issues I had to deal with when I worked for Zumer. I must admit that when faced with the daunting task of measuring sustainability our instinct was to break it down into more understandable and manageable pieces; however, like you say, this contradicts the very nature of sustainability, which at its roots is the interconnection of a number of related systems. Although I understand the issue better than before, I still do not have a definitive answer to this dilemma. I only hope that Corporate Knights will be able to modify their system's methodology to account for more of the complexities of CSR in future.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14732569867840428046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967581409895223685.post-25569294381258492622010-07-23T06:59:10.901-07:002010-07-23T06:59:10.901-07:00Please see my piece for Sustainable Life Media. Re...Please see my piece for Sustainable Life Media. Reflects some alignment in thinking...Let's dialogue!<br /><br />The Next Step: Meeting the Need for Universal Measurement, Transparency and Accountability<br /><br />http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/content/column/strategy/meeting_universal_need_for_measurement_transparency_accoutabilityJohnFriedmanhttp://www.sbnow.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1967581409895223685.post-15260114026458707282010-07-23T06:47:41.883-07:002010-07-23T06:47:41.883-07:00Mike , fascinating post, highlighting the inadequa...Mike , fascinating post, highlighting the inadequacies of almost all ranking and rating systems. What is absolutely critical about these is the transparency of the methodology, which many other ranking systems fail to provide. <br />Warm regards, elaine, csr-reporting.blogspot.comelainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com