Stakeholder Management
Keeping Up with the Rise of ESG Investing Strategies
As their customers are increasingly asking for greener portfolio options, investors are left struggling to integrate sustainability into their portfolio management strategies. The main challenge for investors is coming from ESG data itself, which has remained scattered, incomplete, incoherent, and unstructured.
Balancing Richness and Reach for More Focused Reporting
Spurred by regulation and industry standards, more companies than ever are reporting on core ESG topics by publishing integrated or separate corporate sustainability reports. Simultaneously, 26 percent of global assets under management are managed under an ESG strategy. While investors are becoming stronger advocates for ESG disclosure, companies are struggling to find the balance between reporting too little or too much. Pro-active lean reporting combined with responding to relevant external ESG rating requests can help to resolve this dilemma.
Dyeing Your Business Model Canvas Green
Based upon 20 years of international experience in sustainability strategy and implementation, Finch & Beak developed a process tool to assist companies with the conception of sustainability as a key element of business strategy. The tool, called GLOBE-US, finds its basis in the Business Model Generation-approach of Osterwalder and Pigneur. GLOBE-US is comprised of 7 steps, starting with the original business model. Through the relevant material issues, the tool focuses on value creation and ultimately disruptive business model design.
Future Trends: What Would Investors Like to See?
Investors are calling for clearer, more comparable and more integrated non-financial reporting and greater accountability from company boards, according to a new survey. The study, conducted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), asked investors to evaluate the non-financial reporting practices of European companies.
On Authenticity: Is It True Love between the Octopus and the Frog?
Chiquita had a doubtful reputation. But after partnering for many years, Chiquita and Rainforest Alliance signed a co-branding agreement. In Switzerland, this initiative lead to an open letter of over 10 NGO's that questioned Chiquita's authenticity and, as a result, pulling back the advertising campaign.
RepTrak Belgium 2013: Importance of Sustainability for Corporate Reputation
A strong corporate reputation is one of the most wanted assets for corporations. Easier attraction of investors and employees and legitimacy for premium pricing are only a few of its benefits. Increasingly, sustainability is part of the road towards that highly sought after strong reputation, according to data from the Reputation Institute, thought leader in the field of corporate reputations.
Critical Success Factors of a Sustainable Company
A recent study by Professor Robert Eccles (Harvard Business School) found that ‘high sustainability’ companies significantly outperformed their counterparts over an 18 year period with 4.8% in terms of both stock market and accounting criteria, such as return on assets and return on equity. These survey results, and the increasing pressure from stakeholder groups such as investors, employees and NGOs on consideration of broad human needs, clearly underline the importance of being a sustainable company.
Unfolding the Materiality Matrix - A Consulting Approach
In 1999, many of us got to know ‘The Matrix’ as the world we humans live in, and the real world, which is a layer around the Matrix that is controlled by machines. Was this spectacular science fiction movie the inspiration for many organizations to think beyond their small world, to start interacting with stakeholders and develop a materiality matrix? Probably not. However, since the beginning of the new millenium, we have seen a spectacular increase in the use of the materiality matrix in sustainability strategy design and reporting.
