I just received my alma mater newsletter and was pleased to read about the work of my school’s centre on sustainability. I found the following summary quite interesting – especially the second forum which looked at best practices in community engagement. As usual, the findings are consistent with our own observations about the global environment and shifts in stakeholder expectations.

 Summary reports from expert forums on valuing social and environmental issues and community engagement

Ivey’s Centre for Building Sustainable Value and the Research Network for Business Sustainability, which is based at Ivey, held two forums to bring together experts from industry and academia on two business sustainability topics: 1) valuing social and environmental issues, and 2) best practices in community engagement.

For the first forum on sustainability valuation, interviews with the speakers and their presentation slides are available here. A summary report is available here and highlights include:

• Thirty-five years of research shows that there is a small, positive relationship between superior corporate social performance and corporate financial performance; more importantly, there is no financial penalty.

• Mainstream investors are starting to incorporate environmental, social, and governance parameters into their investment decision-making processes.

• Various tools are available to help managers put dollar values to sustainability activities. For example, financial valuation analyses such as discounted cash flow, economic value-added, and rules of thumb, can help translate social activities in dollar values.

• Too often, managers ask ‘how much’ and ‘how far to go’ on sustainability. This traps them in the old trade-off paradigm. Instead, they should ask ‘why,’ which will encourage them to understand how sustainability activities can generate value for the firm and better position the firm to harvest that value through innovation.

• While most consumers express support of corporate sustainability initiatives, their behavior in the marketplace often does not support this view. Managers can influence customer behaviour more effectively by adjusting the context in which they sell, rather than promoting a product’s social attributes.

For the second forum on community engagement, interviews with the speakers and their presentation slides are available here. A summary report is available here and highlights include:

• Globalization is tipping the balance of power in favour of corporations; but this power is accompanied by increasing pressure on corporations to improve their social performance.

• Managers should engage stakeholders in project design early and often, and use stakeholder input to anticipate and avoid impacts.

• Increasingly, firms are shifting from supporting a non-profit organization to supporting a cause and the outcomes associated with it.

• Best practices in community engagement include: engage only if you are prepared to listen; get buy-in from senior management; have a community focal point; do not cherry-pick with whom you engage; do not change the rules mid-stream; use various communication methods and materials; be transparent, predictable, frank, reliable, available, responsive, and friendly.

• Engaging fringe stakeholders can lead to competitive imagination and innovation.

Ivey’s Centre for Building Sustainable Value strives to assist organizations to build business and social value simultaneously. It houses the Research Network for Business Sustainability, which bridges research and practice in business sustainability.

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