Making Money And Making A Difference

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• Develop an active strategy for corporate social responsibility and sustainability-related action

• Understand key developments in CSR

• Examine and review emerging CSR initiatives

“Only if business learns that to do well it has to do good can we hope to tackle the major social challenges facing developed societies today.”

- Peter Drucker “The New Meaning of Corporate Responsibility”

“Every organisation must assume responsibility for its impact on employees, the environment, customers, and whomever and whatever it touches. That is social responsibility.” - Peter Drucker, International Business Expert

Often confused and associated with philanthropic efforts in forms of charitable donations, sponsorships and handouts, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not philanthropy. CSR is a way of doing business – doing the right things by taking account of all the social, economic and environmental impact your business practices have in the long term. CSR is the foundation to ethical processes in all corporate decision-making and business strategies and actions.

Businesses are under increasing external pressure and opposition from a wide cross section of society. These threats can be transformed into opportunities through CSR. To help you make better sense of what CSR really is about Bright*Star’s Corporate Social Responsibility - Making Money And Making A Difference has been designed with your interest and requirements in developing CSR strategies in mind. You will emerge from the course well-informed and well equipped to develop – and implement – CSR strategies for the sustainability of your business.

8 GREAT REASONS TO ATTEND

1. Review, clarify and evaluate your understanding of CSR

2. Understand and be able to establish how CSR adds value for stakeholders

3. Be able to present the CSR value proposition and engage senior management and the board

4. Explore why progressive businesses are not driven by profit only

5. Learn to use the CSR concept to establish a set of guiding principles

6. Gain insights and learn from relevant best practices and case studies

7. Understand international CSR reporting systems and standards

8. Create a sustainable CSR action plan 

Day One

Shifting Paradigms from Business - as - Usual to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• Why its time for a change: the push of global problems seen in the global sustainability crisis and the pull of a vision of what could be

• How business can be either part of the problem or part of the solution

• From paradigm paralysis to paradigm pioneering

• Introducing the journey up Mt Sustainability

• Introducing The Four P’s of socially responsible business: Purpose, Principles, Practices and Performance Measurement

Understanding and Handling Objections to CSR

• Why business and the market aren’t amoral

• How CSR reduces the need for market regulation

• Why CSR is not incompatible with maximising returns

• How CSR adds value for stakeholders

Making the Business Case: Profits and Principles

• Increasing returns through increasing revenue and reducing costs

• Reducing risks

• Building goodwill by strengthening corporate reputation with CSR

• Strengthening community relations

• Contributing to environmental sustainability

• Increasing productivity and loyalty of employees

• Improving customer sales and loyalty

• Growing supplier commitment

• Satisfying shareholders

The New Corporate Governance

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: how corporate governance adds or destroys value

• Why Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues are now entering the mainstream for investors and businesses

• How CSR offers an integrated approach

• Meeting expectations of regulators and investors

• Presenting the CSR value proposition to senior management and the board

Purpose of a Socially Responsible Business: Doing Well by Doing Good

• Why profit is not the only purpose: creating environmental, social and financial wealth

• How to achieve alignment between personal and business missions: finding meaning and making a difference at work

• Personal development and transformation at work

• Identifying and understanding stakeholders and meeting their needs

• New paradigm business strategy: systems thinking at work

• From transactional to transformational leadership

Principles of Socially Responsible Business: Ethics and Excellence

• Why business ethics is important

• Applied wisdom: Aristotle at work and working with the virtues

• How to create a set of guiding principles

• Articulating and promoting a Code of Ethics

• Valuing Values: reviewing and aligning personal, societal and business values

• Acting with integrity and responsibility

Day Two

Practices of Peak Performing Socially Responsible Businesses – Walking the Talk

• Exploring the best practices for the community, environment, employee, customer, supplier, and shareholder groups

• Learning from local leaders – the 24 finalists and winners from the New Zealand Business Ethics and Ethical Governance Awards (1989 – 2006)

• Benchmarking against the world’s best CSR leaders – insights from international investor research, Members of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Global Compact

• Understanding expectations of local responsible investors – from the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to the Asteron Socially Responsible Investment Trust

• Reviewing the key elements of stakeholder management systems and how to implement them, ranging from environmental (including climate change and waste management) through to supply chain management

Performance Measurement for Socially Responsible Businesses

• The demands for accountability and transparency and the benefits of accounting for CSR

• Accounting for the future: understanding international CSR reporting systems and standards

• Leading local and international examples

• How investors measure a businesses CSR and what they want business to report

• Identifying and applying measures

Creating and Presenting CSR Action Plans

• Engaging stakeholders

• Steps to embedding internal cultural change throughout the business

• Making CSR integral rather than an add on or nice but not necessary

• Setting targets

• Measure what you treasure - making a measurement plan identifying what to measure and report

• Leveraging CSR in marketing and communications

• Connecting with local networks and CSR initiatives

• Integrating corporate citizenship and sustainability into key business areas