The globalization of the economy, pressing ecological issues such as climate change and the recent spotlight on corporate governance practices are shaping and changing how we view the role of corporations in society. Traditionally, the role of the corporation has been understood primarily in economic terms. Companies provide products and services and, in doing so, they create jobs and wealth.

Increasingly, stakeholders (shareholders, investors, communities, regulators, employees, customers and non-governmental organizations) are taking a broader perspective on corporate responsibility that not only incorporates economic, but also social, environmental and corporate governance performance factors. These four performance areas are the ones being evaluated by stakeholders to determine whether a company is moving toward more sustainable business practices and is conducting its business in an ethical and socially responsible manner. This information is being used by stakeholders to drive investment decisions, inform regulatory initiatives, direct consumer and business to business purchasing decisions, and to rate and rank the sustainability of companies.

Our understanding of the business risks and opportunities associated with environmental, social and economic performance is based on over seventy case studies and work with dozens of firms. We are confident that your organizations can leverage sustainability and CSR initiatives to protect value through the better management of risks, and create value through the identification of opportunities to reduce costs, attract investment and expand markets.

More on the Business Case

Our CSR & Sustainability Services help clients manage the risks and capitalize on the opportunities created by sustainable development. Below we have outlined three general phases organizations go through as they seek to adopt CSR or sustainability as a key organizing principle for their overall business strategy. Our expertise is helping our clients progress through these phases confidently, with a goal of gaining the greatest possible competitive and operational advantages.

Our deep understanding of key international standards, performance expectations and guidance documents related to CSR, and knowledge of trends and stakeholder expectations in the area of CSR helps our clients to:

• Document the key ecological, economic and social factors affecting the organization now, and into the future (e.g. drivers and risks);
• Understand how these trends and the shift to more sustainable forms of production and consumption will affect their business;
• Analyse customer requirements; information on stakeholder expectations on performance; competitor positioning; and regulatory and technological trends.
• Develop approaches to stakeholder engagement that will enable your organization to identify and address concerns early on in capital investment and product development decision-making processes

We work with our clients using this and other relevant information to take stock of the “current reality” and help them position themselves to benefit from the opportunities of the emerging business climate and to manage risks. We have developed a specific tool, CSR Insight^TM, based on emerging and existing international standards and guidelines to help our clients understand sustainability in terms of the specific business practices expected by their significant stakeholders, benchmark themselves against these business practices, identify their performance relative to other companies, identify performance gaps and more effectively integrate CSR considerations into their core business functions (e.g., sales and marketing, product development).

Once we have a good understanding of stakeholder expectations of your company and key issues or risks the company faces, we have a solid base of knowledge to interpret how sustainability affects the value proposition of your company and how to respond.

Having established a solid information base, we work with our clients in the interpretation phase to determine what this information means to the organization. We assist clients in this phase through strategic consulting services aimed at:

• further evaluating risks and opportunities to determine which are the most relevant and immediate;
• showing the relationship of CSR/sustainability to the overall value proposition of the company in a clearly articulated business case;
• beginning the process of understanding how sustainability considerations can be integrated into the overall business strategy of the organization; and
• engaging senior management on the development of an implementation strategy and framework.

Once the direction is set, a roll-out of the vision and implementation strategy across the various levels of the organization must occur. This is supported by the integration of sustainability into core business processes. During this phase we put our advice into action, with a focus on building our clients' internal capacity, transferring knowledge and skills and ensuring successful implementation. Our key strength is a deep understanding of the management systems, tools, programs and data required to help your organizational gain business value from its sustainability and CSR efforts. We apply this understanding to your key decision-making processes (e.g. long-range planning, capital investments, product development, supply chain management, sales and marketing) and work with your team to integrate social and environmental factors into these processes in a manner that will create business value for your organization. We assist clients in this phase through technical consulting services aimed at:

• developing pilot projects and case studies to demonstrate and communicate the business value of sustainability and CSR across the organization
• developing management systems or integrating environmental and social factors into existing management systems;
• training and capacity building in core business functions – sales, product development, procurement, capital investment procedures etc.

The goal of implementation is to embed sustainability into the culture of the organization so that all key decisions take into account appropriate economic, social and environmental performance factors. Organizations that do this successfully automatically have a built in feedback loop (e.g. sales force will be open to changes in customer priorities on social and economic performance) that will ensure that they are attuned to changing expectations on performance.

• Alcan
• Alcoa
• Armstrong
• Black and Decker
• Cement Association of Canada
• Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (CEC)
• Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)
• EnCana
• Exelon
• Industry Canada
• JohnsonDiversey
• Natural Resources Canada
• Ontario Power Generation (OPG)
• Pollution Probe
• Shell International Exploration and Production
• Sustainable Development Technologies Canada (SDTC)
• Rio Tinto
• United Technologies Corporation

• Sustainable Purchasing Guide
• Mapping the Journey: Case Studies and Action Toward Sustainable Development
• Mapping a Sustainable Future:Toward a New Vision for Corporate Responsibility in Canada
• Effectively Engaging Stakeholders: A Survey of Current Practice
• Green Procurement: Good Environmental Stories for North Americans
• The Role of Eco-Efficiency: Global Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century
  Part 1: Overview and Analysis
  Part 2: Eco-Efficiency Case Studies
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Lessons Learned
• Sustainable Development Issue Scans: Office Furniture Industry
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Lessons Learned PowerPoint presentation
• The Role of Industry Associations in the Promotion of Sustainability and CSR
• CSR: Lessons Learned Case Studies:
  • Canadian Pacific Railway Case Study
  • DuPont Canada Case Study
  • The Home Depot Case Study
  • Husky Injection Molding Case Study
  • Marine Harvest Canada Case Study
  • Syncrude Canada Ltd. Case Study
  • Teck Cominco Case Study
  • TELUS Case Study
  • VanCity Case Study
  • Weyerhaeuser Case Study

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