MA-Strategic Management in Global Communication

Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics

IGNASI FAINÉ / NEREA PLAZAMarch 21st

WHAT ARE OUR EXPECTATIONS FROM THESE SESSIONS?

Introduction

I. CONCEPT

II. HOW IS IT APPLIED? STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION

III. BUSINESS ETHICS

IV. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

WHO ARE WE?

Water cycleSupply

Sewerage

Over 140 years’ experience

Approximately 150 companies

Activities in over 10 countries

Over 10,000 professionals

Environment

Knowledge

Solutions

Infrastructures

Concessions

I. CONCEPT

What is Sustainable Development? What is SD NOT?

What is CSR? What is CSR NOT?

(individual written - debate)

PEOPLE PLANET

THE WATER CHALLENGESUnequal distribution and difficult access to drinking water

GOALSCONFLICTS

Water & planet

0.0001% of the whole planet’s water are drinking water reserves

www.calvert.com 

The challenge of…

CLIMATE CHANGE

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES

URBANIZATION

INEQUALITIES BETWEEN

COUNTRIES

DEVELOPMENTEMERGING COUNTRIES

CONFLICTS OVER

RESOURCES

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Bruntland Report

Economic

Social

Environ-mental

SDLabour rightsCorporate

Governance

Human Rights

Civil Rights

RESPONSIBILITY

LONG TERM

COMPREHENSIVE VISION

WHICH IS THE ROLE OF COMPANIES?

Input Company Output

→ Which is the role of the company?

→ Is it creating wealth?• Kind?• Who for?• In exchange for?

→ Is it being responsible?→ Is it sustaible?→ Is this a real situation?

THE IDEAL COMPANY

“The social Responsibility of Business is to increase its profits”

Milton FriedmanThe New York Times Magazine,

September 13, 1970

… AND THE ROLE OF COMPANIES?

Input Company Output

Use of resources

Waste

Effects on biodiversity

Pollution

Alterations to the landscape

Employment/Unemployment

Community development

Purchases – economic development

PEOPLE

COMPANIESSECTOR

COUNTRYENVIRONMENT

Corporate Social Responsibility as “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society”.

Enterprises “should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical, human rights and consumer concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders”.

European Commission (2011)

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

CHARACTERISTICS

ProactiveVoluntaryBeyond strict adherence to law

EVOLUTION

Mitigation of impacts Prevention Creation of

value

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

IS NOT...The activity carried out by the company in relation to “the needy”: social action.The actions carried out by the company to protect the environment: environmental sustainability.A department or a specific area of action.

IS... Ensuring the viability of the business, introducing more than purely

economic parameters into the decision-making processes: integrating the social, environmental, ethical, labour, moral, etc. concerns into our day-to-day business.

What the company does to ensure its permanence over time.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Different terms....

...the same idea

"Businesses around the world are waking up to the urgency of addressing social, economic and

environmental challenges.“

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General

II. STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION

How to implement CSR?

CSR is the responsibility of companies for their impact on society.

• Starting point: regulatory and legislative compliance

• Implementation of a process: to integrate social, environmental, ethical, human rights and consumer concerns into their business operations and core strategy.

• … in close collaboration with their stakeholders.

COMMUNICATING BUSINESS

→ How do I start?

The power of purpose

What we have

What we do

How we do it

WHY we do it

From tangibles…

… to Intangibles©Therry Tyrell

CR STRATEGY

de RC

PMP RC

IRC Actions carried out during the year

Definition of the Vision, Mission and Values

Prioritization of the stakeholders

Establishment of commitments with the strategic stakeholders

Preparation of action plans with annual objectives and medium-term goals

Stakeholders

Policy

Medium-Term Plan

Accountability

VisionMissionValues

Vision, mission, valuesVision

Be the reference business group in our areas of activity and one of the big global utilities.

Manage water efficiently to improve the quality of life of people, in harmony with the environment.

Lead the development of solutions and technologies in the water sector.

Transfer the accumulated experience to society, generating value for our stakeholders.

Contribute to attaining the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

ExcellenceInnovation Sustainable business model

Dialogue and cooperation Local developmentAlliances and collaborations

Mission

Values

Stakeholders

ROLE PLAY: HOW DO I INTEGRATE THE CONCERNS?:-Company Director-Consumers’ Association-Representative local authorities (city council)-Union representative-Environmental NGO-Social NGO-Supplier company

QUESTIONS: - Is it easy to maintain an open dialogue? How to

structure the dialogue in a big company?- Is it easy to meet all demands? Is it necessary to

do so? - What dimensions come within CSR? - What departments would be involved in the

requests that were made?

e.g. Dimensions (GRI) i

e.g. Dimensions (GRI) ii

Commitments

The preparation of the Corporate Responsibility Medium-Term Plan

(CRMTP) reflects the desire to promote CR in Agbar and to incorporate it

into the business strategy.

It is the internal document which details the actions to carry out in

order to fulfil the commitments detailed in the Corporate Responsibility

policy.

The Corporate Responsibility and Reputation Office wants the CRMTP to

be aligned and to be able to make contributions to the objectives of

Agbar’s strategic plan.

CR Mid-term plan

MEDIUM-TERM CR PLAN

AGBAR - Accountability

DEBATE: ARE CR REPORTS USEFUL?

III. BUSINESS ETHICS

CODE OF ETHICS

• A written set of guidelines issued by an organization to its workers and management to help them conduct their actions in accordance with its primary values and ethical standards.

RIGHT WRONG

Our principles

• 4 fundamental principles which guide our behaviour:

• Act in accordance with laws and regulations

• Establish a culture of integrity

• Demonstrate loyalty and honesty

• Respect others

APPLYING OUR PRINCIPLES… TO WHOM? AND WHEN?

(test)

Spheres of application

• Three spheres in which these four fundamental principles are applied:

• Organization sphere, formed by employees, companies which make up Agbar and shareholders

• Market sphere, within which we maintain relations with clients, suppliers and competitors.

• Environment sphere, formed by the world around us, in the countries in which we are present: local community and the environment nesty and respect for others.

Are we ethical? Corporate Culture

ValuesVisionBeliefs

…

NormsCodes

Procedures…

BehaviourPerformance

habits

IS IT WORTH THE EFFORT?

The value of reputation

Source: “The Tangible Value of Corporate Reputation”, Charles J. Fombrun and Jonathan Low, Communication World, Nov-Dec 2011

FeDex websiteFeDex in Youtube

VW Passat Spot Star Wars VW Passat Spot Star Wars - response

…and the cost of irresponsibility

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently. Warren Buffett Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway

Can I do this forever?

III. COMMUNICATING CSR

Greenwash?

The Greenwash Guide – FUTERRA SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATIONS

Manging risks

goodgood

badbad

badbad goodgood

Risk

Opportunity

REALITY

PERCEPTION

Risks and opportunities of Communicating CSR

RISKS OPPORTUNITIES

THE CORPORATE PURPOSE

EXPLAIN

DO

BE

The main challenge of CSR

CONCLUSIONSSUMMARY VIDEO

FINAL TEST: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

CSR simply consists of managing the risk and preventing bad practices

CSR questions the business and capitalist system itself

CSR consists of giving money to social causes and being a philanthropist

CSR focuses on how companies make profit, not where they invest it

CSR acts on two levels: the individual and the organizational

For companies to act ethically they just need to write a code of ethics and a corporate policy

CSR is unrealistic and that is why it does not obtain improvements

The responsibility of companies should be established and regulated by law and the state

CSR is not the only answer, but it is an essential answer

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

responsabilidadcorporativa@agbar.es