You might have heard about the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) recently. The SAC was founded by an industry-wide group of leading apparel and footwear brand owners, retailers, manufacturers, non-governmental organizations, academic experts, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is an organization that seeks to measure and reduce the environmental and social impacts of apparel and footwear products around the world. Read the rest of this entry »

On May 1, 2012, Dassault Systèmes launched its first ever Day of Service at its new Boston campus. More than 200 employees were involved in over 15 volunteer activities in the community and at the office. Activities included preparing and serving meals to the homeless, painting murals with children at the Waltham Boys and Girls club, sorting food at the Greater Boston Food Bank, writing letters to soldiers abroad, and harvesting crops at local farms, to name just a few. Read the rest of this entry »

At the heart of advancing corporate citizenship is organizational change, and that change comes in many forms. Whether it’s the creation of strategy, the development of management structures, systems and policies, engaging employees and senior management, aligning initiatives to support the business, or embedding corporate citizenship into the culture and fabric of the business – these are all change challenges faced by corporate citizenship professionals. But no matter which challenges they face, the ability to lead effectively is critical.

Strong leadership skills are important to managing any aspect of business, but corporate citizenship leadership poses unique challenges. Managers responsible for advancing corporate citizenship rarely have formal authority to direct Read the rest of this entry »

Sweden played host to more than 300 leaders, innovators, executives, and researchers from 54 countries this June at the Tällberg Forum to consider the tremendous impact of technology on humankind.

With a conference theme of “Beyond our imagination” the general thesis put forth by presenters is that technology has outpaced our ability to use or understand it. Consider, for instance, the reality that it took us more than 20 years to make use of the Internet and online technology as we do now to interact and connect globally. Read the rest of this entry »

We are in the public consultation period for the fourth iteration of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).  We encourage our members to give their feedback on the framework. There are a number of enhancements to the framework that will be welcome to reporters (the abandonment of the application level rubric of assigned letter grades) and some where business stakeholders may want to provide guidance.

In the consultation process to date, one of the best surprises I had from the stakeholder feedback was the number of companies that use the GRI as a management framework even if they choose not to register their reports. Conversely, I was disappointed that so few corporate reporters have provided feedback on the G4. In the coming weeks the Center will be providing more information on the substance of the proposed changes – including proposals on reporting material impacts throughout the value chain, supply chain disclosures, and required disclosures regarding compensation of executives and workers in countries where your firm has significant operations. Read the rest of this entry »