An International Conference
May 5-6, 2006 - Siena, Italy
Abstracts
Second Session : Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainable Investment
Speaker: Geoffrey Bush
Corporate Philanthropy and Global Citizenship
- The evolution over 15 years from "fringe activity" corporate philanthropy to embedded and integral global corporate citizenship
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Drivers and mechanisms to support ethical choices and measure performance:
- Corporate values
- Codes, policies and compliance
- Risk and reputation management
- Stakeholder engagement
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Issues and dilemmas:
- Long term v short term
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Consistency
- Global/local standards
- Cross-functions and geographies
- Good and bad trading conditions
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Stakeholder conflicts
- Competing demands - economic, social and environmental
- Whose ethics and moral standards?
- Complexity of issues v focussed purpose and delivery
- The "acid test" - when values and ethical standards conflict with business opportunities
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Leadership and partnership - setting standards, addressing issues:
- Collaborating v competing within an industry sector
- Governments and international agencies - public policy
- NGO interests and legitimacy
- The role of multinationals - where are the boundaries?