188450 Resource 149173 155860 149257 1194136411012 1194282298776 Controlled Small Business News: Sustainable Business Growing In Importance

Global business leaders define critical issues at business for social responsibility conference

Corporate responsibility is becoming a more critical strategic issue for business, according to the results of a survey released recently at the Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) annual conference in San Francisco. Eighty-two percent of respondents at the event -- the global gathering of private sector executives, NGOs and policymakers focused on corporate responsibility -- say they are optimistic that companies around the world will make corporate social responsibility (CSR) a core business strategy in the next five years. "There's a tremendous sense of optimism that sustainability -- integrated, comprehensive solutions to urgent global challenges such as climate change, consumer product safety and the impact of rapid industrialization -- is now firmly on both the business and public agenda," said Aron Cramer, president and CEO of BSR. "The opportunity to make real and lasting progress on critical business sustainability issues has never been greater." Why the sharpening focus on sustainable business? Consumer behavior and concerns about reputation top the list, said nearly half (47 percent) of the 330 business leaders and others polled. Mattel, Inc. Chairman and CEO Robert Eckert's description of the company's perspective on recent toy recalls illustrates this: "All organizations have areas of improvement. But it's how problems are addressed and the transparency and honesty with which these are addressed that builds the character of a company." The survey also unearthed valuable new insights about business strategies for addressing climate change. Nearly one-third of respondents (31 percent) said energy efficiency and renewable energy are at the heart of their corporate climate change efforts. Despite recent widespread attention to the practice of carbon offsets, very few -- just 6 percent -- said this was a focus. Acknowledging the growing influence of emerging economies on the business landscape, an overwhelming majority of respondents (69 percent) said China is the country that will most influence the evolution of corporate responsibility in the next five years. The participation of more than 1,300 leaders from nearly 50 countries -- the largest BSR conference ever -- underscores the unprecedented attention to corporate responsibility issues globally. If you are interested in finding out more about the 2007 BSR Annual Conference, visit <a href="http://www.bsr.org/conference">http://www.bsr.org/conference</a>. 10 application/xml business leaders business news global business small business small business news social responsibility social responsibility conference sustainable business false Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.0.04506) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 mfmomper false true false false true 189572 false false true false false false true 149173 blog blogsite/FreedomVoice/web