Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR and Risk Management

Some of the main reasons for the current financial and economic crisis are shortcomings and failures in risk management. Criticism especially relates to the focus on a limited set of technical indicators, which led to neglecting relevant risks. This criticism coincides with the current praxis regarding the consideration of ecological megatrends such as climate change and the shortage of natural resources in corporate risk management and in the financial markets. Business risks resulting from these trends find little attention.

In the project "CSR and Risk Management" the relationship between CSR and risk management will be analysed systematically. The research design consists of a literature study, an analysis of annual reports of German and international companies, interviews with German and international experts and an expert workshop.

The project is funded by German Environmental Ministry.

Project
Projectpartners: future e.V., 4Sustainability, Borderstep
Researcher: Sabine Braun, Thomas Loew, Jens Clausen
Funding: German Federal Environmental Ministry
November 2009 - Oktober 2010

Publications
to be published in 2010

CSR and Innovation

With growing environmental problems and increasing scarcity of resources, we must think about technological progress in a new way. One challenge facing the business world is the need to bring innovation policies into line with ever-acuter ecologic and social trends, while still strengthening one’s ability to compete in the global economy. The project analyses the role that CSR plays for corporations’ ability to innovate, addressing whether CSR has a positive impact on innovative leadership, or provides an impetus to environmental innovation. The research design consists of a literature study, a survey and case studies conducted in the U.S. and in Germany. The project was funded by the German Federal Environmental Ministry.

Publications
Clausen J, Loew T, Hall M, Loft L, Braun S (2009)
Casestudies on CSR and Innovation: Company Cases from Germany and the USA. Download

Bundesumweltministerium (Hrsg.) (2009)
Innovation durch CSR. Die Zukunft Nachhaltig gestalten <Innovation by CSR. Designing the future in a sustainably way> Download

Clausen J, Loew T (2009)
CSR und Innovation: Literaturstudie und Befragung Berlin, München 2009 <CSR and Innovation: Study and Survey> Download

Management of CSR - Brochure for PwC

The questions how to organise CR systematically and how relates CR to environmental management have been asked frequently in the recent years. On behalf of PwC the autors developed a model which describes organisational structure, responsibilities, needs for coordination and integration. The brochure covers all relevant issues to manage CR systematically.

Publication
PricewaterhouseCoopers (Hrsg) (2009)
Unternehmerische Verantwortung praktisch umsetzen: Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement, <Corporate Responsibility organised in Business: Sustainability Management> Frankfurt (Authors: Sabine Braun, Dieter Horst, Thomas Loew Ulf Doerner) Purchase at PwC

The Role of Sustainability Megatrends for Corporate Strategy

The major sustainability megatrends such as declining ressources, climate change and demografic change will change markets. Current products can lose competitiveness and new markets develop for for those innovations which consider these trends. Therefore companies need to understand these trends and consider them in their strategies.

Project
Projectpartners: future e.V., 4Sustainability, Borderstep
Researcher: Sabine Braun, Jens Clausen, Thomas Loew
Funding: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit
Oktober 2006 - 2007

Publication
Bundesumweltministerium (Hrsg) (2008)
Megatrends der Nachhaltigkeit. Unternehmensstrategie neu denken. < Sustainability Megatrends. Rethinking Corporate Strategy> Download

German Multi-Stakeholder Workshops on CSR

Since 2004 a series of workshops on CSR is carried out. Up to now the workshops focussed on

- CSR and innovation (2008)
- The role of sustainability megatrends for corporate strategy (2007)
- Management of CSR (2006)
- CSR in the supply chain (2005)
- Verifcation of CSR reports (2005)
- CSR: requirements for business (2004)


For each workshop a research study was prepared. Detailled information and english presentations are available at the project page of the German CSR Workshops on this website.

Publications
German Federal Ministry for the Environment (Ed.) (2006)
Corporate Social Responsibility: An Introduction from the Environmental Perspective, Berlin direct download / download at www.bmu.de

Loew T (2006)
CSR in the Supply Chain: Challenges and Starting Points for Companies (German with English abstract) Download

Loew T, Braun S (2006)
Organising CSR: From Environmental Management to Sustainable Corporate Governance? (German with English summary) Download

The Impact of CSR on Sustainability Requirements to Business

The large number of different approaches and requirements for the implementation of a corporate sustainability strategy is leading to uncertainty not only in companies but also amongst stakeholders and policy makers. Questions centre on the significance of environmental protection and product orientation within the framework of the various approaches. Are environmental issues losing ground while social requirements gain more importance?

In addition, there is a profusion of terms and definitions, encompassing everything from corporate social responsibility (CSR) through corporate citizenship (CC) to sustainability. Furthermore, the terms are defined differently at international, European and national levels.

The study provides the political community, industry associations and companies with a classification of the approaches and a clear set of terms and definitions.

The second part of the study analyses the business requirements within the context of the EU strategy on CSR, and against the background of the sustainability debate taking place within Germany. International SRI-experts and representatives from German stakeholder groups were consulted when the framework of sustainability requirements to companies was developed.


Project data

Project by future e.V. in co-operation with IÖW
Researchers: Thomas Loew (project manager), Sabine Braun, Kathrin Ankele, Jens Clausen
Sponsored by: Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety
Project period: 2003-2004


Publications

Loew T, Ankele K, Braun S, Clausen J (2004)
Significance of the CSR Debate for Sustainability and the Requirements for Companies, Berlin, Münster
English Summary
Final Report (German)

Further information on CSR and Corporate Sustainability:

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