benefits of participating in the corporate responsibility index

The Corporate Responsibility Index is relevant to business. Designed by business for business, it is a proven management tool which highlights a company's strengths and weaknesses in corporate responsibility (CR) practices across its strategy, integration, management practices and performance and impact areas.

Participation in the Index enables companies to develop a strategic action plan for future CR activity.

Feedback from companies who embrace the CRI as an internal management tool shows that they have found it extremely useful in identifying how the integration of corporate responsibility offers the opportunity to add value to the business.

The CRI as a business management tool:

• assists companies develop, implement and measure their responsible practice
• helps companies build corporate responsibility issues into business strategy
• brings different functions in the organisation together to understand and manage the key issues for the business
• provides companies with a useful gap analysis through a confidential feedback report highlighting areas of strong performance and identifying where improvements may be made
• offers a benchmark, allowing companies to compare their performance within and across sectors
• provides a communication tool with different internal and external stakeholders.

It is now well established that managing a company’s non-financial risk can enhance reputation and improve competitiveness. A considered corporate responsibility strategy, taking account of impacts on society, the environment, workplace and marketplace, can:

• help management of non-financial risk
• create business efficiency and improved performance
• reduce overheads and transaction costs
• attract, retain and motivate talented staff, reducing recruitment costs
• secure new capital in changing consumer and investment markets
• minimise environmental impact
• increase benefits to society
• ultimately build brand, reputation, goodwill and public trust.

shaping the debate

shaping the debate

By defining what corporate responsibility means in practice, the Index helps set the management and reporting boundaries against which businesses will be judged. The Index seeks to understand through consultation and engagement how businesses are integrating corporate responsibility at a strategic and operational level. Published results from will also provide companies with broadly-based evidence of quality of management.

giving focus

Feedback is a critical part of the Corporate Responsibility Index. This allows participants to take stock of relative progress and ensure they are focusing effort in the right areas for maximum benefit for their company. Feedback is presented as confidential gap analysis, allowing companies to take stock of progress and ensure they are putting effort into the right areas for maximum benefit, and also helping to focus where improvements on corporate responsibility can be achieved.

Click here to view an example of the feedback which is provided as part of the Corporate Responsibility Index (PDF document).

realising the extent of responsible business practice

Some of the companies participating Index have said that it has helped them to realise that they are doing more across this agenda than they originally thought.

Others noted that they were not conducting their activities in a systematic or integrated manner, preventing colleagues from being able to benefit from any lessons learned.

The Corporate Responsibility Index provides a useful internal communications tool providing a framework for understanding strengths and weaknesses, allowing companies to take stock of progress and ensure that they are putting effort into the right areas for maximum benefit, and helps to focus where improvements on corporate responsibility can be achieved.

leading the way

Established in 1989, St James Ethics Centre is a fully independent not-for-profit organisation which provides a non-judgemental forum for the promotion and exploration of ethics. The Centre has been funded by the Australian Federal Government (through Treasury):

• To expand the number of companies that are actively engaged in identifying and adopting more responsible business practices.
• To consider options to improve, and where necessary refine, the tools that are available to promote responsible business practices across all levels of corporate management.

The Centre is building an Australian alliance of international leaders in CR reporting and indexing comprising the Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the Australian SAM Sustainability Index (AuSSI/DJSI) with the purpose of working together to promote responsible business practice, harmonising approaches to increase the uptake of measuring monitoring and reporting in corporate responsibility and sustainability. The alliance has the potential to be a powerful mechanism - symbolically and practically. Now more than ever companies and individuals are looking for guidance and reliable information on responsible and sustainable business practices.

The Centre will provide a neutral trusted hub, utilizing a web platform from which to reflect on the meaningful purpose of tool development and to make the way clear for newcomers trying to understand the responsible business practice landscape, demonstrating complementarity and addressing survey fatigue of those companies completing a number of ‘CR’ tools and instruments.

As an initial exercise in this regard the CRI Leaders’ Network which currently comprises: ANZ, BHP Billiton, Energy Australia, Toyota Australia and Westpac have ‘mapped’ the Global Reporting Initiative G3 Guidelines and the CRI – as a practical tool assisting companies reporting to both initiatives.

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The Corporate Responsibility Index is funded by the Australian Federal Government. The Index, developed and maintained by Business in the Community in the UK, is a project of St James Ethics Centre supported by Ernst & Young. Our media partners are The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Project catalyst: Pilotlight Australia.