IBM global survey shows information gap in “green,“ sustainability strategies

01 June 2009

IBM's second annual global corporate social responsibility survey of senior business executives again shows significant gaps between their goals and their ability to attain them.

Nearly all of the 224 respondents said they remain committed to incorporating CSR principles into their business strategies – despite the global recession -- to improve business performance, societal contribution and reputation.

But the survey results identified three specific problems:
- Companies aren't collecting and analyzing all the right information about CSR or aggregating it often enough. That means they can't implement real changes that would fundamentally increase efficiency, lower costs, reduce environmental impact and improve reputation with key stakeholders; 
- Few are collecting enough CSR data from global supply chain partners – missing a major opportunity to reduce inconsistency, inefficiency, waste and risk that can ripple through a global supply network; 
- Most still don't understand the concerns of their key stakeholders, particularly customers, and are not actively engaging them. That means they're not capturing valuable insights that could improve their businesses and provide access to new opportunities.

For example, only 19 per cent are collecting data on CO2 emissions weekly or more frequently. The rest are collecting it no more than monthly, and most only quarterly - ample perhaps for meeting government or stakeholder demands for information, but not nearly enough to make systemic changes that would reduce environmental impact.

However, respondents who reported outperforming competitors are doing all those things better – collecting and analyzing the right data frequently to make better decisions, incorporating CSR information from suppliers, and engaging with customers.

''Our survey participants clearly understand that integrating CSR considerations into their business strategies is essential to their growth and performance,'' said Eric Riddleberger, IBM's business strategy consulting global leader, who heads up the company's corporate social responsibility consulting efforts. ''But it's also pretty obvious many of them don't know what they need to know to actually make changes that would improve both business performance and societal impact.''