Comments on: Responsible Business Summit 2010 – Impressions from Day 1

By: First impressions – CSR in the Middle East | EarthChamps

First impressions – CSR in the Middle East | EarthChamps — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:08:42 +0000

[...] Related posts:Responsible Business Summit 2010 – Impressions from Day 1 [...]

By: simongoldsmith

simongoldsmith — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:28:19 +0000

having attended Base in March my feeling was that the event was one that reviewed the past rather than looked forward to the future. Nothing innovative was launched, revealed or even hinted at. This was somewhat disturbing as the incremental improvements we have witnessed are not moving us quickly enough to a sustainable path.
I'm still not sure if companies and consultants alike are really grasping the nettle of sustainability, recognising the challenge that we face and the timescale we have to make changes. Only when we have an honest discussion that brings in issues of timeframes, the transparency of how businesses are or are not applying frameworks to achieve sustainability and how companies can begin to collaborate more to align businesses in more sustainable ways (and even considering challenging our unsustainable debt based economic growth model) will we begin to see some of the real innovation we require.
Maybe such innovation will come from outside of companies, from social enterprises, pragmatic NGO's and creative, collaborative consultancies interested in open sourcing sustainability methodologies. Lets hope so!
http://twitter.com/simontgoldsmith

By: simongoldsmith

simongoldsmith — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:28:19 +0000

By: Four CSR developments I identified at the 2010 Responsible Business Summit | FabianPattberg.com

Thu, 06 May 2010 15:11:00 +0000

[...] is the link to a previous post about my impressions of the first conference day. Day 1 of the RBS 2010 if you are interested in the first day in particular. The second day was equally interesting but [...]

By: Veronica Scheubel

Veronica Scheubel — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:44:01 +0000

Have also been working in CR for many years now, and agree with your point of view that there is rather little innovation these days really 'wowing' me – although that would be exactly what I'd be looking for, hoping and expecting … As said yesterday in session, to me it's about making the decision whether risk mitigation, mainly in HSE, is enough for you and your company, or whether you're willing to look at CR as business opportunity and make it part of strategy and business development. That is still 'the next frontier' …

By: Kit Cooper

Kit Cooper — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:00:52 +0000

I do feel the same debates have prevailed amongst CR practioners for a long time now and little innovation has come to the fore to wow me into thinking some giant steps are being made. In a way it's the nature of the CR beast that lots of incremental steps are made on the path of continuous improvement but some true innovations that enable more significant insight into stakeholders' perceptions of companies' actions and facilitate more radical improvement in performance would help more people to attach greater value to CR. Value being an imperative at all times but even more so during a recession. Innovation is the boost CR needs. If there is some going on, I'm not getting to hear about it.

By: FabianPattberg

FabianPattberg — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:20:08 +0000

Thanks for the comment Brigitte. I agree with you as well. I am optimistic about the future of CSR and Sustainability too. This post should only reflect my impressions on the developments of the industry as far as I can tell. I am an optimistic person by nature so no worries there.

By: brigittegoddemeyer

brigittegoddemeyer — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:43:05 +0000

Fabian,
although I sometimes get the same impression, I am still very optimistic. After the crash and now the oilspill, people are at least doubting the honest efforts for #csr and/or #green some giants are untertaking. Especially in the US, where Obama is trying to hold companies accountable, I see a greater shift towards #CSR than here in Europe. Social media will hopefully help spreading the message faster on a wordwide basis. Let's be patient, I am optimistic!:-) Brigitte