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Commentary & Analysis
New Study Looks at Executives’ Views on Corporate Responsibility
By Adam Dewitz
Published: November 29, 2007
A new study from Grant Thornton LLP and BusinessWeek Research Services explores executives’ views on corporate responsibility. According to the study, "77% of executives say that corporate responsibility will have a major impact on their business strategies over the next few years, and 76% agree it can enhance a company’s profitability."
When asked How responsible should companies be?, Executives had a broad sense of what issues need to be addressed when seeking corporately responsible business practices.
Key findings from the study include:
Despite a decrease in economic and business optimism, executives expect more resources will be allocated to corporate responsibility initiatives.
Executives are supporting corporate responsibility initiatives not just for compliance or image reasons, but because they believe corporate responsibility improves profitability.
Executives believe social responsibility programs may provide the greatest opportunity for companies to break away from the pack and demonstrate leadership.
Executives believe that environmental responsibility programs have little effect in attracting and retaining employees.
Executives welcome increased government regulation regarding corporate responsibility because they see it as a way to ensure that everyone plays by the rules.
However some executives view government regulation are leery of government intervention. One CMO is quoted in the report, "The best way to keep government regulators at bay is to do it yourself; don’t make them impose their perception of what people want in terms of social and environmental responsibility. The government has a unique way of misinterpreting what people want and turning it into policy. Companies do a better job of gauging what people really want and are better at providing it."
According to the report What encourages investment in environmental responsibility "the overwhelming majority of respondents (95%) agreed that tax incentives headed the list. Customer recognition and the availability of new technologies were also key factors."
Graph Sources: Grant Thornton LLP and BusinessWeek Research Services, “Grant Thornton Survey of U.S. Business Leaders 15th Edition” (November 2007).
The report is available for free from Grant Thornton LLP.
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