THE SECRET TO BECOMING A

BRAND

TRUSTED

AND RESPONSIBLE

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY & SUSTAINABILITY

or what we refer to as Societal & Environmental Integrity (SEI), is, in essence, the next industrial revolution, which is ironically all about non-industrialization. the 1 numbers prove it : this is the future of business and the kind of patronage consumers crave. multiple studies conducted in recent years have come to the same conclusions--that engaging in SEI has more of a ROI than most realize. as time has gone on and more data has become available from rms engaged in SEI, we can determine not just the general effect of SEI on ROI, but the how to of SEI--which types and methods are most productive for a brands bottom line and its overall image. obviously, it is good to engage in SEI, but as this corporate evolution moves forward, we see that the number one priority for brands is becoming adept at consistent implementation & engagement. this is the secret to a successful SEI brand, and also the reason behind much of the uncertainty about this way of doing business among C-suites. managers and CEOs that have witnessed rst generation SEI attempts often glean a false assumption about SEI because these early pursuits were often inconsistent--supercial, ad hoc, random and sporadic--and therefore affected the bottom-line at best neutrally, and at worst, negatively.

WE HERE AT SGB
have dedicated ourselves to researching exactly how to successfully implement SEI and have found that the secret (which, ultimately, is also the key to a lasting brand-consumer relationship) is consistency. it seems simple, but weve seen time and time again brands who are doing wonderful things in some areas, but need major attention in other areas. its this dissonance that not only hurts the reputation of a company and damages brand-trust, but perhaps even subverts any benet gained from the original effort.

BEFORE WE GO ON
lets dene what we mean by consistency.
obviously, consistency means being systematic and regular, but when it comes to business, it also refers to ingraining certain habits and expectations into every and all processes--and more importantly, habits & processes that dont die with turnover. additionally, its helpful to know that consistency gains more power when it is initiated internally, and when companies start with what theyre already good at.

therefore, here is

OUR CONSISTENCY MANIFESTO

truly impactful SEI branding is not only consistent, but starts on the inside and works its way out, viewing all business operations and processes as a holistic and interdependent system.

to support our manifesto:

in a 2012 scholarly study that analyzed 130 rms taken from major stock market indices across the seven dimensions of corporate responsibility (corporate governance, diversity, employee relations, community, environment, human rights and product)2 , the Rochester Institute of Technology found that:

HERE IS THE DATA

{ { {

rms engaged in SEI experienced a positive overall change on their bottom lines (ROA) when their engagement was consistent, initiated internally, and if projects were closely related (they were able to use the same resources for several projects). inconsistent engagement saw a negative effect on ROA*.

rms lost money when SEI engagement was externally oriented. rms that initiated change from within, and focused on governance, diversity and employee relations saw a profound increase on ROA.

due to their correlation, we can also infer from the data that both internal initiation and project relatedness have a synergistic result on ROA--when applied together, the two variables create an even more enhanced effect than they would alone.

*Whats the difference between ROA and ROI? Return on Investment measures whats been gained from a specic sum or resource pool that has been applied towards a project, usually during a specic time period. Return on Assets measures the effective use of assets the business already has. if you were to divide your net income by your total number of assets, you would come up with your return on assets. it answers the question: how effective are managers at utilizing what they already have?

DONT TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT

hear what others have said about the benets of the inside-out approach:

GOVERNANCE
high performing companies put a much greater emphasis on social and environmental considerations at board level, while the poorly performing rms are far more likely to have nobody in charge of sustainability issues.3

DIVERSITY
studies show that companies with a high level of gender diversity outperform companies with an average level in terms of

{ } { }{ }
11.4%
vs.

return on equity
average

operating results

stock price increases

11.1%
vs.

64%
vs.

10.3%

average

5.8%

average

47%

over the period 2005-2007.4

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS & ENGAGEMENT

through their consistent and integrated cross-functional, multi-team Mission Action Program, Stonyeld Organic, who has embedded SEI into every nook & cranny, was able to avoid $18 million in expenses over the span of three years by being proactive in their Social and Environmental Initiatives.5

SUCCESS
CREATE AN IMPACT MAP
an Impact Map is an essential part of consistency. it allows you to map out current initiatives, identify every point of impact of the brand (inside & out), and pinpoint both inconsistencies and opportunities. small efforts here and there have their perks, but a bonade SEIP program requires inner strength. its about substance, not surface. embed the SEI mindset into everything: job descriptions, lists of responsibilities, office memos, employee parties, incentives and benet schemes, the company mission, strategies, campaigns, and long term goals--we mean EVERYTHING. make it an integral part of not just business operations, but infuse it into company culture.

STEPS TOWARD

PLANT DEEP ROOTS

DONT BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW

avoid creating committees or groups that span several departments and all sustainability dimensions (environmental, people, economic). start with what you know best, and preferably with departments that have some overlap. this approach will garner small successes quickly, which will give energy and motivation to future projects. integrate an internal department large enough to actually stay proactive (we recommend an external SEIP department, which is usually 66% less expensive than having an internal team).

TWO BIRDS, ONE STONE

save yourself a headache: implement programs that have access to the same resources. for example, tackling an in-house recycling program and funding a methane digester on a suppliers farm have many degrees of separation between them, and coming up with the resources and attention span for both will be challenging and more complex than it has to be. studies and empirical evidence agree that consumers are much more impressed with less opportunistic attempts at SEI. in other words, you gotta walk the talk in order to win anyone over. once consumers get a whiff of a disingenuous do-good event, they will downplay any and all other forays into SEI as pandering and obsequious.

if youre going to commit, make sure you mean it, and embrace consistency.

YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL REWARD YOU.

FOOTNOTES
1 See our Millennials Ebook: http://www.sociallygoodbusiness.com/knowledge/ 2 Tang, Zhi, Clyde Eirikur Hull, and Sandra Rothenberg. How corporate social responsibility engagement strategy moderate the CSR-nancial performance relationship. Journal of Management Studies 49, no. 7 (2012): 1274_1303. 3 Doing good: business and the sustainability challenge. Economist Intelligence Unit. Feb 2008. http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/Sustainability_allsponsors.pdf. 4 SAP Integrated report. http://www.sapintegratedreport.com/2012/en/key-facts/connecting-nancial-and-non-nancial-perfor mance.html 5 Spector, Dina. The simple way Stonyeld Farm cut $18 million in expenses. Business Insider. Feb 2012. http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012_02_23/strategy/31089980_1_organic-farming-stonyeld-farm-s amuel-kaymen/2